So to commemorate the end of the world next year I’m going to brew an RIS this month to age for a year. Due to the size of my mash tun I’m doing a 18lbs mash with 6lbs of extract to put me where I want to be for gravity. My efficiency usually runs close to 68% and I realize it’s gonna suck on this batch I may even do a partigyle just for fun since that’s a lot of grain to only do one batch.
Here’s my recipe tell me if it looks ridiculous and thanks in advance.
Amount Item Type % or IBU
6 lbs Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 26.09 %
14 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 60.87 %
8.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 2.17 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 2.17 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 2.17 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2.17 %
8.0 oz Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) Grain 2.17 %
8.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 2.17 %
5.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 131.1 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min) Hops 7.9 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.122 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.030 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 12.08 %
Bitterness: 142.7 IBU
Est Color: 43.1 SRM
i would say that is A LOT of IBU’s for a IRS. might consider less than 5oz for bittering. but its up to you i suppose… aerate as much as you can, and id recomend some yeast nutrient for this is a VERY big beer
Thank you. Does it look okay for the grain bill I know it’s a good dose of hops but I’m not really trying to keep too much to style. Also since I do plan on aging a year do I need to worry about the hops fading or if they do maybe it will make it that much more interesting?
I kind of also have a few yeast questions should I try to wash the yeast?
Can I pitch directly on the yeast cake and aerate with a mixter or should I try to aerate then pitch the yeast?
Is yeast nutrient necessary given the amount of grist or will that simply not provide enough nutrient?
the yeast cake should be enough yeast. you can pitch directly on-top of it. you could aerate before or after, i don’t think it will harm the yeast. for me, i would still use some nutrient, its probably not necessary, but with a beer that big you’re risking the yeast dying off too early, you really want to give the yeast the best conditions possible for a beer with that high gravity. the grains look good to me, i might drop the melanoidin but thats just opinion. good luck and happy brewin!
aging will definitely benefit a beer this big. let it develop over years if you’re patient enough
Thanks for the help maybe I’ll send you a bottle. I threw the melanoidin in the hope that it would help out the overall malt flavor.
What amount do you think?
I’m reading Designing Great Beers and am still very new to creating my own recipes if this thing is good and the world doesn’t end I plan to brew it once a year and keep some around to compare it and build my cellar stock.
keep in mind, 90+ IBU’s is a lot, roasted malts are the primary flavor in an RIS in my opinion. and like i said before-- aerate, pure o2 would be ideal, but if you don’t have that, make sure you aerate as much as possible. i would defiantly use a good yeast nutrient. beers over 1.100 are a serious challenge, you should research high gravity beers and search related topics on this forum.
if you haven’t seen this already; go to mrmalty.com for calculating how much yeast you need.
Since you’re after some dark fruit type flavor, I would drop the crystal 40 and use pound of 120. I’m not sure about the melanoidin; I would be inclined to drop that and up the roasted barley to a pound.
I think this will come out great. I do something similar that maxes out my mash tun.
I’m not sure if you already brewed this but here are my 5c of advice.
Drop the Crystal 40L
Use a pound of Crystal 120L
Use a pound of Chocolat
Drop the IBUs to 80 MAX
The bittering on a RIS should come from the roasted malts not the hop.
If you want you can all aroma and flavor hops.
Also add the roasted grains to the vorlauf and not the mash, this will reduce adstringency.
