Sunday, July 25, 2010

"Not For Summer" Russian Imperial Stout

Brew #2 today was going to be the fourth iteration of the Rye Porter that I'm trying to perfect. Unfortunately I keep forgetting to borrow someone's barley crusher, so that one wasn't happening today. Further down my list of beers to brew was a Russian Imperial Stout. It felt very ironic to brew a beer like this on an 85 degree day, but this should be tasting good by Winter time. This is the biggest beer I've ever done on my system, so it was interesting to see how much of an efficiency hit I took. I planned the recipe for 60% (I usually get 72%) and ended up at 57%, only missing my target by a few points. Definitely acceptable in my book!

Mash: 151F for 90 mins
14lb Rahr 2-row (60.9%)
5lb Pils (21.7%) - used this because I ran out of 2-row
1.5lb Roasted Barley (6.5%)
1lb Crystal 120L (4.3%)
.5lb Caramunich (2.2%)
.5lb Pale Chocolate (2.2%)
.5lb Chocolate Malt (2.2%)

Hops:
2.5oz Nugget @ 75min (88.6 IBU)
2oz Fuggles @ 10min (8.5 IBU)

Yeast:
SafAle US-05

OG: 1.093
FG: 1.023
IBU: 97
SRM: 67
ABV: 9%

Snapping Turtle Brown

Turtles are probably my favorite sweet candy of all time. The local chocolate shop refers to them as "Snappies", hence the name of the beer. At first I had thought of this beer as being a stout, but then realized that it makes more sense as a brown ale since it is mostly caramel and pecans with a little chocolate coating. Recipe as follows:

Mash: 155 for 60 min
7lb Rahr 2-row (66.67%)
1lb Munich (9.5%)
1lb Pale Chocolate Malt (9.5%)
0.38lb Crystal 10L (3.5%)
0.38lb Crystal 60L (3.5%)
0.75lb Crystal 80L (7.1%)
1cup chopped pecans (toasted in the oven @300F for 10 mins)

Hops:
2oz Fuggles @60min - 32IBU

Yeast:
SafAle US-05

OG: 1.054
FG: 1.013
IBU: 32
SRM: 25.5
ABV: 5.3%

I'm hoping for this to be a nice Fall/Winter beer