Brewing Again!!!

Finally brewed again yesterday.  The first time since brewing Oktoberfest in March.

We brewed a Russian Imperial Stout and some hard apple cider.

We contracted with Jackron Industries to supply the raw apple cider and some labor.

First the RIS.  This is a clone of North Coast Brewing's Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout.  See recipe below.

We followed the recipe except the brewshop doesn't carry Carastan so I substituted 40L crystal malt.

The brewmaster apprentices checking the wort.



Apprentice cooling the cider before pitching the yeast.



Next, cider.  Heated on medium high for 30 minutes, then cooled in an ice bath.  Fermented the cider using White Labs WLP775, English Cider Yeast.



Pitched the yeast and started the fermentation in my warm office.  Checked this morning and we have bubbling.  Put both brews into the brew fridge at 68F.  The inside of the fridge smells awesome, the hop aroma from the RIS and a bit of the apple.

RIS in the front, cider in the rear.  RIS is much more active than the cider.




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Old Rasputin Imperial Stout (clone) 
5 gallons, extract with grains 
OG = 1.090 FG = 1.022 IBUs = 85-95 ABV =9% 

Ingredients 
9.9 lbs. Coopers Light malt extract syrup 
1.0 lb. Hugh Baird Carastan malt Crystal malt (40° L)0.5 lb. Hugh Baird Brown malt 
0.5 lb. chocolate malt 
1.0 lb. crystal malt (120° L) 
0.25 lb. roasted black barley 
22.7 AAU Cluster hops (bittering) 
(3.25 oz. of 7% alpha acid) 
9.0 AAU Northern Brewer hops 
(aroma hops) (1 oz. of 9% alpha acid) 
8.8 AAU Centennial hops (aroma) 
(1 oz. of 8.8% alpha acid) 
1 tsp Irish moss 
White Labs WLPOO1 (California Ale)yeast
0.75 cup of corn sugar for priming 

Step by Step 
Steep the crushed malts in three gallons of water at 150° F for 30 minutes. Remove the grains from the wort, add malt syrup and bring to a boil. Add the Cluster (bittering) hops and Irish moss and boil for 60 minutes. Add the aroma hops (Northern Brewer and Centennial) for the last two minutes of the boil. When you are done boiling, strain out the hops and add the wort to two gallons cool water in a sanitary fermenter. Top the fermenter off with cool water to 5.5 gallons. Cool the wort to 80° F, aerate the beer and pitch your yeast. Allow the beer to cool over the next few hours tó~ 68-70° F, and ferment for 10 to 14 days. Bottle your beer, age for two to three weeks and enjoy! (Yes, that's right, this beer so well- balanced that North Coast releases it to the public in less than a month.)