1.18.2013

Russian Imperial Stout | French Oak Red Wine Barrel

My club is starting to brew beers for our four(4) French Oak Red Wine barrels that we acquired from a dude who brought them back from Lodi, CA!   Currently all of the barrels are at another dudes cellar filled with an acid wash waiting the day when 30 brewers in the Nordeast Brewers Alliance gather with primary fermented beers to fill them all up.  That time is nearing and this post is about on of the first installments of this series that I brewed recently.  The Russian Imperial Stout...to be aged in a French Oak - Merlot Barrel!!!  We smelled all of the barrels and tried to come up with beers that would complement the characteristics in the nose.    The barrel that we chose for the RIS had notes of dark berries, vanilla, and cocoa and so we though that would complement a RIS very nicely.   We plan to let this age in the barrel for 6-9 months, but completely dependent on what the beer is telling us.  If it gets too oaky we will pull it out immediately.

Here's my portion of the recipe.  There are 13 or 14 of us brewing 5 gallon batch's.  The recipe designers actually created two similar yet different recipes that we will be blending together when we fill up the barrel.  I chose the recipe that did not include adding cacao nibs.  I also didn't follow the recipe as close as I maybe should have.   I couldn't find any Warrior hops for bittering and I couldn't find the Northern Brewer hops for flavor.   So, I went Nugget through and through.   I also mixed in a little Scottish yeast for good measure.

I ended up collecting a ton of wort pre-boil, almost 9 gallons and then boiled it down over a long period to get almost 6 gallons.  This allowed me to achieve a respectable efficiency as well as additional caramel flavors!


Batch Size: 5.75 gallons
Mash Efficiency: 70 %
Specific Gravity: 1.104 OG
Final Gravity: 1.028 FG
Color: 45° SRM Black
Bitterness: 60.9 IBU
Mash Temp: 152 degrees for 90 Minutes
Boil: 2 hours
Ferm Temp: 65 degrees
Alcohol: 10.1% ABV
Calories: 344 per 12 oz.

Malt & Fermentables


%
LB
OZ


°L
PPG

72%
16
~

Mash
37

4%
1
~

Mash
300°
34

4%
1
~

Mash
34

4%
1
~

Boil
50°
46

4%
1
~

Boil
46

2%
~
8

Mash
120°
34

2%
~
8

Mash
33

2%
~
8

Mash
220°
30

2%
~
8

Mash
550°
25

1%
~
4

Mash
34


22
4




Hops


Usage
Time
OZ


AA » IBU

boil
90 min
1
Nugget ~ pellet
13.0 » 32.1

boil
60 min
½
Nugget ~ pellet
13.0 » 15.0

boil
45 min
½
Nugget ~ pellet
13.0 » 13.8

Yeast

Burton Ale (WLP023)
yeast in liquid form with medium flocculation and 72% attenuation
Edinburgh Scottish Ale (WLP028)
yeast in liquid form with medium flocculation and 73% attenuation



****I'm a little nervous because I've never had a Red Wine Barrel aged RIS before and figure that if it is a good marriage, then someone would have done it before.
****I'm also a little nervous that the barrel will have some bugs in it and it won't turn out to be a clean beer like we want it to be.  The wineries that we got these barrels from employ "native fermentation", essentially letting the grape juice ferment naturally from the yeast that has gathered on the skins of the fruit.  Could there be Brett?  Yes.  Could there be other critters? Yes.  We shall soon find out.
****Sampled this 2 months into the barrel aging process.  It's actually very dry, and not juice and thick like I expected.  A little hot and definitely some vanilla coming through in the nose from the oak.

7 comments:

  1. I think it the combo sounds good. It will be interested about the Brett. There is definitely some in the wood if they do nature fermentation, you'll have to hope they are fruity Brett strains or your alcohol percentage is high enough to prevent much activity.

    Good Luck

    ReplyDelete
  2. yeah, we shall see I guess. We contact the owner of the Winery, Mike McCay, and he said he has worked closely with a Molecular Biologist from US Davis, and said that there is a dominant yeast in his field (yeast not named) that takes over the majority of the fermentation. He stated that they don't believe brett to be present in their vineyards, and that he's never had signs of Brett in his wines. But he would "never say never."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is pretty neat research. I doubt there is no Brett present, but as we learn more about the various strains maybe he has a type that is more fruit forward. Either way it sounds like a tasty beer.

      Delete
  3. Yeah, It's pretty exciting. I'm going to use one of those BK yeast Cantillon Bretts in our Rye Saison Brett Barrel. I'm leaning towards C3. Or even possibly a combination of both C2, and C3 (unless I get the same plasticy notes, but the initial pinneapple, mango notes would be awesome!). What do you think about that for a Rye Saison Brett aged in a Red Wine Barrel.

    I also may throw some Drie in there for good measure!

    I haven't sampled mine yet but reading your post today, I think I'm going to do a tasting tonight!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why not? To be honest I have no clue. I guess it depends on the flavor profile of the Saison. I think if you go more toward the spice/phenolic side it would work better - what yeast where you going to use for primary? Maybe use spicy type hops. And darken the wort with some extra Munich or a long boil to give some more malt richness to go with the more bold red wine flavors. I think if you go too light or fruity then you will lose the character of the Saison.

      Please post your results. I know Dmitri is excited about feedback and I'm curious to see how mine taste compared to others.

      Delete
  4. The recipe for the Saison is pretty simple.

    75% Pilsner Malt
    20% Rye Malt
    5% Belgian Biscuit

    Hops were supposed to be French Strisselspalt and Amarillo (so leaning more towards Floral, Earthy, Spicy,and Orangy). Unfortunately everywhere around here is out of Amarillo so I told some people to go Citrusy with their replacement and others to go traditional Earthy and European.

    We actually are probably going to get a mix of Saison yeast in there. I'll be using 3726. I know others are using 3711. I'm sure some will use 3724 as well.

    So, hopefully it all works out. Definitely not something we'll ever be able to replicate.

    We actually kept the beer simple and light so that the barrel can express itself, and we may loose some of the Saison in that, but we are hopeful that it turns good to great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is all a guess when you are the first one to try it. I'm not sure I've ever had a wine barrel aged beer that I didn't like, so if you don't like it send it my way.

      It will be neat to see how it works out.

      Delete

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