Russian Imperial Meddling (Imperial Stout - Year 2)

Russian Imperial Meddling Stout (8.5%)

14 lb 2 row barley
1 lb Special B 150 (subbed 10 oz double roasted crystal 115 and 6 oz patagonia caramel 190)
12 oz Roasted Barley(subbed 6 oz carafa II, 4 oz carafa I and 2 oz midnight wheat)
0.5 lb Munich 55 Malt (subbed regular munich)
1 lb Pale Chocolate malt
0.5 lb Black Patent malt
1.5 lb Flaked Oats
1 tsp gypsum 10 min (mash water and sparge water)
1/2 tsp Calcium Chloride 10 min (mash water and sparge water)
2 oz cacoa powder at flameout
3.7 oz cacao nibs (secondary) 1-2 weeks (reduced from 4 oz)
vanilla beans (secondary) 1-2 weeks (excluded because too expensive)
4 oz cold steeped coffee secondary 1 week  (increased from 2)
1 Oak Spiral (medium toasted oak)  add to secondary for 1-2 weeks (sterilize with vanilla vodka)
1-2 oz per 5 gallons. 1-2+ weeks with chips. 1-2+ months with cubes


Mash at 153 deg for 60-90 min (started at 175 deg and maintained mash temp at 152-153!!)
Safale 04 (cool wort to 70 F before pitching yeast)
1 oz Zeus cones, 0.5 oz Apollo 60 min  (start with 6.5-7 gallons pre boil) (started with just under 7 gal and ended up with 5) (increased from 0.5 oz)
1 oz Zeus cones, 0.5 oz Apollo hops 10 min (increased from 0.25 oz)

Primary 3 weeks (due to vacation)
Secondary 1 week on coffee and cacao nibs and oak
Oak for an additional week, then added 2 oz cacao nibs for final 2 days.
Bottled on January 6th 2019

Brewed on Dec. 1st
Transferred to Secondary on Dec. 23

Tasting Notes:
It's a bit bitter and astringent for a stout.  Not sure if the bitterness is coming from the oak, hops or nibs.  Fantastic and strong chocolate nose.
Next time I would use correct grain bill, even if I have to wait,  don't do second steep of cacao nibs,
maybe eliminate coffee, reduce hops.  Its just too much chocolate and hops, not enough grains.  Maybe add some lactose.

It should mellow with age.

After 6-8 months if smoothed out and got more body, a little less bitter.

Saul Goodman - Saul Citra NE Pale Ale

5 (3+) gallons (calculated 6.1%)

60% base malt and 40% adjuncts
7 lbs (4 lbs) Pilsner Malt
10 oz (4 oz) Cara Munich 60
2 lb (1 lb ) White Wheat
1 lb (1 lb) Flaked Oats (from grocery store)
1 lb (10 oz) Flaked wheat (already have)
6 (4 oz) carapils (already have)
6 oz  (3 oz) honey malt

Mash at 151-153 F
Expect some volume loss from hops.  I think it is best to use muslin bag.

10-15 min boil (will only need to start with 3.75 gal. wort, since boil off rate is 2 gal/hr)
1 oz (0.50 oz) Citra 10 min
3 oz (2 oz) Citra 0 min (whirlpool at 160 deg for 25 min)
pitch yeast at 70 deg


Cool to 70 F before pitching yeast
Safale S-33 or 04 yeast  or  1318 (london III) or 007 or NE IPA farmhouse blend,

should have about 1.5 oz of hops/gallon
Dry Hop (dryhop after about 3 days when active fermentation is still occurring)
(1 oz) Citra or another hop (0.5 oz Citra) Dryhop - day 3 of fermentation
(1 oz) Citra or another hop (0.5 oz Citra) Dryhop - day 6 of fermentation
Just add the first hops on day 3 of fermentation, then the second round on day 7, then keg on day 10 or 11


Adjust entire volume of brewing water prior to mash.  Use ez water calc. (starting with 29 mg/l chloride, 6 mg/l sulfate) add lactic acid to mash water



muliply by 0.65 to get just over 3 gallons (at least 6-4 packs or a case)
to buy:
4 oz mosaic (or citra)  $6.80
4 lb pils
1 lb white wheat
lactic acid $2.99
safale 04  2.99

Water Treatment
To treat 5 gallons of water
(2:1 Chloride to Sulfate Ratio)
3 ml (3.6 g) lactic acid (2.2)
3 grams gypsum (1.8)
2 grams calcium chloride (1.2)

Brewing notes:
Changed to an all citra
Adjusted all of the brewing water chemistry (5 gallons) prior to mash
mashed at 150-152
Beer is much darker than anticipated, would cut Munich to 2 oz or nothing or use lower lovibond
(Because the beer seemed darker than I wanted, I collected more wart than needed and added 12 oz of water to final.  Should not have done that. Beer seemed pretty light in the end anyways.)
Fermented at ~ 65-67 deg
Initial Gravity = brix = 13  gravity = 50
Final Gravity = brix = 2.5 gravity = 10
6% - 1% = 5%
dryhopped initial 1.5 oz at beginning of day 3
dryhopped again 1.5 oz at beginning of day 6
Kegged on day 10

Beer has a nice  aroma, but could be thin and more like a lighter IPA or pale ale.  Color is actually pretty nice in the sunlight.
OK, It is somewhat watered down.  Hops and malt not as strong as I would hope.
Collected too much wort (almost 4 gallons, then added 16 oz water to light color.  This was not a good idea as it changed the profile.  I'm changing this to a citra pale ale.  Next time only collect 3.5 gallons of wort (max) and do a solid 15 min boil.  That should help quite a bit.  Maybe keg on day 11.   Also, use only 1 or 2 oz of cara munich.

Day 3 it tastes Saul Good.  Holds a good head and is full bodied.  Can drink multiple.  This is a good beer with a nice aroma.