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#50:  Ivan the Great (Russian Imperial Stout)
  • Named for our black cat Ivan. It's my 50th beer, so I figured I should make something special.
Chris Swingley 
5-Nov-2005

Recipe (for 5 gallons final volume)
12 pounds (60%) Crisp Maris Otter Pale Malt
2 pounds (10%) Dark Munich Malt 30L
2 pounds (10%) Crisp Brown Malt
2 pounds (10%) Briess Caramel Malt 60L
2 pound (10%) Roasted Barley

3 ounces   Chinook pellet hops, 13.2% AA (120 minutes)
1.0 ounce   U.S. Goldings whole hops, 5.0% AA (10 minutes)

  • White Labs WLP017 Whitbread Ale Yeast, pitched at 68°F
  • Starter: Pitched onto yeast cake from previous recipe (winter ale)
  • Aeration: Drill aerator for three minutes after pitching

Water
  • Fairbanks city water
  • 51 quarts  water treated with:
    •  1 Campden tablet. removes chlorine ion and chloramine, reduces oxidation
  • 30 quarts mash water treated with:
    • 2.5 teaspoons Baking Soda. Adds 121 ppm Sodium, 309 ppm Bicarbonate to lower acidity of mash

Mash
  • 30 quarts water @ 158°F, grist ratio of 1.5 quarts:pound @ 149°F (Held 90 minutes)

Sparge
  • 11 quarts water @ 194°F, drain
  • 10 quarts water @ 168°F, drain
  • Mash drained before adding first charge of sparge water

Boil
  • Boiled 10 gallons for 180 minutes to yield 5.5 gallons wort
  • Friggin' chiller plugged up after about a gallon was collected. The remainder was cooled outside (5 hours @ -10 F), poured through a strainer into bucket, aerated again

Fermentation
  • Primary: bucket, 7 days, 66°F, Temperature range 70 - 66 F., 1.044 at transfer to secondary (54% apparent attenuation!)
  • Secondary: keg, 21 days, 66°F

Packaging
  • Kegged at 8 psi, 50°F (1.8 volumes CO2)
  • Conditioned for 16 weeks
  • Ready to drink on 25-Mar-2006

Properties
Starting Gravity: 1.100 Final Gravity: 1.025
Original Extract: 23.8°plato Apparent Extract: 6.32°plato
Real Extract: 9.75°plato
Alcohol: 10.0% by volume (7.7% by weight)
Apparent Attenuation: 73.4% Mash Efficiency: 79%
Bitterness: 115 IBU Color: 80 SRM
BU:SG: 1.15 BV: 2.42

Tasting Notes
  • 4-Apr-2006 -- Good beer. Bitterness nicely balances the really high gravity and under-attenuation. I probably wouldn't make it again, at least not in a keg, but it was a good 50th beer.

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