I am looking to do an RIS that would be drinking like it was aged 1yr or more within 6 months. Are there any process or recipe intentions that can make that more feasible. Such as keeping the ABV under 10% or keeping the FG under 1.030 or late hopping with aroma hops to balance the bitter early on? Adding the roasted malts during the sparge? I'm trying to come up with a recipe and process that gives me a fighting chance for a presentable RIS for a good size event. I've only brewed one before (Stone RIS clone) and it was drinkable at best. I have figured out from brewing a number of porters, that I really like more of the chocolate and roasted malts and less of the ones that impart dark fruit flavors. Any help with a recipe for 5 gal would be appreciated.
Slightly overpitching yeast, plenty of O2 at pitch, with a sidecar 12hours later, staggered nutrient additions, gradual ramping of fermentation temp after the first 5-7 days, force carbonate?
6 Months is a decent amount of time given all the advice MrOH said. Just ferment well, transfer after a 2 weeks/month and bulk age for 5 months and carb the remainder. Be oxygen savvy, oxidized stouts are the worse so be careful about exposure post ferment. It won't be as good as it can be, like a year or so, but certainly delicious.
5 wks ago I brewed a big imperial stout. Over-pitched the yeast and kept it cool the first 3-days. Then brought the temp up to ferment out. Let it sit in primary 4wks and racked to purged keg. I plan to let it bulk age until the fall and bottle off the keg once I dial in the carb level. Good luck!
You can try aging your stout in the ocean. It works for wine and maybe stout too. http://www.aquaoir.com/
You can brew a beautiful Imperial stout in six weeks. You don't need six months. If you like roasted flavors use a plenty of roasted barley (that's roasted but unmalted barley) as well as perhaps some debittered black malt like Weyermann Carafa III. I love the flavor that carafe III adds. Plus I eat the stuff like cocoa puffs, man. Add some regular black patent malt to get some of the more astringent, "burnt" flavor, but no more than a quarter to a half pound (max) for a 5 gallon batch. I used 3/4lb once and it was definitely on the harsh side. The other specialty malts typical of imperial stouts are more for the dark fruit flavors. Use those perhaps a bit more sparingly. If you want to simulate age on some of your beer, try bottling some with extra head space and get a little oxidation.
Agreed, that's how you get good strong fermentations that are finished quickly. I pitch big starters almost always unless there is a specific recipe that wants tired yeast to produce some specific esters. And o2! On a big beer, I too will give it an extra shot after 12 hours. The yeast are still in early stages of the process. They'll appreciate the jolt, and you don't have to worry about oxidation yet.
Sidecar? What is this? As for staggered nutrient additions, I've never thought to do this with beer. Sort is pretty nutrient rich, although you might want to use something with zinc in it at the start?
I tend to always use Servomyces in my beers 10 minutes left in the boil. When and what else would go into the process. I thought that supplement covered a lot.
I don't know about specific hints for age tasting like 1 year @ 6 months. However, at a very high level I follow the run of thumb, 1 week per degree plato at a min for brews I intend to age. 1.030 FG and 10% ABV would give you 1.106 OG (25 deg plato), for a resulting 25 weeks or spot on 6 months. You're well within reason if you brew now.
It's definitely doable. Try an old raspy clone: http://byo.com/hops/item/1182-north-coasts-old-rasputin-the-replicator 4 weeks in primary, then straight to bottling. It was drinking great just a few weeks after that. I brewed it back in early December of 2014, so after 4+ months of bottle conditioning it's already developing some good 'aged stout' character, IMO.
