Recipe: Barrel Aged Raining Russian – Russian Imperial Stout
My Barrel Aged Raining Russian is hands down my favorite beer I’ve brewed so far. I’d made many stouts before but this was my first jump into the barrel aged game. It tasted great right out of primary fermentation so I’d expect it would be great even without the barrel. That said I would still encourage you to pick up a Balcones barrel or even better source one from a local distiller like I did. The grain bill should be fairly easy to acquire aside from the Pilot Malt House PB Toast but a sub of more Marris Otter should work. I’ll update this post when I get around to a non-barrel aged version. Cheers, and let me know how your batch turns out!
Flavor / Color / Aroma:
The liquid is dark brown to black with a fingertip of tan head. Aroma is of sweet vanilla oak with strong hints of toffee. The taste is sweet vanilla on the front with toffee oak and some rye bite on the backend. The booze is obviously there but it has a nice smooth mouthfeel overall.
Beer Stats:
- Batch Size: 5 gallons
- BH Efficiency: 80%
- SG: 1.092 Actual: 1.092
- FG: 1.023 Actual: 1.024
- Calculated ABV: 9% (Plus whatever the barrel added)
- IBU’S: 59.9
- Color: 37.7 SRM
The Grain Bill (Mashed):
- 8.5 – 46% – Pounds Canadian Malting 2 Row
- 6 – 32% – Pounds Marris Otter
- 1.5 – 8% – Pounds PB Toast
- 1.5 – 8% – Pounds American Crystal 80L
- .5 – 3% – Pound UK Chocolate
- .5 – 3% – Pound Briess Chocolate Malt
Total: 18.5 Pounds
Hop Schedule:
- 2 oz Willamette At 90 Minutes
- 1.75 oz Nugget At 15 Minutes
Mash & Boil:
- Mash: 90 Minutes at 155F
- Boil: 90 Minutes
Fermentation:
- Yeast: Safale US-05 x2, Safale S-04 x1 (dry pitched)
- Primary: 17 Days at 70F – 75F (room temperature)
- Barrel: 3 Weeks in a freshly dumped West Fork rye whiskey barrel
Conditioning:
- Carbonation: 2 volumes CO2
- Minimum Aging: 25 Days
