Brew Day Siberian Crude

                                               Russian Imperial Stout

This Stout gets its Imperial designation from its popularity with the Russian monarchy though most of the 18th century and seems to be coming back into fashion with many craft breweries.

Style Guidelines   
Flavour : Always roasty may have caramel and hops too
Aroma : Roasty malt / coffee / bitter chocolate / may have hop aroma
Balance : Toward the sweeter end with matched bittering
Pair with : Strong rich foods, steaks / chocolate / oysters
Gravity : 1.080 -1.120 plus
Alcohol : 7 - 12%
Attenuation / body : medium to full
Colour : 35 plus* SRM / Black
Bitterness : 50 - 80 IBU

 The day has finally come to brew the big one, Siberian Crude the Russian Imperial Oatmeal Stout and we have gone back to an old tradition of brewing where by you use the same mash and grains to make more than one beer. Go back a few centuries when people lived on estates under a lord or liege they could not afford to be wasteful an so came upon the idea of making 2 or 3 beers from the 1 mash. The first runnings would be a very thick rich beer usually put away for 10 or more years waiting for a significant event, the second beer would be a medium strength beer reserved for the family while the third beer would be thin and weak (what they would call a small beer), this would be for the staff to have with their meals.

     So with the history out of the way and the new mash tun ready to go we decided it was time for Siberian Crude to be brewed. Unsure of the limits of our new mash tun in went 9kgs of assorted grains and 30L of water (we had planned for 36L but there was no more room) this was stirred every 20min and a little hot water added every now and then to keep the temp up. After 90mins it was time to drain off the wort, and we collected 20L of  thick rich wort. We refilled the mash tun gave it a stir and left it for another 25mins (batch sparging for the beer nerds)and then drained off another 22L of a thinner lighter wort to another boiler.

     The first runnings were boiled for 90min and the second for 60min, both got Target (12gm each) and Bramling Cross (25 and 22gms respectively) hops with 60min to go and then East Kent Golding  (51gms and 41gms respectively) with 20min to go. After the boil we collected 13.5L from Siberian Crude and 17L from the Oatmeal Stout, this gave us 47IBU at a specific gravity (SG) of 1.090 for Siberian Crude  and 52IBU at 1.037 for the Oatmeal Stout. This was also the first brew that we decided to make up a starter batch for, adding the vial of yeast WLP 004 to 700ml of water and 3 teaspoons of castor sugar (dried malt would have been better but I didn't have any) and leaving it to sit for a day to grow and multiply.

     Unfortunately the day was not without some dramas, heating the mash water we found that the tap seal was leaking so we had to start again, and after the boil finished for Siberian Crude the gas bottle ran out and a quick dash to my sisters was required to get another one so the Oatmeal Stout could be boiled. With 2 boils happening on the one day, this was a big day starting at 930am and finishing at 5pm I could not of done it without my wife so thank you very much.

    Full recipe and guide on the recipe page.

    Style guidelines courtesy  of Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher