New Recipe in the Can

Today is a brew day.

My last brew was an ale somewhat like an IPA. I ordinarily use a German Braumeister brewing machine, but I lost an O-ring, so while I wait for a new one (and possibly forever), I am doing brew-in-a-bag, or BIAB. This means I put a mesh bag in my kettle, heat water in it, dump in my grain, and mash in the bag. When it’s done, I pull the bag out and wring the wort out of it. Very simple.

I’m making an imperial stout.

Everyone knows what stout is. The “imperial” in “imperial stout” refers to the Russian imperial court.

For some reason I do not know, Russians used to buy British beer instead of brewing their own. They liked stout. Because beer had to be shipped a long way to get to Russia, the beer had to be tough enough to take the heat and bouncing without degrading. The British found that extremely strong, thick beers held up well. They made very strong stout and shipped it to Russia.

It’s an interesting beverage. It tends to be sweet. It has a ton of aroma from the roasted grains that make it dark, as well as the hops. In terms of alcohol, it’s around twice as strong as most beers. That’s a generalization. Some imperial stouts are a lot stronger.

The stout I’m trying to make is my own recipe. I took my recipe for ordinary stout, which is fantastic, and I simply increased the amounts of everything.

Some people advise brewers not to increase the hopping along with everything else, but others disagree. I asked for advice, and homebrewing celebrity Denny Conn, who is known for making heavy beers, was in favor of jacking everything up together.

I think that’s the right approach. In an experiment, you should limit the variables you change. If I increase everything, the stout may not be what I want, but it should be easy to figure out what I need to change. And it may be perfect without changes.

I’m using East Kent Goldings hops, which are very popular for stouts. I’m going to try Lutra Kveik yeast.

My understanding is that “kveik” means “quick” in Norwegian. Kveik comes from Norway. It’s a yeast that has traditionally been used by rural Norwegians. I guess if you pronounce “quick” like a Norwegian, it probably sounds like “kveik,” which, I am told, rhymes with “shake.” Lutra is just a strain of kveik.

Kveik is, indeed, quick. That’s one thing people like about it. You can make a beer in maybe three days. It also ferments cleanly at high temperatures, so you don’t get toxic heavy alcohols and fruit flavors. Brewers like to use kveik to make beers that are pretty much like traditional lagers. Lagers are generally fermented cold, and they take forever. Kveik lets brewers speed things up, and it obviates the need for fermenter cooling. A regular lager might ferment at 50, but Kveik goes up to 90.

I generally use a yeast called US-05 for stout, but it’s very slow. It’s supposed to be the yeast they use in Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which is an okay but not really fantastic beer. US-05 is supposed to ferment cleanly at 68.

I am tired of waiting a long time for stouts, and since I’m not looking for yeast flavors, any clean-fermenting yeast will do. If kveik is what they say it is, it ought to be great.

People say you need a ton of yeast for heavy beers. I have only made one heavy beer, and it went like crazy using one packet of dry yeast. I didn’t rehydrate it. I just dumped it in the fermenter. It was done in maybe 4 days. The yeast I used is Abbaye, a yeast taken from Belgian ales. It seems to me that if one vigorous yeast will work in heavy beers without pampering, others will also work.

I think I’ll rehydrate the kveik, but that’s all the work I’m willing to do.

The ale I made a week ago is probably done. It went from 1.056 to 1.013. I fermented at 63 in hopes of reducing the banana flavors the yeast gives off, and I think it worked. The gas coming out of the keg doesn’t smell like bananas. Last night I moved it to 68 to speed things up and get it over with. My understanding is that fruity flavors develop at the beginning of fermentation, so raising the temperature should be safe now.

I used Crystal as my aroma hop. It usually smells spicy. This time, it smells citrusy, which it’s not supposed to do. The samples I took tasted great, however.

UPDATE

The stout turned out to be a job. It did not want to come through the bag. I had to squeeze it ruthlessly. Then I put it on an oven grate on a cooler and pour about half a gallon of hot water through it.

I found myself at 1.115 after the boil, so I had to add a lot of water. I got to 1.085. I believe I have right around 5 gallons.

Now I know how to deal with a big stout and my brewing bag, so next time, the job will go faster. It will also help if my wife doesn’t come in while I’m working and demand a trip to get barbecue.

The fermenting keg is full, and it’s in the pool, chilling. I plan to leave it outdoors tonight because the temperature will be good for fermentation. Maybe I’ll move it inside tomorrow.

I look forward to seeing what kveik can do. It would be neat to have a good imperial stout kegged and carbed in under a week.