Pics of RIS and Second Running Porter Brew day

We did a two step mash.  Starting at 138 F and then jumping up to 155 F.  Nice rainy day to brew.

Pulling out 6 quarts to boil to heat the mash up to 155 F.

The grains are already creating magic.

Pulling off  another 7 quarts to heat up for mash out.  You can see how dark the wort is already.  

I am not done yet. 

And so yummy.

The brewmaster agrees.

Night is not this black. 

Yes, I need another.

Alright between the sampling and the rain, we have actually  created  7 gallons of  1.078 SG wort.  Natedog had the brillant idea of photographing the hydrometer (thats the glass stick thing) against the same background.

There is the RIS wort in kettle, with plenty of head

The collection of bittering hops for the RIS.

The hop break was massive. 

We have two umbrellas up to keep us dry, but still the  quite  dog finds a place to get dripped on.

While the RIS is boiling away, we started boiling the second runnings.  This wort came in  at 1.020 SG.   

The flavor and aroma hops.

Getting ready to cool the porter.

And now the quite one has been dripped on  by tasty wort.

The RIS is ready for the fermenter.  

Cooling the Porter.  We are done and have ten gallons to ferment.  

Russian Imperial Stout (RIS) Recipe and the second runnings Porter

Here is the Russian Imperial Stout (RIS) recipe we used.  I have been using some version of this recipe for 6 years.  

5 gallon batch size
14 lbs American 2 row Pale Malt
1.5 lbs Roasted Barley
1.5 lbs Chocolate Malt
1 lbs Belgian 2 row Pale Malt
1 lbs Biscuit Malt
1 lbs Wheat Malt
1 lbs light Munich Malt
1 lbs Flaked Oats
0.5 lbs CaraMunich 60 L
0.5 lbs Black Patent Malt
0.5 lbs Special B Malt


11.5 HBUs Fuggle pellet hops @ 60 mins

12 HBUs Perle pellet hops @ 60 mins

21 HBUs Magnum pellet hops @ 60 mins

1 oz EKG pellet hops @ 10 mins

0.5 oz Ahtanum plug @ 0 mins
0.65 oz homegrown Cascade whole hops @ 0 min

1 wyeast 1968 pack - This is the london ESB yeast.  One of my favorites.

1 tsp Irish moss

carbon filtered tap water

5.2 mash buffer


We have found that there is extra sugar, flavor, and color left, we make a porter with the seconds.  This is in style 12.  This one is for the benefit, so we will be rebrewing the style later.


2-4 lbs DME as needed to beef up the starting gravity


8.7 HBUs Magnum pellet hops @ 60 mins
1 oz EKG pellet hops @  10 mins

1 wyeast 1318 pack.  I went with the London Ale yeast, since Fermentations only had one 1968.  I could have gone and propogated the ESB up, but sometimes I am lazy.

1 tsp Irish moss

carbon filtered tap water