CZAR’S REVENGE
Russian Imperial Stout

This by far is one of Lantz's favorite beers and has been fine tuned to his taste over a number of batches. Pay careful attention to the instructions below to achieve these results.

5 gallons
O.G. 1.123 (no this is not a misprint)
13% alc.

20# Hugh Baird 2-row malt
1.5# Munton 55L crystal malt
8 oz. Briess roasted barley
8 oz. Munton black malt
1# flaked oats

24 HBU Bullion hops (boil 90 minutes)
1.5 oz. Bullion hops (boil 30 minutes)
1 oz. Bullion hops (boil 15 minutes)

2 tsp. Irish Moss (boil 15 minutes)
2 Tbsp. Yeast Energizer
2 packages Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale

IMPORTANT
To achieve the amount of gravity in this volume of beer you must perform a very, very long boil. We have been known to finish a normal brew day in 6-8 hours. This paticular brew day will takes us about 12 hours. The reason for doing this is to get every bit of gravity out of the grain during our sparge. We sparge until the volume reaches the highest level we can go in our 15.5 gallon brew kettle, which is about 1" below the top of the kettle's lip. We start with a very slow boil, and after the hot break and the level has lowered sufficiently, we increase to a more rapid boil, this is to prevent boil over. Once our volume reaches about 7-8 gallons, we treat it as you would any other normal 5 gallon batch. This means your total boil time could be 4-5 hours long!

Mash 90 minutes at 152F with 1.3 quart of water for each pound of grain. Sparge very slowly at 170F for at least 1 hour until the level in the brew kettle is about 1" below the lip of the kettle.

Add first addition of hops 90 minute before end of the boil, second edition 30 minutes before and the final edition 15 minutes before. Chill wort to 65F, add yeast and ferment at 65F. After 2 weeks in primary fermenters transfer to secondary glass carboys. After 4 weeks in secondary fermenters keg the beer. Carbonate and age 6-12 months in the keg.

This beer is not for those who are in a hurry. It is a very, very complex beer and was designed to be aged well. It is best served in a brandy snifter or other barleywine type glassware.

Warning: Drink this beer only while sitting in a very comfortable chair just before bedtime.