Stone Imperial Russian Stout (13F) - EXTRACT Homebrew Ingredient Kit

The brew is good, I always bought cases of the IRS when it came out but no longer sold at the stores. The problem is with Austin quality control. First order came with busted open extract malt what a mess. They use snail mail at its slowest. They pack all the grains into a single bag which broke open at the bottom due to the weight when wet, a single bag can't handle it. I ordered extra bags however they were so small I could not fit my hand in it worthless LOL? Same bag problem with the second order not to mention the yeast pack was like a ballon and no longer good. Quality control quality control quality control?

Brewed the extract kit in Feb 2014. Followed the directions to the letter except for a few flavor additions a tweaks noted. Plan to brew again in early 2017 because it was a fabulous RIS! Ok, the details - I added the alcohol boost with the extract, and used the whole package of Warrior hops, splitting them 1.5 ozs at 90 mins, and .5 ozs at 5 mins. Use a blow-off tube on this one - wild fermentation! When racking to secondary also prep an oak&bourbon infusion - 3ozs of medium toast oak in 16 ozs of bourbon (I used Makers Mark) which yields about 8 ozs that you add about 2-3 weeks before bottling. The day before bottling prep a cold brewed coffee - 4.5 ozs of ground coffee in 3.5 cups of water. This will yield your 16 ozs of liquid for priming sugar solution. Since my ABV came in at 13.2% I also decided to pitch one pack of CBC-1 yeast to help the bottles carbonate. This beer has stood the test of time and is a favorite of my family & friends. Cheers!

dang- I didn't account for the shear bulk of this brew! I actually had to mash in 2 separate tuns... Just be prepared for 24lbs of grains & 7+ gallons of strike water before you take this one on. I ended up with lousy saccharification too... OG was 15 points under the projected 1.10something. bummer :/ But it's bubbling away happily now.