Hops to use in a RIS?

[tj218]

Rookie.....planning my 3rd and 4th brews (extract).....going with Northern Brewers Scottish 70 Schilling and then using that yeast cake to pitch Northern Brewers Russian Imperial Stout kit.

However, when I look at the kit ingredients, the hops included in the kit don't seem "right" for the style.

It has 1.75oz of Summit at 60 min and 2 oz. of Cascade at flame out.

First, on flavors this seems like it will be too citrus-like for a Russian Imperial. Would it be better to sub for say Nugget and EKG or Fuggles? Or does the extended aging get rid of the citrusy flavors?

Second, this kit seems a bit high on IBU (TastyBrew has this as 125 IBU). These hop changes seem to bring it down closer to the style guide.

Ultimately, I'd like to get close to an Old Rasputin (or even the Brewers Best kit my friend did turned out great) and would like to stay away from Victory Brewing's interpretation.

Thanks for any and all help.

 

[bobbrews]

All of those hops have successfully been used in RIS. It depends on what you want. I'm more of a fan of say, Stone Imperial Russian Stout vs. Victory Storm King. It's all a matter of preference though. I suggest visiting the website of your favorite RIS's to get an idea of what they use. It also depends on the overall IBUs and the relationship to the OG, and the placement of those hops.

I believe Old Raspy is bittered with Cluster, then it has some Cent & NB around 2 minutes left in the boil.

 

[tre9er]

I'd side with Goldings or something earthy for a stout. Of course it depends on the stout. Bittering hops will not impart much else to the beer, especially an aged beer.

 

[Brewitt]

I've done two batches of RIS based on the tasty brew recipe but have modified the hops each time. I have them at about 90 IBU. The second one I went more toward the citrus with a dry hop but the first one came out pretty close to Old Rasputin, certainly one of my favorites. That one used 2.5 oz of Warrior pellets for 90 min, 1 oz whole leaf Simcoe and 1 oz Northern Brewer pellet at turnoff. That suited me just fine :cross:

 

[nberna19]

I recently did an RIS w/ Maris Otter as the base malt so I guess you'd say it was more of an English style. I used Magnum for a clean bittering then finished with Kent Goldings at 10 and 0 minutes left in the boil. As it's been said already, just depends on what you're going for in the beer.

 

[tj218]

I think I am going to try an oz. of Nugget at 60 and also an ounce of Fuggle, since I will have an oz. of Fuggle laying around.

Thanks for any and all help!

Now I need to find a use for the 2 oz of Summit and 2oz. of Cascade that comes with the kit...

 

[iijakii]

I really like Centennial in my big RIS, but for my smaller stouts I usually stick with the more traditional Goldings and Fuggles and what not. Centennial is basically cocaine to me though.

 

[duckmanco]

Don't worry about the 125 ibu, you'll never hit that anyway at 60 min. even with a full boil, but with a partial boil, you won't even be close to that as dilution of the wort using top off water will bring whatever the actual number is.

But, as for the hop choices, they are excellent for an RIS, especially the summit. High AA hops for bittering a big beer is ideal, and their flavor contribution after a 60 minute boil will be almost nothing, from my experience with 1lb of Summit. On to Cascade, the probably all time awesomest (has to be a word) hop ever? Perfect for any dark roasty beer, to include Rogues Shakespeare Stout. Brew that recipe up.

 

[Brewitt]

+1 to duckmanco. I just dry hopped my 90 IBU RIS with 2oz of cascade which would give a nice citrus nose to an IPA but it is almost imperceptible an the RIS. I think it might be more accurate to say that the hops get lost in all of the roastiness and complex flavors and it becomes hard to sort out. That is one of the Joys of an RIS.

 

[runningweird]

I prefer colombus and lots of it. In a big Imperial Stout you're not going to get much hop nuance but the bitterness will help to balance out the malt profile. I have even dry hopped the WW imperial Stout with around 3 ounces of leaf hops and its nice.

go colombus.