Courage Russian Imperial Stout Recipe: The Legitimate Heir of the Original Style

This post is also available in: Español Português

Courage Russian Imperial Stout was not the first Imperial Stout in history, but it was the direct heir of the original lineage born in London in the 18th century.

Courage Russian Imperial Stout Recipe — Courage Russian Imperial Stout

The style emerged at Thrale’s Anchor Brewery, later known as Barclay Perkins, famous for its powerful “Strong Porters” exported to the court of the Russian tsars.

When Courage Brewery acquired Barclay Perkins in 1955, it also inherited its recipes and tradition, continuing production of this legendary beer under the name Courage Imperial Russian Stout.

It thus became the last authentic descendant of the first British Imperial Stouts, keeping alive a style with more than two centuries of history.

The base recipe for the Courage RIS comes from Barclay Perkins’ 1914 production logs, which were themselves an evolution of the 18th-century Thrale’s Stouts.

Specifications

Name: Courage Russian Imperial Stout
Beer style: Russian Imperial Stout
Recipe type: All grain
Yield: 20 liters
Efficiency: 72%
Pre-boil: 27 liters

Guía práctica para catar cerveza: Cómo apreciar correctamente todas las cervezas del mundo

Comprar en Amazon

Ingredients

1. Fermentables

6.00 kg Maris Otter pale malt (65%)
1.50 kg brown malt (16%)
0.80 kg black patent malt (9%)
0.30 kg chocolate malt (3%)
0.50 kg dark cane sugar or D candi syrup (7%)

2. Hops

60 g Target (8% AA) at the start of the boil (120 minutes, 55 IBU)
15 g East Kent Goldings (5% AA) at 30 minutes remaining (10 IBU)

Other

5 g Irish Moss (10 minutes, boiled)
5 g yeast nutrient (10 minutes, boiled)

Yeast

Wyeast 1028 London Ale or White Labs WLP013 London Ale, attenuation: 72–75%, high flocculation.

Beer Profile

Original Gravity: 1.102
Final Gravity: 1.026
ABV: 10.0%
SRM: 85
IBU: 65
Calories: 420 kcal (500 ml)
Carbohydrates: 34 g (500 ml)

Water Profile

The water should resemble the classic London profile, with high bicarbonate content to balance the acidity of the dark malts and soften the perception of bitterness.

Calcium (Ca+2): 90 ppm
Magnesium (Mg+2): 10 ppm
Sodium (Na+): 40 ppm
Chlorides (Cl-): 50 ppm
Sulfates (SO4-2): 80 ppm
Bicarbonates (HCO3-): 220 ppm

Preparation

Begin by heating 21.5 liters of water to 70°C to reach a mash temperature of 65–66°C. Mix the crushed grains into the water and hold that temperature for 60 minutes to achieve complete starch conversion. Adjust pH to 5.3–5.4 if necessary with lactic or phosphoric acid.
At the end of the mash, raise the temperature to 75°C for 10 minutes for mash-out. Perform a sparge with 5.5 liters of water at 77°C to obtain a pre-boil volume of 27 liters.
Bring the wort to a vigorous boil for 120 minutes. Add the Target hops at the start of the boil and the East Kent Goldings with 30 minutes remaining. At 10 minutes from the end, add the Irish Moss and yeast nutrient. The extended boil will develop dark caramelized notes and increase the gravity.
Rapidly cool the wort to 18–20°C and transfer to the fermenter. Aerate the wort well before pitching the yeast. Ferment between 18 and 20°C for 10 to 14 days or until the target final gravity is reached.
After primary fermentation, transfer to a secondary fermenter and cold condition (10–12°C) for at least 4–6 weeks. This beer improves enormously with aging: historically it was left to rest between 9 and 12 months before consumption, developing notes of wine, dried fruit, leather, and dark chocolate.
For bottling, dissolve 6 g of sugar per liter for moderate carbonation (2.0 volumes of CO₂). Allow the bottles to rest at room temperature for 3–4 weeks before drinking.

Brewer’s Notes

This recipe is based on the original records of Barclay Perkins and Courage, reconstructed by Ron Pattinson. It is a powerful, complex, and long-lived beer.

If you wish to emulate the 19th-century barrel-aged versions, you can use a secondary Brettanomyces claussenii yeast, though this is optional and advanced.

The final character should be intense and liqueur-like, with a balance between malt sweetness and British earthy bitterness, and a dense, silky texture.