Bourbon Barrel Porter

[docpd]

This was a total guess on the recipe:

1 can Winter Dark Ale
1 lb dark DME
.25 oz Saaz 20 min
.25 oz Saaz 7 min
US-04 yeast

1/2 oz oak chips soaked in 4 oz Jim Beam for 2 weeks, then poured the bourbon and chips into the fermenter for the 3rd week of fermentation.

I just cracked one open at 3 weeks in the bottle and it is great. I was afraid the bourbon might overwhelm the beer but it blends well. It has nice roasted malt flavor. I think it will be even better in a few more weeks.

I have plenty of wood chips and Jim Beam left so may try a Bourbon Barrel Amber next.

[ssorck]

This sounds like a winner. I've got an extra Winter Dark from a Defibrilator Dopplebock Recipe I haven't made, figured now I'd wait until Aprilish to brew for next year. Maybe I'll go in this direction instead, and sooner too!

Kudos, great idea!

[ssorck]

So...starting to really consider this.

Do you think 4 oz. of bourbon is the right amount? If you did it again would you go little more/little less?

Thanks!

[Crazy Climber]

Glad yours came out good, docpd!

To ssorck's question, I'll add my two cents: I made a 2.4 gal batch of a Bourbon Barrel IPA in an LBK recently. I used 4 oz of Maker's Mark and 1 oz of oak cubes (chips impart flavor better than cubes, so I used more cubes than I would have if using chips). In my opinion, it tastes decent, but the aroma is strongly bourbon and not much else. Even the taste is a little more than I was shooting for, but still drinkable. But keep in mind, this is an IPA, which wouldn't have the malt-forward roasty flavors to stand up to the bourbon. So, it could well be that 4 oz is a good amount for a Porter.

I added the oak cubes to the secondary for 14 days, but not the bourbon itself. The method I used for adding the bourbon was to wait until bottling time, and I dosed a few 2-ounce samples of beer with varying amounts of bourbon, decided which one I liked best, and then scaled up. The end result was 4 oz for the whole batch.

I've used this sample-and-scale method for some other additives (fruit extract, spices) and I think it works very well, but the one suggestion I'd offer is: round down. What tastes perfect for a sip or two will probably be too strong over a pint or two. For example, I had three samples of the bourbon which equated to a batch addition of 2 oz, 4 oz and 6 oz. To me, the 4 was perfect at bottling time, but in retrospect I should have gone with 3 oz, IMO. (Again, keep in mind this was for an IPA, not a Porter or Stout.)

Whatever you choose to do, have fun with it!

[mtsoxfan]

I have used toasted oak and it imparted the flavor I was looking for.

[docpd]

I think I would agree with Crazy Climber that a bit less bourbon would be better in a lighter beer. So far I have only tasted one bottle and it is not fully conditioned yet, but I think the roasted and chocolate malts in the porter do balance the bourbon. I think Gymrat has done some Bourbon Barrel Ales. Maybe he will weigh in on this.

[Gymrat]

This was the Bourbon Barrel Stout I made.
I soaked the oak chips in 12 oz of bourbon for a week before adding them. I added a week after brewing. Upon bottling I tasted the wort and there wasn't quite enough bourbon character so I added 2 more oz to the bottling bucket. I used windsor ale yeast as I really wanted as much malt character as I could achieve. I also mashed at 158F.

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Ralph's Bourbon Barrel Porter
Brewer: Roger
Asst Brewer: Ralph The Wonderdog
Style: Robust Porter
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 5.70 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.20 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.061 SG
Estimated Color: 37.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 70.8 %
2 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 16.7 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.2 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.2 %
4.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.1 %
4.0 oz Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM) Grain 6 2.1 %
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [6.40 %] - First Wor Hop 7 25.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [6.40 %] - Boil 20.0 Hop 8 14.2 IBUs
1.0 pkg Windsor Yeast (Lallemand #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 9 -
1.00 oz Oak Chips (Primary 7.0 days) Flavor 10 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs

I sent Beer Lord one of these but I don't know if he has tried it.

[ssorck]

Gymrat - on your initial addition you just added the wood chips, not the 12 oz of bourbon?

[Gymrat]

No..there was no way to add bourbon in beersmith. After soaking the chips in 12oz of bourbon for a week in a mason jar, I dumped all of the contents into the Ale Pail after 1 week of fermentation.

[docpd]

As an update, after several more weeks of conditioning, the Bourbon Barrel Porter is awesome. It has exactly the blend of malt base and bourbon flavor I was looking forward to.

[Gymrat]

Nice Doc. I love mine as well. At 6 months old it is a fantastic beer. It isn't a session beer but a nice occasional treat. And it made some really good chilli.

[ssorck]

Snowed in today so I brewed this after bottling a couple of batches. Except I did .5 Saaz at both 20 and 7 minutes and swapped the lb of dark lme for a Mr. beer Brewmax Robust LME pack and 1/3 lb of Briess light DME, both of which I had on hand. Thanks for the recipe Doc!

[ssorck]

Started writing a post to say this is active fermentation, and was gonna post this pic:

image.jpg (96.78 KiB) Viewed 3703 times

Literally as I was typing heard a big boom from the basement, lol...

image.jpg (95.97 KiB) Viewed 3703 times

1st keg overflow AND 1st keg blowup within 15 minutes of each other!!! Thankfully I had this one in a cooler with the lid down!

[FrozenInTime]

Ohhhh yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, beer pron!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those look like some VERY happy yeasties!!!!

[philm00x]

NICE!!! Prob scared the p00p outta you lol.