extract bourbon barrel ale?

YNWApistolero · 11-20-2011, 10:45 PM

So I'm a huge fan of Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. I've seen some AG clone recipes, but as I'm still somewhat new to brewing (<1 year) and limited in brewing space I am limited to extract beers. I was considering trying to make my own.
I was thinking that the base would have to be malty, so my mind went immediately to an Irish Red kit from Norther Brewer. Sticking with the Ireland thread, I then considered adding a cup (or 1.5 or 2) of Jameson instead of bourbon to secondary and making an Irish Red Whiskey ale. Has anyone made or heard of anything like this? Any thoughts on potential snags I may run into? My fermentor is empty and I'm itching to start branching out from following extract recipes straight from start to finish. I really appreciate the help/advice!

hopheaded · 11-21-2011, 02:41 AM

check out using oak chips soaked in bourbon/whiskey! im planning to do it myself, and this is the method ive seen being used the most. youll find lots of threads on here with different techniques for this.

YNWApistolero · 11-21-2011, 03:10 AM

I've been looking into this and there seem to be a few different ways to do it -
Soak wood chips in whiskey for about 2 weeks, then either:
1. pour the whole mixture in
2. add the wood chips only
3. add the liquid only

I'm leaning towards adding the liquid only b/c I'm worried about getting too much oak flavor, which some brewers have mentioned struggling with. Any recommendations based on what you've found? Thanks for the help!

**unionrdr** · 11-21-2011, 03:58 PM

I brewed a dark ale,& while that was fermenting,I soaked 4oz of medium toast French oak chips in 5 jiggers (7.5oz) of Beam's Black in an airtight container in the fridge during the entire ferment time.
The oak chips soaked up 2/3's of the bourbon in that time. I poured all through a hop sack into secondary,tied it off,& dropped it in. I racked the dark ale onto that,& sealed it up. In 8 days,it was pretty strong. It took 9 weeks & 6 days to mellow/mingle. 2 weeks fridge time to get good head & carbonation.
So next time,I'll maybe use 2 or 3oz of chips,& 2 or 3 jiggers of bourbon to put it on the back more. Hope these experiences help.

YNWApistolero · 11-21-2011, 09:25 PM

I appreciate the advice! Since I'm starting with a lighter beer I will probably go with 2 oz of oak chips and no more than a cup or so of whiskey.

OHIOSTEVE · 11-21-2011, 09:45 PM

I have a batch of KBBA on oak right now ( well hopefully it tastes as good) right now it is FANTASTIC but not KBBA either, I am only on 5-6 days on the oak.. anyway I was advised by a very experienced brewer to NOT add the whiskey that you soaked the oak in to your beer. he claimed that along with the oak flavor that it draws a lot of tannins out. So I tossed the bourbon and threw the oak chips into the fermentor.