Bourbon County Stout Clone in a 5gal MLT

Mkinn said:

Few questions for the OP that I didn't see addressed in the thread.

1. What kind of fermenter did you use for aging? Have people had varying success with the allowed oxidation of plastic vs glass and how it compares to a real barrel?

2. Why is there such a difference in the yeasts everyone is using for different clone recipes? A lot of people swearing by SuperYeast, but then a lot of people using many packs of English Ale or Irish Ale... Can someone give a good reasoning why you chose what you did or have results?

Thanks for the info folks; I'm excited to brew this.

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I would imagine the people using 4 and 5 packages of yeast don't know how to make a starter.

owend17 said:

I would imagine the people using 4 and 5 packages of yeast don't know how to make a starter.

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You don't make starters with dry yeast, which is why I just throw 3 pack of US-05 in there. It's easy, and repeatable. How big of a starter would you need to ferement a beer that starts at 1.125? I don't mess around with gallon starters, if it takes more than a qt and half, I just throw another pack in. Peace of mind.

As far as yeast selection, I just went with dry american yeast. I don't think it matters.

Bourbon selection shouldn't matter much either, as long as it is drinkable neat, go for it.

bnuttz said:

You don't make starters with dry yeast, which is why I just throw 3 pack of US-05 in there. It's easy, and repeatable. How big of a starter would you need to ferement a beer that starts at 1.125? I don't mess around with gallon starters, if it takes more than a qt and half, I just throw another pack in. Peace of mind.



As far as yeast selection, I just went with dry american yeast. I don't think it matters.



Bourbon selection shouldn't matter much either, as long as it is drinkable neat, go for it.

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I agree!
2.5+gallon for the starter


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Great thread guys. At some point I want to make a big thick stout that ends up pretty high in gravity and this might just be it.

As for the yeast, instead of spending that much on dry yeast or DME for starters, I'd just make a 3 gallon batch of a smaller brown ale, porter or stout and reuse some of the yeast cake. Might as well make get some beer out of it instead of just dumping the oxidized starter beer down the drain.

owend17 said:

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet but you could use those new carbonation pills. I think they're called prime dose? It has yeast nutrient, yeast, and sugar all in the pill. 2 capsules per 12oz bottle.

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I will look into that, but my thought has been that I still have fermentables in there. So if I add the pills, I'm really just using it for the yeast. I just need to set up a test where I add some yeast to some bottles and add the tablets to other bottles.


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So the carbonation pills are nothing more than yeast, sugar and nutrient?

I got my Prime Dose capsules and will start adding them to my bottles in the next day or two. One thing that's lost on me however is am I supposed to break open the capsules or just chuck the whole thing in there? The container comes with no instructions. Any one know what "vegan, nutraceutical-grade capsule" means? Does that mean it will dissolve?

I feel dumb and google isn't helping.


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I'm going to say that it's vegan because the gelatin in the capsule come from a synthetic source vs a natural source (animal by products).

I'm sure the gelatin would dissolve, but I'm surprised they chose capsules versus a compressed tab. I guess that small amount of gelatin in the beer would be okay, but you could open them up and dump the contents in each bottle, but that sounds like a pain in the butt.

I tossed 2 capsules into a bottle last night, recapped, and have it a shake. When I get home in about an hour, I'll check to see if they're still floating around in one piece...

[UPDATE: The capsules have completely dissolved. That's a relief, b/c it'd be a pain to have to pour the powder into the bottles.]

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Good to hear. Hopefully everything works out.

UPDATE: I opened one bottle 13 days after adding 2 Prime Dose capsules. Nothing. Flat as an iron. I've got 2 other bottles with the stuff in them. I'll let them sit a few more weeks.

Disappointing. Has anyone had any success with Prime Dose?


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Brihaus said:

UPDATE: I opened one bottle 13 days after adding 2 Prime Dose capsules. Nothing. Flat as an iron. I've got 2 other bottles with the stuff in them. I'll let them sit a few more weeks.

Disappointing. Has anyone had any success with Prime Dose?


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I think you may find an OG of 1.129 may need more than a few weeks to carb up properly.

sfrisby said:

I think you may find an OG of 1.129 may need more than a few weeks to carb up properly.

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It has been 8 or 9 months. Maybe the prime dose needs more than 2 weeks, but this isn't a good sign. I have 2 more bottles with prime dose in them. I'll check again in May.



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Brihaus said:

UPDATE: I opened one bottle 13 days after adding 2 Prime Dose capsules. Nothing.


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This is what I referring to. The time the priming sugar was added, not the age of the beer. Higher ABV beers take more time to fully carb up. Don't be surprised if it takes 3-6 months.

sfrisby said:

This is what I referring to. The time the priming sugar was added, not the age of the beer. Higher ABV beers take more time to fully carb up. Don't be surprised if it takes 3-6 months.

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I'll wait. I've got nothing better to do with these bottles. But I will be surprised if it is carbonated after 6 months. The patience strategy was supposed to work for the additional yeast I added at bottling, and yet here we are, not even the slightest pfft when removing the cap.

I guess they are reluctant to disclose what strain of yeast is included since the patent is still pending. I would guess I'd be better off just hydrating some super yeast and squirting a mL or so in each bottle.


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So bourbon stouts are my favorite beer so before I deployed for a year I filled this 5 gallon barrel with bourbon and let it sit for 12 months. I'm brewing a clone of this beer next weekend and then putting it in this barrel. I will post updates as they happen.


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UPDATE: Wouldn't you know it, I popped a bottle yesterday, and I've got perfect carbonation. It was a bottle that I fed Prime Dose, so we know that works...just takes a little time. I will say though that the beer tastes like Coke. Not sure if it's the recipe or the prime dose conditioning.

I opened several other bottles that had a very faint pffft sound upon decapping. I added very little dextrose and some fresh Wyeast Scottish ale yeast that I had in a starter from the night before, and recapped. We'll see how that goes and if the flavor is better.


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So one bottle had great carbonation and the others you opened at the same time did not?

sfrisby said:

So one bottle had great carbonation and the others you opened at the same time did not?

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Right, but I only added prime dose to one bottle so I could see if it worked.


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Ok, here is what really worked. I created a starter of Scottish ale yeast and dissolved some priming sugar in boiling water. Then I removed caps of flat beer, added some healthy yeast, and unscientifically added "some" priming sugar. Results after 2 weeks were terrific: fully carbed, although I might have added too much sugar to the bottles. Probably didn't need any sugar at all. And the beer quality may have suffered due to the heat conditions I put it through trying to get it carbonated previously.


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What are you making with the second running and does it come out tasting good?


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Today I brewed 15 gallons of Bourbon county Stout @ 1.112. Ran an additional 10.5 gallons of water thru the used grain and come up with 8 gallons of 1.074 Little County Stout, can't wait to try little county to see what it taste like. If it comes out tasty I will try to make it a 10 gallon Little County stout next time. Hops used for Little county were Centennial and Amarillo.

Any ideas how I would save the second running Little County Stout as a recipe in a brewing app?


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Anyone try Wyeast 1728 in this recipe?
Or what other yeast have you tried that come out good?


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Does Goose Island actually add Bourbon to the beer? I alway thought the bourbon barrels only added aromas and a bit of Bourbon oak bite.

I don't think you can legally add bourbon to the beer. It gets a little crazy with the laws and taxation. I remember listening to a podcast where the Brewer from fiftyfifty mentions the length they go to rinse there barrels. Something along the lines of no more that a half a percentage can come from the barrel