add whiskey to beer?

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70Cuda383

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I've got a recipe I'm about to try, that includes oak chips from a whiskey barrel, I've had some brews that were aged in brandy barrels and they were pretty good.

got me thinking though...could you just add a little straight whiskey to the wort before it starts fermenting, to help enhance the flavor? or will that be likely to do bad things to the brew?

anyone ever tried it?



on a side note though, my latest concoction turned out pretty good. started with a smoked porter kit, added another 3 lbs of dark malt, 2 12-cup pots of starbucks house blend coffee, about a 1/2 lb of pure cocoa, so its a Mocha Smoked porter, and it's pretty good...but next time I think I wanna add some lactose for a touch of sweetness, and creaminess.
 
Yes, plenty of people add whiskey to their beers. It's best to add it during secondary fermentation though, to mimick the aging that's done in barrels.
 
I guess it depends on what you're going for but I wouldn't bother. The whiskey barrel oak chip should impart enough flavor that you shouldn't need it. But I like my whiskey neat.
 
Five steps to happiness:
1. Brew a stout
2. Soak oak chips in bourbon
3. Pour bourbon into stout (filtering out the chips).
4. Bottle.
5. Drink.
 
Wouldn't pouring bourbon into your fermented beer create a high risk of oxidation?

I've never done it, but always asummed it would be better to rack onto the whiskey or only add the oak chips since they were already soaked in the whiskey.
 
nefarious_1_ said:
Wouldn't pouring bourbon into your fermented beer create a high risk of oxidation?

I've never done it, but always assumed it would be better to rack on top of the whiskey or only add the oak chips since they were already soaking in the whiskey.
Click to expand...

Probably more of a low risk of oxidation, that may or may not be welcome.
 
I've added bourbon during bottling (to individual bottles)... it worked well especially in a big barleywine I did a while back.
 
Well, I actually did add Whiskey to my very first batch. I tend to agree with doctorRobert in regard to the low oxidation. My first batch of beer turned out good but not great. It was a tad stronger (ABV) than maybe what I had expected and maybe this is due - in part - to the addition of the whiskey.

I added Ballentine's Scotch Blend Whiskey to my initial wort.

My result is a very strong gold/amber beer. Tastes good, but the head and the carbonation have disipated quite a bit. I'm unclear if this is due to whiskey or the fact that I'm new and this is my first batch and whatnot.

My second batch is currently in bottle-stage...so if the carbonation here is good...then it may be the added whiskey. If it turns out to be neither of those...then I just suck at brewing all together. Hoping this is not the culprit.
 
Cool. this gives me all kinds of new ideas!!!

I probably won't add any whiskey straight to this batch that has the oak chips with it, but I've been turning over an idea in my head on a "christmas" brew that I want to make...I know for sure that I want it to have a pine/evergreen flavor to it, and I've been thinking it should be a dark beer...and maybe a hit of scotch would be just the thing it needs. haven't figured out how I want to go about this yet..

just know WHERE I want the ingredients to come from. family owns a nice 80 acre plot of land in the mohican state park area here in Ohio. lots of pine trees and spruce trees, etc. plus, my great grandfather had a house on the land, with a well. we're talking the pureset, cleanest tasting water ever. because of the hills, the well came right out of a spring at ground level -- "into the hill"

I know I want my water from there....and pine from there. not that it'll make a difference on flavor, but more for the sentiment of it.

plus, they say with wine, scotch, etc. that you can "taste where it was grown" --myself, I just like a good scotch, they're all good to me! blended, single, highland, lowland...doesn't matter!
 
70Cuda383 said:
Cool. this gives me all kinds of new ideas!!!

I probably won't add any whiskey straight to this batch that has the oak chips with it, but I've been turning over an idea in my head on a "christmas" brew that I want to make...I know for sure that I want it to have a pine/evergreen flavor to it, and I've been thinking it should be a dark beer...and maybe a hit of scotch would be just the thing it needs. haven't figured out how I want to go about this yet..

just know WHERE I want the ingredients to come from. family owns a nice 80 acre plot of land in the mohican state park area here in Ohio. lots of pine trees and spruce trees, etc. plus, my great grandfather had a house on the land, with a well. we're talking the pureset, cleanest tasting water ever. because of the hills, the well came right out of a spring at ground level -- "into the hill"

I know I want my water from there....and pine from there. not that it'll make a difference on flavor, but more for the sentiment of it.

plus, they say with wine, scotch, etc. that you can "taste where it was grown" --myself, I just like a good scotch, they're all good to me! blended, single, highland, lowland...doesn't matter!
Click to expand...

I would watch it with the pine. If you're planning on adding needles, or anything else that's fresh from the tree, you'll want to soak it in vodka first to sterilize it. As for whiskey, I don't like to add it directly to the beer. I prefer adding the soaked oak chips and filtering out the whiskey. As someone mentioned above, I like a smoother flavor, not overpowering whiskey. The oak chips will soak up enough whiskey to do the trick.
 
Suthrncomfrt1884 said:
I would watch it with the pine. If you're planning on adding needles, or anything else that's fresh from the tree, you'll want to soak it in vodka first to sterilize it. As for whiskey, I don't like to add it directly to the beer. I prefer adding the soaked oak chips and filtering out the whiskey. As someone mentioned above, I like a smoother flavor, not overpowering whiskey. The oak chips will soak up enough whiskey to do the trick.
Click to expand...

my plan was to add it during the "seep" process, before initial boil. kind of like making "pine tea"

do you think I should add it AFTER the boil?
 
I brewed a dark ale while 4oz of medium toast French oak chips soaked in 5 jiggers of Beam's Black 8 year old bourbon while the ale fermented. I poured the chips/bourbon mixture through a grain bag,tied it off,& dropped it in. Then racked the ale onto them for 8 days. The bourbon flavor was strong enough to mask some of the malt flavor.
I think I'll cut it down to 3oz of oak & 4 jiggers of bourbon next time. Or 4oz of oak & only 3-4 jiggers of bourbon. Depends on how much oak to bourbon flavor is desired. Now,had I been brewing a stout to add them to,I'd go ahead & used the 4ozoak/5jiggers bourbon. The stout has a lot more flavor/body to stand up to them. A dark ale def seems to need a lighter hand with the bourbon/oak. As of a few days ago,the bourbon & oak,combined with the Kent Golding & Haulertauer hops give it a sort of spicy oak hit. But not overpowering.
 
nefarious_1_ said:
Wouldn't pouring bourbon into your fermented beer create a high risk of oxidation?

I've never done it, but always asummed it would be better to rack onto the whiskey or only add the oak chips since they were already soaked in the whiskey.
Click to expand...

I've done it MANY times fro my Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter. No oxidation due to it whatsoever. I find it's best to add it at bottling or kegging. I pour 4 2 oz. samples and dose each with a different measured amount of bourbon. After tasting to decide which I like best, I scale that amount of bourbon up to the batch size.
 
70Cuda383 said:
Cool. this gives me all kinds of new ideas!!!

I probably won't add any whiskey straight to this batch that has the oak chips with it, but I've been turning over an idea in my head on a "christmas" brew that I want to make...I know for sure that I want it to have a pine/evergreen flavor to it, and I've been thinking it should be a dark beer...and maybe a hit of scotch would be just the thing it needs. haven't figured out how I want to go about this yet..

just know WHERE I want the ingredients to come from. family owns a nice 80 acre plot of land in the mohican state park area here in Ohio. lots of pine trees and spruce trees, etc. plus, my great grandfather had a house on the land, with a well. we're talking the pureset, cleanest tasting water ever. because of the hills, the well came right out of a spring at ground level -- "into the hill"

I know I want my water from there....and pine from there. not that it'll make a difference on flavor, but more for the sentiment of it.

plus, they say with wine, scotch, etc. that you can "taste where it was grown" --myself, I just like a good scotch, they're all good to me! blended, single, highland, lowland...doesn't matter!
Click to expand...

Take a lesson from my experience...pine is a very bad idea....
 
unionrdr said:
I brewed a dark ale while 4oz of medium toast French oak chips soaked in 5 jiggers of Beam's Black 8 year old bourbon while the ale fermented. I poured the chips/bourbon mixture through a grain bag,tied it off,& dropped it in. Then racked the ale onto them for 8 days. The bourbon flavor was strong enough to mask some of the malt flavor.
I think I'll cut it down to 3oz of oak & 4 jiggers of bourbon next time. Or 4oz of oak & only 3-4 jiggers of bourbon. Depends on how much oak to bourbon flavor is desired. Now,had I been brewing a stout to add them to,I'd go ahead & used the 4ozoak/5jiggers bourbon. The stout has a lot more flavor/body to stand up to them. A dark ale def seems to need a lighter hand with the bourbon/oak. As of a few days ago,the bourbon & oak,combined with the Kent Golding & Haulertauer hops give it a sort of spicy oak hit. But not overpowering.
Click to expand...

You say Oak, but hows the vanilla flavor from the oak, or is that what you mean? I wish I would have kept mine longer, it tasted great right before it was gone.
 
Denny said:
Take a lesson from my experience...pine is a very bad idea....
Click to expand...

ok.

what happened?

I had a brew once in Colorado, and it DEFINITELY had some evergreen to it of some kind. I don't know what it was, but it was like sniffing a fresh christmas reef, and it was pretty good.

so if not pine, then something evergreen should be found to work with a beer. spruce, or something!
 
70Cuda383 said:
ok.

what happened?

I had a brew once in Colorado, and it DEFINITELY had some evergreen to it of some kind. I don't know what it was, but it was like sniffing a fresh christmas reef, and it was pretty good.

so if not pine, then something evergreen should be found to work with a beer. spruce, or something!
Click to expand...

Spruce is what is commonly used...young tips of a particular variety that I can't recall at the moment. Pine beer ends up tasting like turpentine. I made a spruce beer once. No one but me would drink it and it was a chore for me.
 
Stevo2569 said:
You say Oak, but hows the vanilla flavor from the oak, or is that what you mean? I wish I would have kept mine longer, it tasted great right before it was gone.
Click to expand...

It's the reaction between the oak ( Medium toast French oak in my case) & the bourbon that breaks down into a oaky vanilla flavor with time. The french oak seems to break down into vanilla flavors moreso than American oak. It does take a couple months for it to happen,though.
I think it's pretty good right now,with that slight vanilla,spicy oak thing going. Reminds me of the spicy smoke I get from using black oak in the bbq pit.
 
unionrdr said:
It's the reaction between the oak ( Medium toast French oak in my case) & the bourbon that breaks down into a oaky vanilla flavor with time. The french oak seems to break down into vanilla flavors moreso than American oak. It does take a couple months for it to happen,though.
I think it's pretty good right now,with that slight vanilla,spicy oak thing going. Reminds me of the spicy smoke I get from using black oak in the bbq pit.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the clarification Union
 
I'm going to glom onto this thread, since it isn't that old yet.

I'm looking at doing the Austin Home Brew Whiskey Barrel Porter for this winter. After a summer of brewing pale, easy-drinking beer, I'm in the mood for something bigger. I don't have the instructions yet, but just from reading the description it would seem it's the type where you soak the oak chips and add the whiskey.

Has anybody brewed that one yet, or close to it? I don't know how new the kit is. I'm curious what it tastes like, and if there's anything commercial I could try first to give me some idea of what I'd be shooting for. I haven't done a whiskey fortified beer before.

Thanks!

Andy
 
You soak the chips in the whiskey. Preferably during the entire fermentation time. After a stable FG is reached,& the beer has had 3-5 days to clean up & settle out more,rack to secondary onto the bag you poured the whiskey/chip mixture into. Pour through the bag into the secondary vessel,tie off the bag,& drop it in. Rack beer onto it. Give it at least 3-4 days,then take a 1 ounce sample in a shot glass. Decide if it's where yo want it,or needs more time. I did 8 days & it was fairly strong,but not completely dominant.
 
Thanks! Although I'm not so concerned about the method right now, as I am about knowing what the whiskey adds to the beer, flavor-wise. I'm hearing a lot of vanilla, some spice, etc. Those all sound good. I'm not looking for the beer to just taste like I dropped a shot of whiskey into it.
 
Since I used 4oz of medium toast French oak chips soaked in 5 jiggers of 8 year old bourbon,it gave a lot of flavor rather quickly. Took 9 weeks & 6 days,then 2 weeks fridge time to get it down to something like that point.
So I'd say at this point,maybe 2 or 3 ounces of oak chips,soaked in 3oz of whiskey for the duration of the beer's ferment time. In an airtight container in the fridge. I like to make sure it doesn't have a chance to spoil or go "off" in some way during the soak time. Better to be safe than sorry,I say.
Anyway,the Beam's Black bourbon I used with the toasted French oak lent a woody spiced bourbon flavor that reminded me of using black oak in my bbq pit. Black oak lent that stronger spicy smoke to meats,moreso than white oak. Kinda like that. It will eventally break down/mellow out to a vanilla,smooth whiskey on the back sort of flavor. But again,it depends on the whiskey used as to what flavors it'll age in to.
 
ARittner said:
Thanks! Although I'm not so concerned about the method right now, as I am about knowing what the whiskey adds to the beer, flavor-wise. I'm hearing a lot of vanilla, some spice, etc. Those all sound good. I'm not looking for the beer to just taste like I dropped a shot of whiskey into it.
Click to expand...

It's going to taste like whiskey. All of the people who say it tastes like spice and vanilla are the same people who can pick out 50 different flavors in a stout. In the end, it just tastes like whiskey added to a stout. The type of barrel used may add some flavors, but it's no more than it would add to a typical whiskey.

Use good whiskey and you'll get a good final outcome. If you wouldn't drink it, then don't use it for beer or food. That's always been my rule.
 
I did 2 oz of oak chips soaked in whiskey, and just added the chips after for two-three weeks and I found the end product to be a tad more boozy than I would have liked, so I'm glad I didn't pour the whiskey in with the chips.

I kept the whiskey for some old fashioned's later, which where quite good
 
70Cuda383 said:
I had a brew once in Colorado, and it DEFINITELY had some evergreen to it of some kind. I don't know what it was, but it was like sniffing a fresh christmas reef, and it was pretty good.

so if not pine, then something evergreen should be found to work with a beer. spruce, or something!
Click to expand...

If only there were some type of plant we can put in our beer that adds aroma such as pine...hmmm...where would we get such a thing?

Try hops for a piney aroma.
 
When we mention these other aromas/flavors,we're referring to when the oaked whiskey flavors start to mellow out over a couple of months. You still taste some whiskey,but the wood starts to change into these other flavors. Def not a quick,swill it down ale. It will take time to mature properly. And that's when the flavors start to change. It's def not going to "just taste like whiskey". We've been drinking from that batch this week. After some 12 weeks,the spice in the oak is coming back & mixing with the dark malt flavors. Interesting.
 
unionrdr said:
It's the reaction between the oak ( Medium toast French oak in my case) & the bourbon that breaks down into a oaky vanilla flavor with time. The french oak seems to break down into vanilla flavors moreso than American oak. It does take a couple months for it to happen,though.
I think it's pretty good right now,with that slight vanilla,spicy oak thing going. Reminds me of the spicy smoke I get from using black oak in the bbq pit.
Click to expand...

If you want a great example of this (at least I think so), try some Jim Beam Devil's Cut if it's available in your area. The "devil's cut" is the term used to describe the bourbon that soaks into the oak barrel while aging. Basically the opposite of "angel's share", which is the amount that has evaporated during aging. Anyway, Jim Beam developed Devil's Cut by sweating the bourbon back out of the wood and blending it with other Beam bourbon. I typically drink top shelf (Knob Creek, Russell's Reserve, Booker's, Baker's, etc), but really like JB Devil's Cut. I really like the extra hint of vanilla that comes through at the end.

It might be worth experimenting with by adding it straight to the beer in the secondary. I have a batch of barley wine that I will be moving to seconday in a couple weeks and thought about splitting the secondary into two carboys and aging part of it with Devil's Cut.
 
You better be careful how much you add. We're not just trying to add whiskey flavor to the beer like a boiler maker. That'd be easy. We're trying to simulate aging/conditioning in an oak cask,like olden times. The spicy,vanilla flavors come from the whiskey reacting with the wood,not from the whiskey itself. But the JB DC might add some of those flavors,even moreso when soaked with oak cubes.
 
unionrdr said:
You better be careful how much you add. We're not just trying to add whiskey flavor to the beer like a boiler maker. That'd be easy. We're trying to simulate aging/conditioning in an oak cask,like olden times. But the JB DC might add some of those flavors,even moreso when soaked with oak cubes.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had thought about that. That's why I'm just going to split out a smaller amount to try aging with the Devil's Cut. I had considered soaking in oak chips as well, but I was really afraid of risking an infection in a beer that has to be aged so long. I still have a couple weeks to think about it and read up on it a bit more. I definitely don't want it to over power the barely wine...just add a hint a flavor that it brings to the table.

I was only pointing out that JB DC really accentuates the oak/vanilla aging that comes from the barrel and not much of it should be needed to impart that into beer.
 
You don't have to worry about any infections whatsoever in the wood. Whether it's boiled for oak flavor & added to secondary,or soaked with whiskey for a few weeks it takes the beer to ferment. I put it in an airtight container in the fridge for that time. The oak chips soaked up 2/3 of the bourbon. No infections are possible since what might be in there died of alcohol poisoning a long time ago. Especially in your high ABV barleywine,let alone my 5.9% dark ale! Nothing at all to worry about in that regard.
So you might try soaking 2oz of toasted oak with maybe 2 or 3 jiggers of whiskey for the length of ferment time to get that light hit on the back.
 
I recently saw an episode on brewingTV, where they put whiskey (I think) into there barley wine as a warm drink on a cold brewday, during the final boil!

I may have have to collect a few extra cups in a batch to give it a shot...
 
unionrdr said:
You don't have to worry about any infections whatsoever in the wood. Whether it's boiled for oak flavor & added to secondary,or soaked with whiskey for a few weeks it takes the beer to ferment. I put it in an airtight container in the fridge for that time. The oak chips soaked up 2/3 of the bourbon. No infections are possible since what might be in there died of alcohol poisoning a long time ago. Especially in your high ABV barleywine,let alone my 5.9% dark ale! Nothing at all to worry about in that regard.
So you might try soaking 2oz of toasted oak with maybe 2 or 3 jiggers of whiskey for the length of ferment time to get that light hit on the back.
Click to expand...

Okay, I'm going to run with this and pick your brain a bit.

I was planning to rack the barley wine to the secondary next weekend. Since it will be aging for several months, I'm assuming there should be no issue with soaking some oak chips and adding them later? Also, and this may sound crazy, but won't the chips just float on the top? I would feel better if they were submerged or is this another thing I shouldn't worry about?

Since this beer will bulk aged for several months, what do you think would be the best approach to take with the oak chips? Is this something that I should maybe just do in the last month or so of aging so I can take a small sample every few days to see how much flavor it is lending to the beer and pull them out when needed? Leaving them in for the whole duration would be a romantic notion to the times of old, but I'm worried that might be overkill.

Thoughts, suggestions?
 

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