What is a good style of beer to bourbon oak?

Ive recently had some of Rahrs Bourbon Barrell Aged Winter Warmer and I liked it alot.
Is there any beer besides a stout that anyone would recommend to age with bourbon infused oak? Not that I dislike stouts, quite the opposite I have one ageing right now im just interested in a different style to do it on.
I will also take any opinions about using a stout to do it.
And, how exactly do you age with oak? I would assume put it in a bag like hops or steeping barley and let it soak in the secondary, any information on this subject would be greatly appreciated as I have never tried it before.

Well I think any imperial style of beer tastes good with burbon oak. An imperial stout is one of my favorites for burbon oak, but I also like DIPAs aged in oak. One common method to brew burbon oak with carboys is to get your oak chips....soak them in burbon for a week....then secondary them in your beer for about a month.

My Oak Aged Bourbon Porter is secondaried for 8 months on medium oak chips and bourbon.

I had a Scottish ale that was aged on Bourbon Barrels that was great.

I am planing on doing the same thing. I plan to toast the oak sticks in aluminum foil and cook for a few hours @ 400f or until a good toast. Then soak the sticks in whiskey for a few weeks. Then rack on the beer for 2 weeks

I have had this and it is inspiring...



It is like bubbly bourbon with maple notes and it is an ale.

That being said, unless you HAVE to have bourbon you can use Jack Daniels whiskey barrel chips. I did this to an IIPA and it is UNBELIEVABLY good! https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/using-jack-daniels-barrel-chips-my-experience-211857/

100% my opinion here but I think bourbon is better suited for darker beers and whiskey for lighter ones.

Let us know what you decide to do and let us know how it turns out.

depends how much bourbon you want coming thru. its a pretty strong flavor so you generally want something that can hold up to it without getting overpowered by it, which is generally why you only see wee heavies, porters, and stouts doing it.

if you have to question what beer style to put a flavor in safe bets are porters and stouts.

Zamial said:

Let us know what you decide to do and let us know how it turns out.

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I sure will, I was hoping to get some opinion like this because i already have my stout made and ageing and I dont think I need to add any more flavors to it.
Im hoping to brew a slightly lighter beer for the spring, maybe not an IPA but something similar and the whiskey chips sound like an awesome idea, and I dont have to waste my whiskey soaking my own oak chips with the JD chips!
Do you have any other suggestions on a beer similar to an IPA but preferrably with less hops to do this in?
I was thinking of doing a trappist ale for spring but i can push this back a brew or 2 for a whiskey/oak batch

I would try: cream ale/blonde/IPA/Pale or any yellow beer other than a wheat. I think wheats have to much going on already. It may be good in Trappist styles and "heavy yellow" beers like scotch ales (but I think I would try to force scotch into a scotch ale lol.). I will even gamble to say that a sour stout or an Irish stout would fare well with the whiskey chips...

I would brew up a tried and true recipe that you trust and split the batch, oak one 1/2 and not the other. That way you can see what it is bringing to the beer. I took a HUGE gamble and it paid off, IMO. I would hate to have you do this to an entire batch and then not like it, if you are a whiskey lover I do not know how that would be possible but I still recommend a 1/2 batch. BTW I used 1# of chips per 6 gallons and had results quickly.

I'm planning a brew this weekend that will be a maple brown ale. I'm brewing a normal brown ale (per LHBS recipe) and adding 32 oz. maple syrup after the boil. I'm then going to ferment and split the batch into (2) 3 gallon secondaries. I currently have 2 oz. of light oak chips soaking in 4 oz. of Jim Beam Black. One of the secondaries will have the bourbon oak thus making a BOMB Ale (Bourbon Oaked Maple Brown). The other secondary will be straight Maple Brown Ale. I have no idea how it's going to turn out but here's to experimenting .

I like these ideas alot
And I am a whiskey lover too, so I'm sure I'll like how it turns out!
Maybe I'll try it on some sort of blonde, that sounds pretty good.
Has anyone else use the jack Daniels wood chips that are usually used for grilling? Or do most soak there own oak chips in whiskey?

Another question, you do y'all go about sampling your beer? I've seen a turkey baster used from a primary, but what about for a glass carboy? The autosiphon tube maybe? To sample from my kegs I'm planning to use a picnic tap but what's the best way from a carboy

shoestealer17 said:

Another question, you do y'all go about sampling your beer? I've seen a turkey baster used from a primary, but what about for a glass carboy? The autosiphon tube maybe? To sample from my kegs I'm planning to use a picnic tap but what's the best way from a carboy

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My turkey baster fits into my carboy, but only the smaller carboy not the 6.5 gallon one. The autosiphon tube would work, or any other tube- just cover the end (like a straw) and pull it out. If you are really interested in brewing, a wine thief would be a good investment for you!

I have an Imperial Amber Ale recipe (more like an arrogant bastard clone) that is excellent when bourbon oaked!

Yooper said:

I have an Imperial Amber Ale recipe (more like an arrogant bastard clone) that is excellent when bourbon oaked!

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That sounds like a good idea! I might have to wait till next year though because I think I'll be brewing a lighter batch for spring, I already have my stout ageing. And I'll have
to look into that wine theif

I'd go with a porter or brown. I've done both and aged them in a 5 gallon whiskey barrel and the results got high marks. The porter took 1st in the Arkansas State Fair wood aged category.

Terje

Stratotankard said:

I'd go with a porter or brown. I've done both and aged them in a 5 gallon whiskey barrel and the results got high marks. The porter took 1st in the Arkansas State Fair wood aged category.

Terje

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Where can I find a 5 gallon whiskey barrel? I havent seen one that small

I recently had a chance to try a version of Widmers, Brrrr aged in bourbon barrels. Not too sure what style this beer falls into, but it lent itself to the bourbon flavor very well. Don't know if you guys get Widmer down there in Texas but it would definetly be worth checking out IMO.

Try all styles ....Nuff said

Shoe- There was a group buy here for some of the used barrels from Balcones Distillery in Texas about a year ago. I think the guy that was running that stopped due to the work involved in picking up and shipping out 50+ barrels. I'm still kicking myself for not getting the 5gal Rumble barrel at the same time. You might try contacting the distillery directly to see if there are any still available.

Terje

Stratotankard said:

Shoe- There was a group buy here for some of the used barrels from Balcones Distillery in Texas about a year ago. I think the guy that was running that stopped due to the work involved in picking up and shipping out 50+ barrels. I'm still kicking myself for not getting the 5gal Rumble barrel at the same time. You might try contacting the distillery directly to see if there are any still available.

Terje

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Thanks! Im probably going to try that some time soon
Do you remember about how much 1 barrell was?

I think an English Strong Ale would be terrific with a bit of oak, just for something a little different. I feel like oak adds some sweetness to the perception of the beer, so I might aim for a slightly drier Strong Ale, and then hit it with bourbon-oak.

I've bourbon oaked a porter and a brown- both were good, but I'd use the oak sparingly, as a little bit of it brings a lot of flavor. You can always add more oak; it takes forever for too much of it to age out, though.

Allagash, a brewer out of Maine, makes a tripel that was aged in bourbon barrels that I've had both on tap and in the bottle that was quite delicious. Tripels have the big flavor and ABV levels to stand up to bourbon flavor I think. The bourbon flavor in that beer wasn't as strong as in a Goose Island Bourbon County for example but it brought a lot of good flavor.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/4/16909 Also it was aged in Jim Bean barrels which IMO has a more mild flavor than Maker's or Jack