Bourbon in my beer?

I just finished brewing a bourbon barrell ale and I have the oak cubes soaking in some Maker's Mark. I looked around the forums and saw that some people weight their cubes in a bag and some just float them in the secondary. I also found that some people only put in the oak and others dump the bourbon in too. I would like to see what the consensus is.

Am I better off weighting down the oak chips or floating them, and should the bourbon go in too?

It is going to age for about a year, so smoothness should not be an issue.

when i made mine i put the chips in a glass and filled it with bourbon and let it sit for a few days. then i dumped them both into the secondary. this method allows you to sanitize the chips and presoak the wood so it wont float(as much).

I've never weighed them down and my bourbon beers always come out great.

I also don't like to pour the bourbon directly into the beer. I usually soak the oak chips in bourbon for 2 weeks and then drain the whisky back into the bottle. I then dry the chips and dump them into the beer. I alway have great whiskey flavor, but not over the top. My oak flavor gets a lot better as I progress while using the same whiskey over and over.

Unless you REALLY love bourbon, I don't suggest pouring it in. Everytime I've had a brew when this is done, it's way too much.

Depends on how much you like MakersMark. In a 5.5 gal batch of vanilla bourbon porter that i aged 6 months before drinking i put about 2 cups of makers and 4 vanilla beans.

I think its just about perfect. Subtle vanilla aroma, and a good bourbon bite(?) in the finish. My SWMBO says it's too much bourbon. Some folks who've never had it would say that 4 vanilla beans is an insanely overpowering quantity.

Bottom line, it's your beer, you can taste samples and adjust as you go to get what you want!!

matt415 said:

when i made mine i put the chips in a glass and filled it with bourbon and let it sit for a few days. then i dumped them both into the secondary. this method allows you to sanitize the chips and presoak the wood so it wont float(as much).

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This is what I did too. I used a pint of Makers. After 6 weeks in secondary, I still have a strong oak flavor but hardly any noticeable bourbon. Next time I do this I will use only 1 oz of medium toast American cubes and 1 quart of bourbon.

But I really, really like bourbon.

I really like bourbon as well. Probably too much. So I will more than likely dump it all in. I am only using about a pint too, so now I am wondering if I should add a bit more. I suppose I can taste it after a few months in the secondary and add a bit more before bottling.

So if I wanted a bourbon taste, but not too overwhelming, would it be a good idea to soak for a week or so, then instead of drying them I' would just put them in the carboy wet?

I actually used some brandy to soak some chips in one brew and turned out nice and mellow....

I made a porter with jack daniels and oak chips. dumped it all in. once it aged a bit, absolutely perfect.

Spoodbrews said:

I made a porter with jack daniels and oak chips. dumped it all in. once it aged a bit, absolutely perfect.

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What quantities of oak chips and jack did you put in?

I used Jameson to soak 1.5 oz of American oak for 2 weeks poured off the Jameson and put the wet chips into the secondary with a Barley Wine. The aroma is there and the oak taste, but just a hint of the Jameson.

lunchbox said:

What quantities of oak chips and jack did you put in?

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I used 8oz of jack and 2 ounces of french oak chips for 8 or nine days before i racked to bottling bucket.