NorthernBrewer Bourbon Barrel Porter

Just ordered this one tonight and will probably be brewing it immediately when it arrives. It's been about 2 months since my last brew!!!

This seems like it would be a good one to give a little more time in the secondary with the oak and bourbon to really let the flavors meld. My question is how long in the secondary is too long with this beer? For those who have brewed it, how long did you secondary it and how did it turn out? Thanks.

This one has been on my list. Following with interest!

I have had this bottled for probably 6 weeks now, and I have to say, even with this as my first batch, its by far my favorite so far. Its roasty, vanilla, bourbon-y, pours a gorgeous head and flat out tastes like liquid goodness... I'm down to a 6'er and probably 5 bombers left and I had NO IDEA it would go so fast. I can't decide whether or not to try and give my upcoming YETI clone the same bourbon treatment or to just order this kit again and brew it all over again, its that good. Good luck to everyone else who brews it, just give it time in the bottle and it will really come through.

If you are going to opt out of secondary fermentation, but still want to add bourbon and oak chips a couple weeks before bottling, how would you go about adding them? By just opening the top and dumping them in? Or does the bourbon need to be stirred in?

I don't know if I'd skip secondary for oaking/bourboning this beer (unless of course someone else weighs in here) but I've always seen that long primaries are good for most beers but oaking always seems to negate a long primary by itself.

So, as for the oaking, the 16oz bourbon and toasted oak chips gets dumped right into the secondary with no stirring, it will mix around on its own, and it definitely will at bottling time when racking into the bottling bucket.

duckmanco said:

I don't know if I'd skip secondary for oaking/bourboning this beer (unless of course someone else weighs in here) but I've always seen that long primaries are good for most beers but oaking always seems to negate a long primary by itself.

So, as for the oaking, the 16oz bourbon and toasted oak chips gets dumped right into the secondary with no stirring, it will mix around on its own, and it definitely will at bottling time when racking into the bottling bucket.

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Thanks!

I got this kit for Christmas and was thinking about using Scotch instead of Bourbon. Anything wrong with that?

ScottyC said:

I got this kit for Christmas and was thinking about using Scotch instead of Bourbon. Anything wrong with that?

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Nothing wrong with it, but it will change the flavor profile. I have had some beer aged in scotch whisky barrels and it has been a great experience. Bourbon is going to add more vanilla and sweetness.

What kind of scotch are you thinking. Blended or Single Malt? An Islay would be interesting, turning this into a "smoked version."

What is the quickest this can be brewed, aged, bottled and ready to drink? I don't want to rush anything, but I'd like to have this ready to drink sometime this summer or early fall for a BBQ competition.

go ahead and brew it now - give plenty of time for fermentation and secondary with the bourbon and oak. based on my experience and reading reviews of others, this will get even better over time (1-2 years based on other reviews) and should be very good by summer time. it will be drinkable much sooner than that - just be sure you don't drink it all too soon!

Mine was quite good in 4 months, it spent 2 months in the fermentor and then it took a couple of months for the flavors to meld in the bottle. Looked back at my notes and it took the few months in the bottle before the flavors melded well. Of course it keeps getting better as it sits, I've got 1 case that I'll drink over the course of this winter and then another case set aside as a present to myself for Christmas 2011.

I brewed this in October 2010 then placed 4th (out of 24) in a local homebrew contest in the Speciality category. This is a great recipe. I used Wild Turkey Bourbon as it was around the house as a gift. Next time I will use Maker's Mark, I thought the bourbon was a tad too strong. I loved the strong bourbon flavor, but it can be too much for some people.

I will order this again very soon. This time I am adding some vanilla.

benteach said:

I will order this again very soon. This time I am adding some vanilla.

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I have been adding a vanilla bean, cut and scraped to a bottle of bourbon. After a few weeks it takes on a nice vanilla flavor. Then I used that to soak my wood chips. Great way to add vanilla.

How long is it taking this to carb in the bottle?

Would 5 months aging in secondary and 2 months in the bottle be enough time for this to be carbed and nicely drinkable? I want to bring it out at too a BBQ competition at the end of September, so I want to brew it in about 2 weeks.

MDRex said:

How long is it taking this to carb in the bottle?

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Mine took 3 weeks to carb up but it was about 2 months before the flavors came together. At 3 weeks it tasted like porter, oak and bourbon but with additional time those flavors began to meld together nicely.

Ordered one today to have some for summer and some for Christmas later. Can't wait to see how much a difference the time makes

So if I brew this soon it should be quite good by the late summer or early fall?

My wife and I were just discussing this very beer yesterday. I mentioned that I would like to brew it in the fall for Christmas 2011. From what I'm reading here, I'd better get it brewed in the summer, instead of waiting until fall! And Christmas 2011 is only about eleven months away!

glenn514

If you want this later this year (summer, fall, Christmas) you don't have to worry about it passing its prime if you brew it now. I don't know how it would be with 5 month secondary fermentation as mine was only a few weeks, but continues to develop well in the bottle

I used the same bourbon and oak in secondary with the NB imperial stout kit and it is fantastic! Has more of the chocolate and coffee character (used French press coffee in secondary as well) but blends well with the bourbon and oak

Just moved this to the secondary with the Bourbon/Oak concoction after 3.5 weeks in primary and all I can say is...WOW!!! Even if I bottled this right now it would probably be my best beer to date. It's at right about 6.5% abv before adding the bourbon, so it'll definitely put some hair on your chest by the time it's done B)

Think I'm going to keep it on oak for about a month and age until fall. Hope I can be patient enough.

I brewed this a month ago and am trying to decide whether to bottle or keg. I haven't bottled a batch of beer in a year, but this might be nice to age. Any opinions?

I am brewing a double batch of is this sunday before the Super Bowl. I have brewed it before... to me this is a beer that just keeps getting better with time. So for me unless I have a Keg that I am willing to let a batch sit in a keg for two months I will bottle it! I would REALLY recommend letting the taste fully develop. I have beers that I brew quickly and drink quickly... This one I take me time enjoy brewing it, practice patients as it ages, then drink it slowly and enjoy every sip. Also I am very stingy with it... Before i give anyone a bottle to taste I make sure they know what they are talking about and that they will appreciate a really good beer.

I have read that some people have issues carbing it, minw has always been fine.

This week when I brew it I am doing a double batch at a full boil. I will ferment it in in 2 buckets. Then I will combine them and divide them into 1/3. I want to do some comparisons MakersMark vs Off brand bourbon and Captain Morgan's.

I can't wait until it is ready to drink!

I have been drinking mine for 4 months now - sparingly - and it is continuing to improve. I would suggest bottling half at least

I'm hoping to brew mine in a few weeks. I'm planning on kegging it and letting it sit until Thanksgiving. It will be my winter sipper.

sha0056 said:

I have been drinking mine for 4 months now - sparingly - and it is continuing to improve. I would suggest bottling half at least

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+1 here for sure, I would bottle ALL of it, this stuff has flavor for days and only seems to grow in complexity the more it ages. I drank most of my batch and every time I do, its heartbreaking. I bottled mine in Nov. 2010, first batch of beer ever and it came out fantastic.

Wow, I actually made my starter for this kit last night, I'm glad I came across this post! After reading the posts about the possible stuck fermentation I am going to double my starter and let you all know how it goes. I am using a smack pack for the starter that comes with the kit.

This is only my 2nd batch I'm brewing. I just bottled my first on Sunday and I'm pretty sure I contaminated the crap out of it while bottling. But hey...1st one was a learning experience and now I know what do to differently.

for anyone that likes this beer and likes RIS as well, I would recommend trying the NB RIS kit and adding the bourbon and oak (I added coffee as well) as in the BBP kit - makes for another excellent winter sipper but overall very different flavor profile than the BBP! I have both bottled and plan to continue brewing both

I have a quick question regarding the direction. It says to start by boiling 2.5 gals of water then later adding 2 gals to the fermentor. This will give you 4.5 gals but realistically with the boiling it would be closer to 5.

I will be doing a full boil as I have BK larger enough. What should I be shooting for here, 4 or 5 gals?

shoot for 5 gallons total, but kit is set up for partial boil, so hop utilization may change (unless they call for a late extract addition in the instructions, in which case you would likely do full boil with all extract at the beginning)

they do use a late extract addition so probably use all extract for the full 60 min if doing a full boil and should be fine (have not done myself, but maybe someday ...)

Ok so add all extract at 60min for doing the full boil? That would be all the DME and LME at once?

right. that gives a similar SG to the wort that you would have doing a partial boil with late extract addition

Awesome thanks for the tips. I have read that I may want to cut back on the first hop addition by about 10% and add them with the last addition. Any experience with this?

I don't, but that would likely be if you kept the late extract addition to keep the IBUs from increasing. would likely taste great either way though!

I added all the extract at the start, and kept hop additions the same. I just racked to secondary, and absolutely loved the hydro sample. Thought about keeping it as is without bourbon and oak, but I love bourbon, so patience is still needed.

^^^^ wait it out, this beer will absolutely reward you with rich flavor especially with the oaked bourbon cubes. Just taste samples as you age it on the oak, I left mine on it for 3 weeks and I could have let it go longer, but it was very tasty at 3.

Do you age it in the secondary before adding the oak and bourbon? If so, how long and do you just pour the bourbon and cubes on top of the secondary for the last x days or weeks, then bottle and let age for a few months?

Has anyone done this kit without using a secondary?

to answer the last two posts, I transferred to secondary and let it sit in secondary for 2 weeks, then poured the oak chips AND the bourbon used to soak the chips right into the secondary and let sit for 2 weeks. I tasted a sample, and wanted more bourbon flavor so I poured another glug or so of Evan Williams Single Barrel (unbelievably easy sipping whiskey on the cheap BTW that I nearly felt bad for using in the beer).

Also, I used a secondary because I had one, but I'm not sure if oaking in primary would be bad, something tells me that it would be fine, but I can't speak from experience.