Turning a Stout into a Bourbon Barrel Stout?

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CorneliusRox

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So I am making a stout right now. I just transferred it from the primary to the secondary yesterday (don't give me crap for using a secondary ;)).
Everything looks great, and it looks like I'm on par to be about 12% and it's still just got a hint of sweetness at 1.026 SG.

My thought was, why not turn this into a Bourbon Barrel Stout?

It it really as easy as getting some Oak chips, let them soak in some bourbon for a day, then tossing them into the secondary in a muslin bag?

If that's the case, what bourbon do you recommend? I was thinking Rebel Yell personally (best tasting, cheap-ish bourbon I know of).

More info:
I have lots of Oak on my property, and heat my house with them, so I thought it'd be cool to grab some, cut it down to size, and use that.
Should it be seasoned (I assume so), or wet? Then would it be worth it to roast it a bit to add a hint of smokey flavor? Then boil, then soak in bourbon?

Finally, how many ounces per 5gal? I have read .5-2oz max of soaked chips and only for the last 1-2 weeks of secondary fermentation.
 
Well outside of having an Oak barrel, it is as easy as soaking them in bourbon. But I tend to soak mine for several weeks, not just a day, part of the reason to do that is to kill off all the nasties in the wood. What I do is if I know I'm going to be using them in 2 week or a month or whenever, after I pitch yeast, I grab a mason jar, fill it with a few fistfuls and add the bourbon, and forget about it til I need them.

If it's a spontaneous decision to oak something, I steam them first. I just put a collander above a pan of boiling water and let it go for 15-20 minutes, then while hot (while the pores are still open) drop them into the bourbon. That way as they cool and the pores constrict is sort of pulls the bourbon in.

A lot of us use these...

WWWOOD-INC-JACK-DANIELS-WOOD-CHIPS-LARGE.jpg


The nice thing about this is that you can use the cheapest bourbon you can find and you'll still pull some of the jack out of the wood... I usually though just splurge and get a bottle of jack though.

Though I have done some experiments with under the bottom shelf bourbon, a brita filter and jack chips. Mostly to filter and spike crap bourbon with the jack chips to make it taste better. It works.

10421396_10152564511499067_5547517906528483329_n.jpg


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If you have your own oak, you can do all sorts of things, you can char it, you can dry toast it. It's really up to you. I would want it dry and seasoned though.
 
Well outside of having an Oak barrel, it is as easy as soaking them in bourbon. But I tend to soak mine for several weeks, not just a day, part of the reason to do that is to kill off all the nasties in the wood. What I do is if I know I'm going to be using them in 2 week or a month or whenever, after I pitch yeast, I grab a mason jar, fill it with a few fistfuls and add the bourbon, and forget about it til I need them.

I do the same thing (and it's likely that I read about you doing it, and knew it was sound advice).

One thing I have noticed about this method vs the "short soak" method is that you get a smoother flavor, as the oak mellows the whiskey and the whiskey gets some of the tannin flavor out of the oak.
 
Awesome! Thanks for the advice guys! I've got about two weeks before this would go in anyways, so I should have time enough to toss this into a mason jar. I've got about two cords left of seasoned oak. I might find a nice looking piece, cut it to size, dry toast it, then let it sit in some Jack.

How much do you end up putting in for ~5gal?
Also how much does this change the alcohol content? I'm thinking measuring with SG doesn't quite work.
 
I have a question about this topic, What makes a stout a good stout candidate for an oak and bourbon infusion? Do you want your stout sweeter, dryer, roasty, chocolatey..... What characteristics/profile work best?
 
If it's a spontaneous decision to oak something, I steam them first. I just put a collander above a pan of boiling water and let it go for 15-20 minutes, then while hot (while the pores are still open) drop them into the bourbon. That way as they cool and the pores constrict is sort of pulls the bourbon in.

Brilliant idea - thanks!!
 
I have a question about this topic, What makes a stout a good stout candidate for an oak and bourbon infusion? Do you want your stout sweeter, dryer, roasty, chocolatey..... What characteristics/profile work best?

Whether or not you want it oaky or not. ;)

The answer is as varied as the hundreds if not thousands of oak infused/oak aged beers out there. Not just stouts but everything, look for example at Innis and Gunn beers, they're pretty much pale ales. It's a whole range, it what you like.

There really is no right answer to this. There really is no "best" in brewing, just what's best for you. Grab a few commercial examples and see what type you like best.
 
Just saw and responded to your post about doing this on the Facebook forum.... Glad to see you're doing it. The Bourbon vs Jack discussion is a hoot.

You might consider updating this tread with pics about what you're doing...that way if anyone stumbles upon this thread in the future then they'll have a reference of someone actually using their own wood. Good job! Hope i helped!!!

:mug:
 
I have used the same jd chips a revvy to make 6 gal of good beer. Last was an oaked pale ale. Soaked 120g of chips in 7oz of jd for weeks, shaking it up every couple days. Dumped the charred chip whiskey down the drain and put the chips on the beer. Just before bottling I added a couple shots to taste. Good stuff.
 
Just saw and responded to your post about doing this on the Facebook forum.... Glad to see you're doing it. The Bourbon vs Jack discussion is a hoot.

You might consider updating this tread with pics about what you're doing...that way if anyone stumbles upon this thread in the future then they'll have a reference of someone actually using their own wood. Good job! Hope i helped!!!

:mug:

Yeah, you definitely helped. Thanks again!
Also, I couldn't believe how upset people were getting over the Jack vs. bourbon stuff! ha ha
 
Here's what I did. Note that I plan on reporting back with my results, but I'm still fermenting. :)

I have a bunch of Oak on my property. It sounds like traditionally you want White Oak, but since I had Bur and Red Oak, I used that. I don't know what I used between the two because we have it all cut and seasoned from the year before and I'm not skilled enough to tell them apart at that point!

This was my selection to choose from (the last of our fully seasoned stuff, it'll take us past this winter):
1_zps61wuxy43.jpg


Then I wanted to cut it down to size. A chop saw or band saw would have worked better, but you use what you've got!
I cut these down to 3/4" cubes.
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Then I wanted them a little bit smaller so I used a chisel and split them up some more.
3_zpsrfnp9xdn.jpg


Next was to boil them to release a lot of the Tannin and sterilize this a bit (the sterilization is probably not needed since they'll be soaking in whiskey).
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I then wrapped them into aluminum foil, and I baked them in the over for 1.5 hours at 400 deg F, then 30-45 min at 450 deg F. I heard this toasting/roasting would help to release some more flavors.
Some char with a torch after this, but I've read that it can push too much flavor on a beer, and is better suited for flavoring whiskey. I've got no first had experience with that though.
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Finally, I dropped them into a glass jar with Jack Daniel's/bourbon and have been shaking it a couple times a day. I'm going to leave it like this for two weeks, then toss them into my secondary. I've heard you should taste every single day at that point because once flavors start transferring, they can do it very quickly and become overpowering!
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Like stated above, I plan on posting results. Thanks for reading!
 
Awesome!.......very jealous of the oak on your property...we heat with wood and oak is premo stuff.
 
Soo... Maybe I'm in the wrong thread but what if I'm willing to skip the oak and just burbon my stout, does anyone know a reasonable ratio of beer to liquor?
 
Soo... Maybe I'm in the wrong thread but what if I'm willing to skip the oak and just burbon my stout, does anyone know a reasonable ratio of beer to liquor?

Add to taste when you are ready to bottle or keg. I will go out on a limb and say if you are skipping the soaked oak chips maybe a shot of whisky per gallon or a little less.
 
sounds like that stout will take awhile (being 12% and all) I think you got a lot of time to experiment with that oak. lots of cool suggestions.
 
If I am not going to a secondary, can this simply be done in the primary towards the end of the cycle, say at 2 weeks do it for a few days? Interested in trying this on a RIS I recently brewed but I wont be going to a secondary
 
If I am not going to a secondary, can this simply be done in the primary towards the end of the cycle, say at 2 weeks do it for a few days? Interested in trying this on a RIS I recently brewed but I wont be going to a secondary

I'm no expert but I would personally do it with a secondary. I've got an IS that sat in primary for about 3 weeks and I've had it on oak cubes in the secondary for a month now. I took a taster last week and the oak is quite prominent but I'm planning to rack it out again and bulk age for another month or so before bottling. I want to take my time with this one and have it ready for Xmas this next year. 2 weeks just doesn't seem long enough to me for a big beer like this. not to say it isn't possible. give it a shot and let us know!
 
If I am not going to a secondary, can this simply be done in the primary towards the end of the cycle, say at 2 weeks do it for a few days? Interested in trying this on a RIS I recently brewed but I wont be going to a secondary

You can do it in primary if you want. I might consider putting the chunks in a sanitized grainbag, maybe tied with a little sanitized monofiliment or sanitized string and hung in the bucket with the string maybe tied loosely to the handle of the bucket, and the lid snapped down over it.

That way you're not dropping the pieces if they sink into the yeastcake and kicking stuff up....plus if you felt it is too strong, but not ready to keg or bottle you can always pull it out.
 
Hey guys,

Just a follow-up: I left my bourbon soaked oak chips in for eight full days. I tasted every day. It wasn't until day three or four that I could taste a hint of the bourbon. By day eight it was perfect!
I cold crashed, racked into the keg, and force carb'd.
Last night the wife and I tried some and I LOVE it! It's exactly what I was going for. To me, it tastes like a mix between Left Hand Milk Stout and New Holland Dragon's Milk and I couldn't be happier.
Also, it took me two full glasses and I was feeling it much more than I had expected to.

0303162020_zpszfqymxx7.jpg


I will note that it's not as smooth as Dragon's Milk and I can taste a slight hint of graininess. Any advice on getting rid of that? I did brew this one with only three gallons and added the remaining with boiled water because it was ~-15F outside when I was doing it.
 
Would you mind sharing your original stout recipe, including yeast you used?
 
i use 4 oz of hungarian medium toast, add elijah craig (what's on hand atm) just enough to get them wet.. let sit a week or more. pour off all the bourbon, add chips to secondary (in my case, the keg) for just a few days, maybe 4. voila!
a big 12% might need more days, as in your case, 8. i'll find out in my victory at sea clone, almost ready to keg. woot!
 
Would you mind sharing your original stout recipe, including yeast you used?

Enjoy!


Steep (20 min)
1.5 lbs English Brown Malt
.75 lbs English Medium Crystal
.5 lbs English Pale Chocolate

Stir-in
12 lbs Maris Otter malt syrup (LME)

Brewing
.5 oz East Kent Goldings (60 min)
.5 oz Fuggle (60 min)
.5 oz East Kent Goldings (10 min)
.5 oz Fuggle (10 min)

Pitching
Double Starter of Wyeast 1056

Primary
4 weeks @ 64 deg

Secondary
2 weeks @ 64 deg
Add bourbon soaked chips with ~8 days left

Force Carb
3 days at 30psi

Serving
~45deg
 
Soo... Maybe I'm in the wrong thread but what if I'm willing to skip the oak and just burbon my stout, does anyone know a reasonable ratio of beer to liquor?

So I did get some free bourbon barrel sticks, soaked in eagle rare and dumped a few sticks into a gallon and half of stout for almost 2 weeks. It was awfully overpowering at bottling, probably because I left it in too long.
But after 2 months I popped one and it was vastly improved! Patience is a vurtue.
 
So I did get some free bourbon barrel sticks, soaked in eagle rare and dumped a few sticks into a gallon and half of stout for almost 2 weeks. It was awfully overpowering at bottling, probably because I left it in too long.
But after 2 months I popped one and it was vastly improved! Patience is a vurtue.

Your biggest problem is definitely the Eagle Rare. That stuff is gross!
ha ha A guy at work told me to get it because I enjoy bourbon and I was very disappointed. :D

I'm glad to hear your beer came out after a couple months though!
 
Well I can't tell the difference between old granddad and Woodford reserve so I used what was in the cabinet for the last year. Overall a great way to use bourbon, that and cooking!
 

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