Help me not mess up this Bourbon Imperial Stout

[tehinternet]

I have a nice Bourbon County imperial stout clone as a base. I hit really great gravitates and fermentation. It's around 15% ABV.

I took an ounce of bourbon barrel chunks and soaked them in even more bourbon for a week and then added them to the fermenting beer. They've been in there about 3 weeks and overall fermentation is at 4 weeks.

I'm getting ready to rack this beer and bottle it, but in a quick sample I don't taste any bourbon at all. The base stout is good, but it tastes a little buttery and I think that might be from the oak chunks.

My concern is I want to get the oak out to not add any more butter flavor, so I'm planning on racking or bottling now. But I also want some bourbon flavor in there; my bourbon chunks did nothing. I like a good bourbon aged beer. A local brewery just released a scotch ale of theirs which was way over-powered with bourbon. I'm hoping to find a middle ground in terms of bourbon between where my beer is at and this local brewery which went overkill.

I fear adding more bourbon barrel oak chunks which will add more butter flavor. When I rack this to bottle it, I was thinking about adding a few liquid ounces of actual bourbon and slowly mixing it in. Then adding more until I get to a point where I like it.

Is my idea of adding actual bourbon stupid and I should just stop, or is it a reasonable idea at this point? I really don't want to mess this up because this 5 gallon batch cost me about $100 to brew (way more than my normal non-imperial batches)

Thanks.

 

[BarrelAgedForrest]

Assuming it's a Bourbon you enjoy and assuming you aren't using this as a competition beer. I'd say pull a glass out, and add to that your Bourbon until you get what you like and extrapolate . for instance 12 Oz glass and you like half an ounce of Bourbon in it, do the math to get to the amount for your whole batch. That's what I've been doing on my 1 gallon Bourbon oak Porter and it's coming along well.

 

[hopsandhops]

I brewed Northern Brewer's Bourbon Barrel Porter and it called for 16 oz of Makers Mark (and 2 oz of oak cubes). It had a noticeable bourbon flavor, without being over-powering.

This thread is loooong, but it has some good info within of people adding different amounts and brands of bourbon: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=150642

 

[BrotherBock]

I've done bourbon soaked oak a few times. I tend to throw the bourbon that the wood has been soaking in into the fermenter also. Using just wood does not give enough bourbon character IMO.

I'd add some bourbon if I were you.

Another thought is that the oak chunks might be hitting their peak extraction. So getting them off in the next week might not be that urgent. To balance the butteryness maybe you could throw a little bit of some other oak? Maybe some chips for a week to add another oak dimension?

 

[BlackFurnaceBrewing]

If you get to the point where you can taste the bourbon, you have overdone it, IMO. You should only really have a "hint" of it, if that. The oak should impart some vanilla, which will vary with maturity and then age (my bourbon stouts spend 180 days in the secondary).

After great experimentation, I have found 2 oz/gal bourbon and .6 to .8 oz / gal oak cubes to be just about the perfect combination, btw.


If I'm in the mood for more bourbon taste, I have been known just to add some to my glass. I blends in just fine since you have already laid the "foundation", so to speak.

 

[blizz81]

For something that's 15% (!), I would do a lot more than soak 1oz of cubes in some bourbon and add the cubes.


I had a stout that was around the 10.5% range, though finishing at 1.043 so it is very viscous...soaked 5oz of medium oak in 10oz of rye whiskey for 3-4 weeks and then added the whole mess in to the beer and let it sit for a week or two. I had 4 or 5 vanilla beans as well, so a bit different, but neither the rye nor the oak are overpowering.


I think I did 3oz cubes and 5oz bourbon in a barleywine that finished more around 1.035 that turned out very nicely balanced. Cubes were in for a week on that one.


I'd consider more bourbon and some cubes, and then adding the liquid if you don't want more oak, or adding everything and letting it sit for a few days if you don't mind more oak.

 

[Rivenin]

i have a stout on tap right now. 9%, put it on 2.5oz of barrel chunks and 1/2 a 1/5th of bourbon. Is a great beer and goes well togehter.
I honestly think that 1oz of oak needs to be upped more esp in a 15% abv beer.