HELP! Adding Bourbon and Kegging

Hi everyone,

Just a quick question - I've brewed a Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter, but haven't added the Bourbon. My question is simply this, when I add the Bourbon, can I simply pour it into the keg, and rack my beer on top of it? will this provide adequate mixing, or will it the bourbon sink/float?

If I were to bottle, I know that racking into the bottling bucket would be fine, but how do I do it for kegging?

Thanks in advance

 

When I first started adding bourbon to my batches I followed the advice from the recipe I was using for a Russian Imperial Stout. It had me adding a few ounces of bourbon, that had previously been soaking on oak chips for a few weeks, to the fermentor. You let it set for a few days then taste. You would continue to add a few ounces, let it set for a few days and taste. Once you were satisfied then you would bottle or keg. Now from my experience/taste what I've found to work well (with a Russian Imperial Stout) is to take 1/2 of that bottle and soak it with a some oak chips... say 2 ounces. Then after it sits for the duration of the fermentation I would add it to the bucket before I bottle. The longer it conditions the BETTER it will taste. Adding bourbon is like most adjuncts, they tend to mellow as time goes on. So, if you add 1/2 bottle to a batch you better be ready to let it age for 6 months or more. If you just add a few ounces then it will mellow much sooner. There really is no hard and fast rule that will work across the board, what it takes is some experimentation and patience to find what works best for your recipe/style of beer your making.
HTH

 

Yes you can pour the bourbon into the keg first before racking on top of it. That is what I did for my bourbon stout and the bourbon flavor was well distributed among all the pours so far.