Beef in Bourbon Beer?

[kiwirevo]

It's all off and brewing, I filled it up to 23Litres.

 

[AlmostWitty]

My first thread subscription, I couldn't resist.

 

[Colonel_Forbin]

Initially you were looking for a more flavorful chicken. Did you look at Capon? wikipedia.org/wiki/Capon#section_2 More flavorful than a conventional chicken. I see them from time to time where I am from, not sure about them in NZ.

 

[kiwirevo]

Initially you were looking for a more flavorful chicken. Did you look at Capon? wikipedia.org/wiki/Capon#section_2 More flavorful than a conventional chicken. I see them from time to time where I am from, not sure about them in NZ.

If I could find it in NZ it would be far to expensive to put into a Cock Ale

 

[kiwirevo]

In goes the Beef!

First I boiled the bag and string to ensure it's sterile.
Second I pulled the beef out of the bourbon put it in the bag and pulled it apart.
then I tied the bag and tied it to a spoon so I can suspend the beef in the beer, and I put the beef into the beer and put the spoon across the handles of the fermenter.
Now I strained the bourbon as I poured it into the beer.
Lid back on and I'm done for now!!

 

[RainyDay]

That looks disgusting. I really want to try it!!!

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

So epic

 

[kiwirevo]

Its bubbling away nicely, aroma is pretty normal.

 

[Xpertskir]

Subscribed

 

[ipopiad]

Subbed... whether this changes the face of brewing forever or turns out to be a food poisoning-tastic disaster, I want to know!

 

[Obliviousbrew]

Updates?

 

[kiwirevo]

Not much of an update, it appears to have finished fermenting but I haven't check the SG. It bubbled nicely for about a week but now I'm just letting it sit. I'll probably pull the beef out in a week and then give it another week before bottling.

I am going to make a stew with the beef and some of the beer. Probably just the beef, a couple of cups of beer, some potatoes. Not sure if I'll put anything else in but should be interesting.

 

[kiwirevo]

PS When I bottle it I'll leave enough so that I don't get that fat into a bottle.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

You can make some blue onion soup if you like bleu cheese. I usually use a hefeweisen when I make it but what you have going sounds like it would make a very tasty substitute.

 

[Xpertskir]

PS When I bottle it I'll leave enough so that I don't get that fat into a bottle.

If you could crash you'll be able to skim it off the top.

 

[kiwirevo]

If you could crash you'll be able to skim it off the top.

What do you mean by crash? Do you mean drop the temp? I don't have a brew fridge so can't do that. Once the meat comes out I can probably skim it with a sieve anyway.

 

[kiwirevo]

Oh, I have a favour to ask, if someone has some makers mark could you please tell me what the SG is? I want to work out what the alcohol % is

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Oh, I have a favour to ask, if someone has some makers mark could you please tell me what the SG is? I want to work out what the alcohol % is

I believe it is 80 proof. Halve that and you have the ABV. So that's 40%ABV. Double check that it's 80 proof though. That info is simple to find online.

 

[Tenspeed]

Maker's Mark is 45%, or 90 proof. I cut my teeth on that stuff.

If you're looking for the sort of chicken that would go well with this experiment you might check a local Asian market, if you have one, or else talk to a local egg farmer. Either source should have stewing chickens or an old hen that's soon to be past its prime. I get chickens for chicken and dumplings from an Asian market right down the street. Takes about 4-6 hours of cooking to get them to a point where you can actually eat them without breaking teeth, they're so tough, but the flavor is divine.

 

[kiwirevo]

The stuff I used is 43% I believe (will double check when I get home) but I need the SG to be able to calculate the ABV of the beer as the bourbon would have messed with the OG.
So 23L at 1.04(can't remember exactly what OG was but have it written down at home)
+ 0.5L at whatever the bourbon was
= 23.5L at 1.??? Original Gravity
and then I can just measure the final and work out what the overall beverage is at.
23.5L at final
- .5L at whatever the bourbon was
= 23L for final of the beer.
then abv of 23L of beer + .5 by 43% bourbon = 23.5L of Beef in Bourbon beer at ??%

 

[kiwirevo]

I took out the beef over the weekend. I tested the beer and also made a stew with the beef.
First off the beef STUNK!!! I think all the yeast settled on it. The beef stew I started making also smells pretty bad, heated yeast and plenty of beer does not a good stew make!
However, after checking the SG of the beer, I tasted it. And it's pretty good but really doesn't have any beef taste, it's a bit sharp and will need some bottle conditioning so I think the taste will come but at the moment it's just a normal, in progress ale.
I tested the specific gravity and also bought and tested some more Maker's Mark bourbon (which was 40% btw).
So the FG is 1.008 made up of .5L of .914 bourbon and 23L of 1.010 beer. The beer started at 1.040. This means the beer abv is 3.9% and the combined beef in bourbon beer comes in at 4.6% (assuming my calculations are correct)

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Ok. But how did it taste????

 

[a6ladd]

God that looks fantastic. I MUST try this.

 

[jhoyda]

Good on you for trying this, but I agree 100% with the guy from post #2.

 

[TimpanogosSlim]

I used to work with a french guy here in utah. He told me once that he got a severe hankering for coq au vin, but could not find a butcher shop anywhere that could sell him a rooster.

So he started driving around the more rural parts of the valley looking for one, and ultimately found one on a farm, and tracked down the farmer, and asked if he could buy the rooster.

"What? Why?" "I want to eat it!" "Eat it?" "Yes, to make coq au vin you need an old rooster." "But, it's my rooster" "I will give you $25 for it" "nah" "Fifty" "Huh? I mean, if i sell this rooster then I won't have a rooster." "I will give you $100 for your rooster". "ok".

So he wrung it's neck, threw it in the trunk of his car, and took it home to the upscale condo complex he lives in, got a big pot of water boiling, and processed the whole thing in his own kitchen. And made a big vat of coq au vin.

His neighbors hated him ever since that. Terrible smell. Feathers everywhere. But he didn't care.

 

[kiwirevo]

Ok. But how did it taste????

Bitter, malty ale. the bitterness was a bit sharp to get much else off it. hopefully some of the beef flavour comes through when it's bottled.

If anyone is going to start this before I have a few weeks/month in the bottle then I would suggest more beef just to ensure more flavour, but you may wish to wait until I have some better tasting results.

If the beef flavour doesn't come through I might brew it again myself.

 

[kiwirevo]

I bottled the beer over the weekend, it was stable at 4.6% abv.
Taste is ok, like a simple brown ale with some lemon/citrus flavour coming through probably from the bourbon. still no apparent beef flavour so big fingers crossed for once it's carbonated.
I got 19 x 750mL, 7 x 500mL and 12 x 355mL bottles from it.
The scum layer on top was pretty disgusting but that mostly seemed to stuck the walls of the fermenter as the level dropped. there were some fat globs in the last bottle but only a little bit.

 

[kiwirevo]

Popped a bottle in the fridge so will try it in a couple of days.

 

[spacecowboy13]

Can't wait to hear how it turns out!

 

[Mikespunchlist]

What the hell is next? Goat Pill Ale or maybe Cow Pie Lager? Some of you folks would pitch yeast on anything!

 

[kiwirevo]

haha, yeah. I had thought about Pork in Port Porter.

I think it has to be a meat with a lot of flavour. Rabbit in barley wine stout. another name would be Hopped Hopper
The only thing to remember is you need a moderate to high alcohol liquid to soak the meat in to kill off any bugs and make some of the fat come out so you can scoop it off.

An alternate process I might try is a long boil with a meat in it and keep adding water so the volume doesn't get too low whilst the meat is cooked and then maybe freeze the wort, remove the fat (or use a low fat meat) then heat it up and do the hop boil. I'll have a new mini fermenter coming on line soon so can give it a trial. Venison might be nice in a Stout.

 

[kiwirevo]

Look at me, I haven't even drank the first one and I'm concocting more

 

[kiwirevo]

An alternate process I might try is a long boil with a meat in it and keep adding water so the volume doesn't get too low whilst the meat is cooked and then maybe freeze the wort, remove the fat (or use a low fat meat) then heat it up and do the hop boil.

The big added benefit of this method would be that the meat would be great to eat afterwards, just a bit malty. Where as the beef in bourbon beer process left me with a meat that was yeasty and the stew stinks!

 

[kiwirevo]

Ok so here it is.
It's not carbonated completely yet so I'll do a follow up when it is.

Firstly, there is no obvious beef flavour/aroma. This is quite disappointing, so I'll definitely have to try and make another one.

The appearance is a crystal clear amber gold. (no head at the moment)
The aroma is malty & nutty with hints of lemon, banana and earth.
The mouth feel is quite thin and the flavour is a reasonable balance of sweet and bitterness.
The finish is reasonably quick but the sweetness does build up a little bit after several sips.

I wouldn't brew this exact beer again. It's too light and not really that interesting.
It isn't what I wanted so I need to try some other things to reach the final goal of a beef flavoured beer.

 

[emjay]

For next time, I would recommend getting a really flavorful cut. Maybe brisket. Or even tongue, which is very flavorful, cheap, and the texture won't matter anyways. I would do a smaller batch so that you don't need quite so much beef, maybe just a gallon or two.

First I would slow braise it, collecting the juices "au jus" which will be skimmed and added to the bourbon. Then I would cut it into half-inch cubes and brown then nicely in a pan (cast iron would be best, but as long as it's NOT no-stick, it'll do) with a bit of the au jus and a bit of butter - clarified butter/Indian "ghee" (which is the best option, and is basically prepackaged clarified butter, sometimes browned a bit to give a wonderful "nutty" character to it. One the cubes are nice and browned, add as much of the beef as you can (in half-inch cubes!!) to a mixture of the bourbon and juices for a few weeks, and then take it out, smushing the beef a bit to get as much liquid out as you can.

Then, add the bourbon/au jus to the fermentor at that point, after the primary has finished fermentation, the beef itself, can be used for whatever cooking purpose you want, as they won't be yeasty or fermented - if you're ready to bottle and a tad more beef flavor is desired, some packets or cubes of beef bouillon powder would be great. Try it in half of a pint glass (one cup) to see what the right level is to make it taste beefy but not too beefy, and then scale it up for the whole batch.

I think this would be a foolproof way of maximizing the beer flavor. Ask me if you have any questions or concerns.

 

[kiwirevo]

I thought about beef stock cubes but it just feels like cheating (not sure if there's salt in them too)

I'll probably go for a better beer too, as I think the standard coopers ale isn't helping the flavour.

And one thing I don't know yet is if the beef flavour develops after time in the bottle.

 

[emjay]

I thought about beef stock cubes but it just feels like cheating (not sure if there's salt in them too)

I'll probably go for a better beer too, as I think the standard coopers ale isn't helping the flavour.

And one thing I don't know yet is if the beef flavour develops after time in the bottle.

I'd go with nothing more than an English brown or mild. The bouillon isn't really cheating any more than DME is cheating. It's not like I said to use bouillon as the only source of beef flavor, just that it's a perfect secondary source to fine-tune the flavor, instead of even more beef. It's a supplementary flavor which I promise will allow you to strike the best balance of what you're looking for.

 

[kiwirevo]

Good point on the DME, I might do 2 micro trials with different processes and ingredients. Plus if i do micro trials I can handle doing all grain.

 

[aiptasia]

Mmmmm Bacon breakfast stout....

 

[slider67]

"Mmmmm Bacon breakfast stout...."

now that gets my attention anything with bacon has got to be good