Bourbon County Stout clone attempt

[jarod7736]

I thought i'd put this here.

Goose Island lists their ingredients on the website, I assumed that it's in order of greatest to least amounts, from left to right. I put it in BeerSmith and played around and here is what I came up with. I brewed this on sunday. To do an all grain version, just up the 2-row to 20lbs and drop the 11lbs of extract. I didn't think 28lbs of grain would work in my 10gal rubbermaid cooler. It's bubbling away right now. My hydrometers scale only goes to 1090, so I don't have an accurate OG. I'm guessing just from where it was on it that it was around 1120. Super sweet, sticky and syrupy. As expected.

TYPE: Partial Mash
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.129 SG
Estimated Color: 71.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 38.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.00 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 46.3 %
3.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 14.7 %
2.50 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 10.5 %
2.00 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 8.4 %
2.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 10.5 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 4.2 %
1.00 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 4.2 %
0.25 lb Debittered Black Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 1.1 %
2.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50%] (60 min) Hops 33.6 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50%] (10 min) Hops 3.9 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50%] (1 min) Hops 0.5 IBU
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale (1L starter)


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 12.75 lb
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 12.75 qt of water at 178.2 F 158.0 F 45 min

 

[jarod7736]

x

 

[dcp27]

I hope it comes out better than I'm expecting, but that sounds waay too sweet. Nearly 25% of your bill is mostly unfermentable and you mashed high. I don't think this gets <1.05 as is.

 

[gregpio85]

How are you going to get your bourbon flavor?

 

[JNye]

I hope it comes out better than I'm expecting, but that sounds waay too sweet. Nearly 25% of your bill is mostly unfermentable and you mashed high. I don't think this gets <1.05 as is.

sounds like a dead ringer for GI BCS

 

[jarod7736]

I'm hoping it gets down around 1035-1040. BCBS is super sweet. I have 4 oz of oak chips soaking in makers and vanilla beans that I'll let it age on for awhile.

 

[GuldTuborg]

That's a monster beer! Let us know how it goes.

 

[Broken]

How much Bourbon are you going to add?

 

[jarod7736]

Right now I have 4oz of oak chips soaking in Makers Mark. My plan is to strain those, and to let it sit on the chips in secondary for a month, and see how it is. I did a stout a few months ago where a 1/2 pint of makers was just dumped in during secondary, and there wasn't much bourbon coming through. This one needs to be pretty over the top.

 

[jjp36]

I'm not too familiar with oaking beers, but 4oz of chips sounds like a ****load to me.

 

[jarod7736]

is there some sort of formula/ratio to compare the effect of aging in a barrel vs aging on oak chips?

 

[gregpio85]

Edit: After some research, it looks like for an average 53 gallon Whiskey Barrel, your surface area is about 2,500 sqaured inches. This is about 47.5 inches squared per gallon.

With 4 inch squared (2" x 2") wood chips you're looking at 12 woodchips to get the same effect (47.5 / 4).

Updated Equation:

Original Post:

You can actually add the amount of oak chips you want that will equal the same utilization as a barrel. Your rate of absorption is based on surface area so you'll just need to produce the surface area in woodchips as you would get with a barrel.

The formula would be:

(3.14 x Diameter of Barrel x Height of barrel) + 2x(3.14 x Barrel of Radius squared) = (height of wood chips x Width of woodchips) x Number of woodchips

Of course, you've got bigger and smaller barrels so if you're trying to match a certain brewers style, finding out what type of whiskey barrels they use would be clutch.

This would be an interesting calculator for brewers.

 

[jarod7736]

Wow, nice. I may have to write up a calculator program for that when I get a chance.

 

[dragon99]

Interesting recipe. I'm brewing mine tonight and just stumbled on this thread. Here's the recipe I'm going with. I originally planned to do this as no-sparge (hence the 55% eff), but I'll probably go with a tight mash and sparge a gallon or so.

What type of oak did you go with? I purchased some medium toast American and medium-heavy toast French CUBES. I plan to use a 50-50 mix of the two (soaked in bourbon of course, Makers is a fine choice btw).

Original Gravity 1.133 (1.119 to 1.139)
Final Gravity 1.033 (1.029 to 1.036)
Color 59° SRM / 116° EBC (Black)
Bitterness 68.5 IBU / 26 HBU ƒ: Tinseth
Mash Efficiency 55%
Batch size: 5.0 gallons
Alcohol 13.3% ABV

% LB OZ Malt or Fermentable ppg °L
76% 24 0 American Two-row Pale info 37 1
13% 4 0 Munich Malt - 10L info 35 10
3% 1 0 Chocolate Malt (UK) info 34 450
3% 1 0 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L info 34 60
2% 0 8 Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L info 33 120
2% 0 8 Roasted Barley info 25 300
2% 0 8 Debittered Black Malt info 34 550
31 8

hops
use time oz variety form aa
boil 85 mins 2.0 Nugget info pellet 13.0
boil 15 mins 1.0 Willamette info pellet 4.8
boil 5 mins 1.0 Willamette info pellet 4.8

yeast Wyeast PacMan

 

[jarod7736]

...
What type of oak did you go with? I purchased some medium toast American and medium-heavy toast French CUBES. I plan to use a 50-50 mix of the two (soaked in bourbon of course, Makers is a fine choice btw).

I have 4oz of light toast american chips soaking right now. I was thinking about picking up some darker french cubes tomorrow, just to mix it up some. I took a sample last saturday, and it was down to 1050, and tasted really good so far, smokey, but i'm guessing that's because it's super green. I'm going to let it primary for 4 weeks at least, so it has a while to go.

 

[jarod7736]

Just took another sample, and it's down to 1040. It's super green, I'll let it sit in primary another 2 weeks, then secondary on bourbon soaked oak for a month, then age until it's good (a few months at least I'd guess).

 

[dragon99]

I'm going to try and save mine until Christmas. Or as close to that as I can hold out.

 

[Haputanlas]

Any updated tastings on these? This is one of my all-time favorites and would love to attempt this as well.

 

[jarod7736]

Any updated tastings on these? This is one of my all-time favorites and would love to attempt this as well.

Mine got down to 1039. It's not bad, but it definitely needs to age more. It was very smokey at first. Next time I'll cut the crystal back. I aged on chips, then cubes. It's nicely oaked. The bourbon is there, but it's not too strong.

 

[Haputanlas]

The bourbon is there, but it's not too strong.

Does this mean that you hit the bourbon characteristics? Or does it need more oak?

 

[jarod7736]

Comparing it to the BCS rare, it's light on the bourbon characteristics. I had 4 ounces of med French oak cubes in it, that had been soaked in makers (I'm trying to remember exactly how long, about 6 weeks I think.). It has oak and bourbon, but the bourbon isn't over the top. Ill probably add some of the makers that was used in the oak to taste. I really need other people to try it.

 

[Haputanlas]

I'd love to trade for something. I must not be too far from you.

 

[jarod7736]

That would be cool. I had to go pull a sample from the keg. As ot warms up, the bourbon comes out much more.

 

[Quadrupled]

This looks great.

Now that it has been several months, have you made any final conclusions about your recipe; would you make any changes? How do you think it compares to BCS? Are you happy with the amount of French oak cubes you uses? What volume of Makers Mark did you end up using?

Thanks

 

[jarod7736]

It's still in the keg aging, but I think the bourbon level comes out pretty close. I did 4 oz of chips soaked in makers (approx 8oz), put the chips in alone for a couple weeks. Then put the cubes that were soaking in the same makers for 4-5 weeks along with the 8oz of makers. I'm happy with that, the bourbon characteristics came out really well I think. Next time I brew this, i'l be reducing the crystal by 1-1.5 lbs. It's just too sweet IMO.

 

[ZamaMan]

It's still in the keg aging, but I think the bourbon level comes out pretty close. I did 4 oz of chips soaked in makers (approx 8oz), put the chips in alone for a couple weeks. Then put the cubes that were soaking in the same makers for 4-5 weeks along with the 8oz of makers. I'm happy with that, the bourbon characteristics came out really well I think. Next time I brew this, i'l be reducing the crystal by 1-1.5 lbs. It's just too sweet IMO.

I have never tasted a bourbon stout before but was thinking of making one. This seems to be one of the only ones on hbt. Do you feel its good enough were you wanna make it again soon?

 

[Haputanlas]

Just found this floating around the internet. Supposedly this came straight from the brewery in 2007 (Spec-Sheet). Although I can't officially confirm this, the 1.042 FG sounds spot on. Higher than most are assuming on these boards.

Here's a little more info that might help you. This is from a 2007 spec-sheet from the brewery.

Beer Bourbon County Stout
O.G. 30.0 (Plato)
F.G. 10.5 (Plato)
% Abv 12.0
%Abw 9.0
IBUs 60
Color 100
Carbs. 45
Cal/12oz 415
Hops UK Styrian
Malts 2-Row, Munich, Chocolate, C-60, Roast Barley, DB Black

FYI... 30 Plato = 1.129 SG, 10.5 = 1.042

 

[Ell]

I have never tasted a bourbon stout before but was thinking of making one. This seems to be one of the only ones on hbt. Do you feel its good enough were you wanna make it again soon?

Google for Denny's Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter. One of the very best beers I've ever had or brewed. I could drink a pint of the unpitched wort right now- that's how good it is before we even add the vanilla or bourbon.

Great, great beer from one of the masters.

 

[Toilet Rocker]

Any additional tasting notes on these now that they have aged some more? Thanks.

 

[zrule]

What's happening with these batches?????