Bourbon County Stout clone attempt

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I will look into brew in bag. You are right about the roasted barley. I was confused. I will definitely let you know how it goes. Gonna brew this evening.
 
ewhite1217 said:
I will look into brew in bag. You are right about the roasted barley. I was confused. I will definitely let you know how it goes. Gonna brew this evening.
Click to expand...

I am no expert in BIAB (I have only done about a half dozen or so), but in a nutshell... for my BIAB Partial Mash recipe (11 lbs of grain), you want to:

Heat 13.75qts of water to 167*F and add in the crushed grains (Or ~13.25qts if you are using my revised 1.5lbs of roasted barley). This should give you a temp just below 152*F. Regardless of what your thermometer reads after adding the grain, DO NOT adjust your temp for at least 10 minutes. And as long as you are between 148 and 156, leave it alone. Really, thermometers are kinda close to fool-proof and so is the mashing procedure, so don't go thinking you screwed it up after a premature read. It takes time for the temp to stabilize. That's what stirring is for.

Here is the mash calculator I use. I am assuming your grains are at 70*F, but you can vary that variable if the temps are different.

Let it sit for an hour, stirring a couple of times (maybe 2 or 3). Yes, the temp will drop a little, don't worry about it.

Top off your pot with water and bring the temp up to 170*F while stirring or bobbing your grain bag, then remove your grains.

This is really no different from steeping except that you control the volume of water and temperature more closely to encourage some conversion. That's what the few pounds of two-row is there for. And whatever you get for OG, you get. Add in your Munich LME, and once that's added, use some extra DME as a final tweak your OG.

Have a big healthy starter ready to go! This is a huge fermentation and you need to pitch healthy yeast. Adding a vial of White Labs straight to the fermenter simply will not cut it. I suggest cold crashing your starter for a day or three, decanting, and then warming the starter to room temp and adding a little bit of extra wort, just a tiny bit, for the 3-6 hours you are brewing. That should get the yeasties active again for the fermentation. Or just pitch 2 or maybe even 3 packets of dry yeast with lots of aeration.

If you do decide to go the Extract + Steeping Grains route, hopefully you have some handle on how your extract ferments out. You really want to get close to that 1.040 FG. I'd guess something above around 1.124 would be good for all extract + steeping grains. I would have preferred to be at 1.134 or so for my PM recipe.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!
 
ewhite1217 said:
I will look into brew in bag. You are right about the roasted barley. I was confused. I will definitely let you know how it goes. Gonna brew this evening.
Click to expand...

So how did it go? Same question goes for the OP- interested to know how close it gets to BCBS after all this time. I'm looking at the several recipes that I've found here on HBT in researching BCBS clone recipes, including Sir Humpsalot. But since the OP uses a good amount of extract, I think I may look at this recipe more and think about tweaking it based on everyone else's experiences.

I'm planning to use BIAB here with my 30qt stockpot- I'm getting a grain bag and probably invest in some additional equipment such as a digital scale and digital thermometer to give myself additional info in the process. I just want to research the heck out of this process before I brew because given the grain bill, it's going to be a pretty expensive and time-consuming undertaking and I want to get this as close to being right as I can.
 
I have two bottles of BCS that have been aging for 3 years. Wonder if they are any good? Maybe I'll pitch them.....NOT!!!
 
I tried my hand at this clone and it's been in fermentation for about 7 months. I added bourbon soaked oak chips and vanilla beans last week and dipped in for a second taste today. It was quite sweet after the first few months but since adding white labs super high gravity yeast (at the insistence of my LHBS) it is much dryer/thinner than the real deal. I have fed it some sugar in hopes of raising the FG, but it seems to continue to ferment out.

The only major alteration to the recipe was a huge addition of coffee just before flame out. I think the overload of oils from the coffee is influencing the beer as well. There's a slightly sour coffee flavor as well as an oily mouthfeel. Not sure how Goose Island gets there BCBCS so rich in coffee flavor!

Overall, it is a pleasant beer so far, and once the vanilla and oak settle in I would be pleased, if only I could dial up the sweetness. Should I try to continue to feed it sugar in hopes that the ABV will eventually reach a level that will cause the super high gravity yeast to give up? If so, will I have trouble with bottle carbonation?
 
Adding sugar won't raise the FG as it is mostly fermentable. It'll just create more alcohol. Try adding something unfermentable like lactose or maltodextrine if you want to raise the FG. Those will also affect mouthfeel and body.

If you use brewing software (BeerSmith, BeerTools, etc), they can help calculate how much to add..
 
So i brewed the PM version of this January 2013, kegged it and put it in my closet for my 30th bday Feb 2014. Yesterday for the first time ever I moved the keg, it literally sat in the same spot for a year. So its in my keezer now on CO2 until my bday at the end of Feb, and I admit I stole a quick sample last night....WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAA. This thing is nuts, very thick and silky like the original BCBS. I think mine has way more bourbon up front than the original (which is not a bad thing) and I nailed it at 11%. Needless to say my 30th bday will be a glorious day. I'll have some of the original and my version for side by side tastings. Thank you for this recipe!!!
 
dahray02 said:
So i brewed the PM version of this January 2013, kegged it and put it in my closet for my 30th bday Feb 2014. Yesterday for the first time ever I moved the keg, it literally sat in the same spot for a year. So its in my keezer now on CO2 until my bday at the end of Feb, and I admit I stole a quick sample last night....WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAA. This thing is nuts, very thick and silky like the original BCBS. I think mine has way more bourbon up front than the original (which is not a bad thing) and I nailed it at 11%. Needless to say my 30th bday will be a glorious day. I'll have some of the original and my version for side by side tastings. Thank you for this recipe!!!
Click to expand...

Congrats! Now start brewing the next batch!


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Thread revival: I made this and am set to bottle after 7 months of aging in the secondary. My question is this: when bottling, did you pitch new yeast or is there enough floating around to carb the bottles with the priming sugar? I've read things from add more of the original yeast, add champagne yeast and then to Danstar Cask and Bottle Conditioning Ale Yeast instead of champagne. What's everyone's thoughts? My OG was 1.130 and my SG (currently) is 1.030.
 
I have no idea. I keg. :)

google around and see what kind of luck people are having with those specialty priming tabs with yeast in them. That would probably be your best bet. just be patient. It will take quite some time to bottle carb.
 
ImageUploadedByHome Brew1398564954.146078.jpg

Just finished this beer tonight. Hit 1.102 as my OG. Program estimated 1.134. Not bad I guess for a first try at the recipe.
What would it take, in pounds, if I had added dry malt to hit the 1.134?
Can't wait to try it.


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Assuming potential of 43, 7.8 lbs in 10.5 gallons.

10.5 x 102 = 1,071
10.5 x 134 = 1,407
1,407-1,071= 336
336/43= 7.8lb


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If you have 5gal at 11%...

5*128= 640 oz at 11%
16 oz at 50%

640*.11=70.4
16*.5=8
70.4+8= 78.4
640+16=656
78.4/656= 11.95%


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mbbransc said:
If you have 5gal at 11%...

5*128= 640 oz at 11%
16 oz at 50%

640*.11=70.4
16*.5=8
70.4+8= 78.4
640+16=656
78.4/656= 11.95%


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
Click to expand...


Thanks for the correction!
But why does ChuckO multiply by 100

5 gal X 128 oz/gal = 640 oz. total

640 oz X ABV of beer = ? oz. alcohol

add

16 oz of 50% bourbon = 656 oz. total

8 oz alcohol in 50% bourbon = 8 oz. alcohol



Total oz alcohol of beer & Bourbon/656 * 100 = ?% abv


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If you plan on making any labels, go ahead and round that one to 12%. I believe the FDA allows for accuracy within 0.3. So I guess you could even round it to 12.2%. That's a big beer. I have a KBS 'clone' aging right now that I got to 11.6% after adding bourbon. Biggest beer I've made.
 
Just finished brewing this tonight. I've got an OG of 1.114, biggest starting gravity I've ever had.

I'm pitching it directly into a carboy that I just racked a wheat ale out of. That was a 1.040 beer, so essentially a 5gal starter. Never re-used yeast before, here's hoping I see bubbles in my blow-off tube soon. :)

What kind of yeast starters did other folks use?
 
I did one last fall that started at around 1.130. Made a big gallon starter, then hit it twice with O2. Once on brew day, again the next day. It helps the yeast multiply.
 
one month down on mine, going to shoot for 5 more months of aging. i can't wait a full year to drink this :D
 
What was everyone's oak+bourbon schedule? I was thinking 4oz of wood chips + 16oz of bourbon for 4 weeks. I like a big bourbon flavor, and I used 16oz of bourbon in Northern Brewers' Bourbon Barrel Porter. That much bourbon will probably require more aging, I'm thinking if I get this kegged by August, I can be drinking it by late winter (February/March).
 
scottconnor said:
What was everyone's oak+bourbon schedule? I was thinking 4oz of wood chips + 16oz of bourbon for 4 weeks. I like a big bourbon flavor, and I used 16oz of bourbon in Northern Brewers' Bourbon Barrel Porter. That much bourbon will probably require more aging, I'm thinking if I get this kegged by August, I can be drinking it by late winter (February/March).
Click to expand...


1st Batch:
Oak Infusion Spirals - 2 pack - Medium + Toast with Knob Creek

2nd Batch:
Oak Infusion Spirals - 2 pack - Medium + Toast with Gentlemen Jack

Both batch's have been soaking on oak for 4 weeks now




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coming up on 6 months for mine now. gonna bottle some and let them sit until the one year mark and have the rest on keg. pix:

bcbs.jpg


bcbs II.jpg
 
so thoughts on this. bcbs is my second fave beer on earth, behind stones enjoy. they are making more of it so it is pretty easy to get some in season. mine is coming up on 6 months now, I will be bottling and cellaring most of it for a full year. mine came out to 1.130 and 1.034. abv was 12.9% before adding 3/4 bottle of bulleit bourbon (yum). I used 1 oz of oak chips for 6 weeks. as you can see (the real thing on the right), color is spot on (duh, black is black) and the real one has just a shade tanner head. I carbed mine higher than the real thing as you can see. mouthfeel is about the same I would think. so is this a clone, can I make 5 gal of bcbs in my basement? errr... no. differences: the oak is hard to get right. mine is a little heavy on oak aroma and flavor. this mellows in time and isn't at all bad now, just different than the real one. I don't think that bcbs has a very heavy oak profile. however, nailing it will be tricky - if it's good today, it might not be after a year of aging. not a big thing though. as far as the bourbon goes, if you have a bottle of bcbs handy you can keep comparing and adding until you think you are close. for me that was 3/4 bottle. the real bcbs is a lot smoother, again probably aging which you can do if you like. so none of these are a big deal, but one is. it has been mentioned before - some have said this recipe is too "roasty". I knocked down the dark malts as suggested to compensate. and I can understand what people are saying but I think the real problem is not that it is too roasty, I think it isn't sweet enough (maybe that's a different way of saying the same thing). the real bcbs is like boozy pancake syrup, I have always said I am going to pour it on pancakes for breakfast one day and I am completely serious. it even smells like molasses. this one doesn't have that same "it's almost cloying" sweetness. you DO get a hint of it, no doubt about it - when you drink this it's like "nope. but... wait..." you get a flash of it. I will leave it up to the experts here how to bump up the sweetness more, you sure can't do it with higher gravity :) so should you brew this? hell yes, it is an excellent stout, and will get you about 60% of the way to bcbs. and 60% of perfect is pretty damn good.
 
Awesome thread this is my favorite beer of all time thanks for posting this thread
 
Today I brewed 15 gallons of Bourbon county Stout @ 1.112. Ran an additional 10.5 gallons of water thru the used grain and come up with 8 gallons of 1.074 Little County Stout, can't wait to try little county to see what it taste like. If it comes out tasty I will try to make it a 10 gallon Little County stout next time. Hops used for Little county were Centennial and Amarillo.

Any ideas how I would save the second running Little County Stout as a recipe in a brewing app?


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itsratso said:
so thoughts on this. bcbs is my second fave beer on earth, behind stones enjoy. they are making more of it so it is pretty easy to get some in season. mine is coming up on 6 months now, I will be bottling and cellaring most of it for a full year. mine came out to 1.130 and 1.034. abv was 12.9% before adding 3/4 bottle of bulleit bourbon (yum). I used 1 oz of oak chips for 6 weeks. as you can see (the real thing on the right), color is spot on (duh, black is black) and the real one has just a shade tanner head. I carbed mine higher than the real thing as you can see. mouthfeel is about the same I would think. so is this a clone, can I make 5 gal of bcbs in my basement? errr... no. differences: the oak is hard to get right. mine is a little heavy on oak aroma and flavor. this mellows in time and isn't at all bad now, just different than the real one. I don't think that bcbs has a very heavy oak profile. however, nailing it will be tricky - if it's good today, it might not be after a year of aging. not a big thing though. as far as the bourbon goes, if you have a bottle of bcbs handy you can keep comparing and adding until you think you are close. for me that was 3/4 bottle. the real bcbs is a lot smoother, again probably aging which you can do if you like. so none of these are a big deal, but one is. it has been mentioned before - some have said this recipe is too "roasty". I knocked down the dark malts as suggested to compensate. and I can understand what people are saying but I think the real problem is not that it is too roasty, I think it isn't sweet enough (maybe that's a different way of saying the same thing). the real bcbs is like boozy pancake syrup, I have always said I am going to pour it on pancakes for breakfast one day and I am completely serious. it even smells like molasses. this one doesn't have that same "it's almost cloying" sweetness. you DO get a hint of it, no doubt about it - when you drink this it's like "nope. but... wait..." you get a flash of it. I will leave it up to the experts here how to bump up the sweetness more, you sure can't do it with higher gravity :) so should you brew this? hell yes, it is an excellent stout, and will get you about 60% of the way to bcbs. and 60% of perfect is pretty damn good.
Click to expand...

To make this sweeter, maybe a few pounds of lactose would help? I just bought a barrel so I'll be brewing it shortly.
 
Brewed this for the first time yesterday. I tried going all-grain with it (39 lbs for 6 gallons?!?!?!). I assumed some efficiency problems with the no-sparge situation, so I set my efficiency 5% lower in Beersmith and did a finer crush. My pre-boil gravity was only 1.085 instead of 1.114, quite a bit off. We heated the wort up a bit more to 170 and ran it through the mash tun again, but it barely made a difference, something like 1.088.

I admitted defeat and added 4 lbs of extract to get up to the expected pre-boil gravity. I made a huge starter and it was chugging away like a madman by morning. I'll give it a few weeks then rack it into my used 5 gallon barrel to sit until the flavor gets to where I like it!
 
Shuasha said:
Brewed this for the first time yesterday. I tried going all-grain with it (39 lbs for 6 gallons?!?!?!). I assumed some efficiency problems with the no-sparge situation, so I set my efficiency 5% lower in Beersmith and did a finer crush. My pre-boil gravity was only 1.085 instead of 1.114, quite a bit off. We heated the wort up a bit more to 170 and ran it through the mash tun again, but it barely made a difference, something like 1.088.

I admitted defeat and added 4 lbs of extract to get up to the expected pre-boil gravity. I made a huge starter and it was chugging away like a madman by morning. I'll give it a few weeks then rack it into my used 5 gallon barrel to sit until the flavor gets to where I like it!
Click to expand...

what recipe did you use? mash temp? how's it going so far?
 
I'm very happy with my outcome. Here's how I got there:

5/29/14: Brew day, hit an OG of 1.114 using the recipe on the first post of this thread. Pitched it on a yeast cake from 5 gallons of wheat ale. Pitched it directly in to the wheat ale's carboy after racking the wheat out.

7/12/14: Racked to secondary with a gravity of 1.037. 10.3% already! I soaked 4oz of oak cubes in 16oz bullit bourbon for several days before racking, and threw the whole solution in on 7/12.

8/16/14: Kegged. FG of 1.035. Factoring in the 16oz of bourbon, I'm at around 11.2%. Not as big as BCBS, but the biggest beer I've made to date.

2/14/15: Kegerator has been empty for a while, so I throw this in and force carbed it for 24 hours.

Today: It's thick, sweet and syrupy like BCBS. Mine has more oak flavor than bourbon - I think it could do with another few months of aging. I plan on bottling half and trying some next Winter. It's still delicious, so I'll probably drink the rest of the keg this winter, and then time my next batch of this so it has 9-12 months to age, ending in the winter time. If I were to brew it with a shorter turnaround time in mind, I'd probably go with less oak. I love oak flavors, but for a BCBS clone this has too much oak and not enough bourbon right now.
 

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