Drom John's Innis & Gunn Original

[Bottoms_Up]

3 or 4 ounces of chips depending on package size.
I've notice no tannin taste. Toasting probably took enough care of the oak tannins.
Bourbon sanitizes sufficiently.

Thanks. I've seen a lot of discussion about first removing a lot of the tannins in the oak before using it by pre-soaking, boiling, not using the liquor (just the chips), etc., and was just wondering what your position on this was. It's good to know that it doesn't really impart that much of the tannin flavor.

 

[RoboRob1]

A bit dark, a bit sweet, but otherwise very similar.

Question I am doing this same recipe but soaking the oak in a dark rum, how long do I need to soak the rum with the oak? Also at what point do I add the oak to the fermentation l?

 

[DromJohn]

Question I am doing this same recipe but soaking the oak in a dark rum, how long do I need to soak the rum with the oak? Also at what point do I add the oak to the fermentation l?

I soak for two days, then dump chips and liquor in the bottom of the primary bucket before adding wort.

 

[Bottoms_Up]

Well the beer had finished fermenting and aging and is just about ready to keg. I decided that I would add the bourbon-soaked oak chips to the keg rather than adding during fermentation. I soaked 100 grams (about 3 ounces) of oak chips in a half-liter (half-quart) Mason jar with 140 ml of Wild Turkey last night, which I will leave for 2 days before adding to the keg when I transfer the beer. I found that the level of bourbon only reached a little more than half-way up the level of chips, after some of it got soaked up. Is this what you experienced DromJohn? I know that some sources say to cover the level of oak chips with bourbon, but that would likely be too much.

 

[DromJohn]

I found that the level of bourbon only reached a little more than half-way up the level of chips, after some of it got soaked up. Is this what you experienced DromJohn? I know that some sources say to cover the level of oak chips with bourbon, but that would likely be too much.

In my case, the chips spread out evenly in a rectangle Pyrex dish and 140ml just covered.

 

[Bottoms_Up]

In my case, the chips spread out evenly in a rectangle Pyrex dish and 140ml just covered.

I would think that even if they were spread out, the bourbon would still cover the same amount. I just rotated and shook the jar a couple of times a day, and added it to my keg tonight. By this time, the oak had absorbed almost all of the bourbon. The level might have been about a quarter of the way up to the level of the oak chips. I'll leave it in the keg for 10 days at room temperature and then taste it each couple of days afterwards to see when to take out the chips.

 

[Shenanigans]

Still haven't brewed this.

Again I will do all-grain with Maris Otter and WLP011 instead of Golden Promise and WLP028.

What was your OG and FG so I can adjust it for my system?
Oh and your mash temperature?

The WLP011 has lower attenuation than WLP028 so I will probably mash 1 or 2 degree lower and for 90 instead of 60 mins.
If the FG is still a bit high then I'll add some brown sugar to dry it out a little.

Thanks!

So reporting back on my attempt.

I used Crystal/Cara 30L so in between your attempt 1 and 2.

Anyway I bottled it after 2 weeks going from 1.063 to 1.011, so the WLP011 had a higher attenuation than expected. I did mash at 2 degree lower than the OP though.
Its in the bottle 5 days now and tastes very promising; nice touch of oak and bourbon but not overpowering. It's a bit thin but the body should increase when it is fully carbed.

BTW I only ever had the Rum Aged version but not the original.
Does it have a medium to light body or have I totally over attenuated with an FG of 1.011?
If the OG from the first recipe was 1.067 and had an expected 6.6% Abv then it should have finished around 1.017.


I will report back in a week or two with the final results.

 

[Bottoms_Up]

I would think that even if they were spread out, the bourbon would still cover the same amount. I just rotated and shook the jar a couple of times a day, and added it to my keg tonight. By this time, the oak had absorbed almost all of the bourbon. The level might have been about a quarter of the way up to the level of the oak chips. I'll leave it in the keg for 10 days at room temperature and then taste it each couple of days afterwards to see when to take out the chips.

Well, even though I kept the oak chips in a hop strainer within the keg, when I took out the strainer, the keg was filled with oak powder sediment. I've sucked out some of this sediment several times by the hose attached to the keg, but there was so much that it filled quite a few glasses of beer. I decided to leave it for a couple of weeks longer and try sucking it out again. Hope there's not too much left as I'm losing a lot of beer. Maybe it would be better to use oak cubes next time, or add the oak during the secondary fermentation.

 

[Bottoms_Up]

Update - the oak debris finally got flushed out, and I gave it an initial taste test. It was delicious, although not as close to an Innis & Gunn as I would have expected. Lots of flavour, but not quite as oaked as it could have been. The amount of Bourbon was just right, though. Next time I'll use oak cubes and leave it on them for a few weeks. The other noticeable difference was the level of sweetness. It was considerably more sweet and caramel-like than the I & G. Irregardless, I like this much more than an I & G. It has a most distinctive and unique flavour.

I'm still not sure where the sweetness came from. I mashed at 154 F, and the F.G. was 1.014 (perhaps a little on the high side).

 

[DromJohn]

Version three went back to version one, but for the LME is organic and the oak was cubed. 40L & 1/2 oz hops were leftovers; rest of grain and yeast were from Barley & Vine before they closed; LME, 1 oz hops and oak were from Northern Brewer. First taste 15 April 2017.

 

[Shenanigans]

Still not measuring the SG?

 

[Bottoms_Up]

Still not measuring the SG?

I think it's supposed to be about 1.068. When I made the recipe I only got 1.061.

 

[DromJohn]

Version IV. Only variation was 1 oz medium toast oak, and 2 oz heavy toast American oak, because I had the leftover heavy toast.
First taste 18 January 2020.