Getting Bourbon Flavor Without Additional Alcohol?

[tsholl]

I am brewing "Dragon's Silk" from Northern Brewer. I brewed it before but it came out really flat, I think I killed all the yeast with the high alcohol; the beer itself was 9.7% and then the kit tells you to add the bourbon as well as the bourbon-soaked charred oak cubes. I did a quick calculation and found that adding 12 oz of 40% ABV bourbon will increase the ABV of 5 gallons of liquid by about 0.7% ABV, which is not insignificant.

I am wondering if I could do something like simmer the bourbon on the stove for a bit to get a bit of the alcohol to evaporate. I know EtOH boils at a lower temperature than water does. Has anyone tried anything like this?

 

[JimRausch]

I have not cooked bourbon or any spirit, but have attempted to dealcoholize my beer by boiling off the alcohol. Heat it to 170 and hold it there for 20-30 minutes. There's a thread somewhere on the forum titled 'How I neutered my beer' or something like that.
At 10-11% ABV, while high, depending on the yeast you should be able to get carbonation with priming. One remedy would be to add about 1/4 packet of CBC-1 yeast at bottling time.

 

[IslandLizard]

These kind of beers tend to be fairly high in alcohol. 9.8% from the beer fermentation + 0.7% from the bourbon addition* = 10.5%. That's their charm! These aren't guzzlers they are to be savored slowly appreciating all their complexity of flavors, aromas, and some booziness helps with carrying those.

If that's not your cup of tea reduce your fermentables somewhat, say 10-20% or buy a different kit.

The bourbon/barrel flavors are difficult to add, though, in any other way. A small bottle of Bourbon flavoring as often sold in the 'distillers isle' won't probably do it much or any justice.

* On a side note, that 0.7% from the bourbon is a really small boost in alcohol. I doubt anyone can taste the difference between a 9.8% and 10.5% beer.

 

[tsholl]

Thanks @IslandLizard! I should have been more clear though, I am all in favor of high ABV beers haha. I am just worried that when I bottle condition it will be too alcoholic for the yeast to function, hence why it came out flat last time. @JimRausch ok I may try that depending on what the interim gravity is when I transfer from primary to secondary. I did brew the extract kit "Northy 12" which came out at 9.5% and bottled with CBC-1 which seemed to help so I'll plan to do the same with this beer.

 

[IslandLizard]

Thanks @IslandLizard! I should have been more clear though, I am all in favor of high ABV beers haha. I am just worried that when I bottle condition it will be too alcoholic for the yeast to function, hence why it came out flat last time. @JimRausch ok I may try that depending on what the interim gravity is when I transfer from primary to secondary. I did brew the extract kit "Northy 12" which came out at 9.5% and bottled with CBC-1 which seemed to help so I'll plan to do the same with this beer.

Oh, thank goodness, you like big beers! I thought it was a bit silly to stumble over a mere 0.7% extra at that point.

Sorry, I didn't pick up on your issue being bottle carbonation related.
At 10-12% a beer should still contain enough live cells to carbonate, it may just take longer. But if they happen to give up the ghost midway, you'll end up with semi-flat beer.

Adding some fresh, highly alcohol tolerant, or bottling yeast should indeed help completing the carbonation process and hopefully in shorter time.
I doubt the added 0.7% from the bourbon will make much difference at that point, I wouldn't skip it for that.