Goose Island Bourbon County Stout Clone

[Dr. T.]

I purchased this 5-gallon kit from homebrewsupply late in 2020 (shipped from keg connection). Sadly, it's been sitting in a box in my basement since. Doesn't seem like that kit exists anymore - sad...

Anywho, I'm looking for some advice from those that may have attempted this one. I'm using a false-bottomed 10-gallon igloo mash tun. I've heard some run TWO mashes since the whole thing doesn't fit well. Is this really necessary? I'm also planning on using two packs of safale US-05 dry yeast (the original instructions (which I've since lost)) indicate using two packets should be considered. I have the original ones that shipped with the kit (I've kept them in the refrigerator), but my sense is I should probably use new ones. I can buy ones at the local shop, but wondering if I could use the old ones with a starter. Otherwise I was planning on pitching the rehydrated (new) yeasts packets without a starter.

The original kit doesn't exist anymore on the web, but I did find this which describes the ingredients quite well: Goose Island Bourbon County Stout Clone | Russian Imperial Stout All Grain Beer Recipe | Brewer's Friend

and here's what seems to be a modification of the original printed instructions - recommends a two hour boil? Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout Clone :: Recipe

Thanks!

 

[hottpeper13]

I know you don't want to hear this, but here gose.
1- how long was the kit sitting on the shelf before it shipped to you?
2- Always use the kits ASAP.
3-if it's all grain and unmilled and vacuum packed it might be OK.
4- I've used 3 yr expired yeast with a starter and they all worked.
That being said I would bu.y fresh malt and hops and make the kit as starter wort,so it's not completely wasted.

 

[jrgtr42]

Depending on if it's grain or extract, you could be fine.
|Extract, especially liquid, doesn't improve with time. IF you kept it cold the whole time, it would be better than warm.
The yeast should be fine, you mentioned it's dry and been in the fridge.
|As far as the mash goes, maybe try running it a bit dryer than usual, if you do 1.5 qt/lb normally, try it at 1.25 or even 1. Increase the sparge to accomodate. Do you run fly or batch sparging? If you're hard for space in the tun, you might want to go fly, just gently pour the sparge water over the top rather than dumping it all in at once.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

it's been sitting in a box in my basement since [ late in 2020 ].

For the malts, there are techniques for evaluating the quality of the ingredients (both malts and DME/LME).

For hops, there are techniques for evaluating their quality as well. You could new hops, compare the new hops to the old hops, and maybe use the "old" hops for bittering additions in the future.

For yeast, the package comes with a "use by" date. Simplest thing possible may be to buy new yeast and use the kit yeast for a lower OG beer.

 

[tracer bullet]

I've bought a lot of small amounts of grain to sample it, get their flavor profiles. I've stored them reasonably well sealed and in a cool / dark place & etc. 6 months later they've definitely changed taste. It's not bad, they didn't rot, but - they lost a lot of character.

I'm not sure I'd make a 2 year old kit. Maybe just use it as a recipe guide and get new ingredients.

As for fitting, it'll be close. How much grain do you have, in lbs, and do you plan to sparge?

 

[Kickass]

All grain or extract? What were storage conditions like?

Fresh yeast are good insurance at the very least.

I think your saving grace here is that’s such a big, boozy, roasted beer that those notes will help conceal past its prime grains/extract. I think you’ll be fine to brew it and you can always add more bourbon and oak. Or toss in some vanilla, coffee, and/or chili pepper extract to do a Prairie Bomb type of thing.

 

[Dr. T.]

Thank you all for your input - This will address most questions: This is an all-grain kit with about 26.25 # of grains - whoa, I know! Milled and sealed in high density plastic bag and vacuum sealed, and stored in a dark and cool basement. The use by date on the dry yeast is 5/23, so I think I'm OK. I'm a big fan of batch sparging due to it's simplicity. I've decided to go ahead with the brew. I'm sure I'll lose some character, but because of the strong flavors I do think it will still be quite good. It wasn't my intention to leave it for a year, I just never found the time, then it got put on the 'back-burner'.

Any thoughts on the one hour versus two hour boil? Is the only reason someone would boil longer to reduce volume?

 

[tracer bullet]

26.25 is a boat load of grain. From my quick calculations you could add about 7.5 gallons to that, and be just a hair under 10 gallons space used total (the remainder is occupied by the grain itself. You'd get about 1.14 qts / pound out of it, low but not terrible. Sparge could be about 2.5 gallons, not too bad, and you'd end up with about 7.5 gallons in the boil kettle. Boil for 2 hours to get down to around 5.5 gallons.

I'm not sure I'd fill that mash tun to the top... You' pretty much not even be able to stir it. Not an ideal situation. Might consider dual mashes, half the grain in each.

 

[Dr. T.]

26.25 is a boat load of grain. From my quick calculations you could add about 7.5 gallons to that, and be just a hair under 10 gallons space used total (the remainder is occupied by the grain itself. You'd get about 1.14 qts / pound out of it, low but not terrible. Sparge could be about 2.5 gallons, not too bad, and you'd end up with about 7.5 gallons in the boil kettle. Boil for 2 hours to get down to around 5.5 gallons.

I'm not sure I'd fill that mash tun to the top... You' pretty much not even be able to stir it. Not an ideal situation. Might consider dual mashes, half the grain in each.

I've considered doing two half-sized mashes. Not thrilled about the extra time it will require, but it might be useful in this case

 

[hottpeper13]

Use the sparge wort from the first mash for strike liquor on the second mash. Kinda how high gravity brewing works.

 

[sibelman]

@Dr. T.: To keep the mash size down a bit, you can (should?) steep the dark grains (chocolate, black, roasted) in wort separately and add the result to the boil. That way, "only" 21.5 - 22 lbs of grain in the mash. Do you plan to do anything (wood chips?) to emulate barrel aging? Actual wood barrel?

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Use a regular cooler, put part of the grain in there, when it come time to sparge, sparge the first half in your mash tun, then dump it and add the second half from the cooler and sparge it, easy enough.

 

[Dr. T.]

@Dr. T.: To keep the mash size down a bit, you can (should?) steep the dark grains (chocolate, black, roasted) in wort separately and add the result to the boil. That way, "only" 21.5 - 22 lbs of grain in the mash. Do you plan to do anything (wood chips?) to emulate barrel aging? Actual wood barrel?

Good option to consider

 

[Dr. T.]

I thought I'd let you know my decision, and where I'm at. Despite some cool and unique suggestions, I just went for it - the whole batch into my 10 gallon igloo mash tun. I only fit in about 7 gallons of strike water - all the way to the top. Since I had so little space in there I decided to do about 4 small batch sparges - I know I left sugar behind, but I was happy with what I got out. I couldn't fit all the wort into my boil kettle, so I ended up putting in most of it, boiling for 1 hour, then adding the rest - 2.5 total hours of boil time. I also added about 1# DME to make up some of the sugar I left behind on the grains.

I pitched a starter made with the two older dry yeast packets because I was concerned maybe I had lost some viability in the storage time. O.G. was about 1.1 (off from my expectation, but I'm not sad about it), and after two weeks of sitting in the fermenter I'm at 1.032. Hopefully I get down to about 1.022 before bottling. Nevertheless, this will be a strong beer. This recipe also calls for bourbon-soaked oak chips. I decided to add the bourbon I was using to soak the chips in, too. Can't wait!