How much bourbon/whiskey to add to stout?

[timrox1212]

Going to be brewing a stout this weekend and I'm going to add oak wood chips and bourbon or whiskey to the secondary. How much wood chips and bourbon should I add. I don't want it to be crazy woody or bourbony just enough to fake that barrel aged taste.

Thanks

 

[Jipper]

What size batch are we talking about here timrox?

 

[timrox1212]

Woops sorry the usual 5 gallon.

 

[OldWorld]

One ounce of burbon will be just fine. Soak the rest of the cubes in a neutral grain spirit like vodka or everclear. A single ounce will infuse just fine. If you simply wanted to add a bourbon character to the beer you could also take the bourbon and place it over a double boiler setup.

Cook the alcohol out, but keep the burbon flavor, toss that into your keg or bottle conditioning vessel.

 

[kagythings]

I brewed a vanilla bourbon porter about 10 months ago that turned out to be around 9% and then added 10oz of Makers Mark. Found the recipe on here with a huge debate on the amount of bourbon. After 10 months the flavors have blended well and it tastes great but it's a pronounced flavor. Next time I would go 7-8oz but for your brew it sounds like you want a more subtle flavor. Start with an ounce or two and slowly stir it in. Try it and see what you like and add more if it appeals to you but remember the flavor mellows over time so I would go with 4-5 oz if you plan to let this stout sit for 6-12 months but I like that bourbon flavor. I have no oak experience to share at the moment but plan to use oak chips in my secondary next week.
Good luck to you.

 

[timrox1212]

Thanks for the help. I'm gonna go with 5-6 oz most likely then because I plan on aging most I this batch.

 

[unionrdr]

Last time I made my Whiskely (stout or porter aged in bourbon barrels sibnce colnial times),I used 2oz of medium toast French oak chips in 5 jiggers of Beam's Black. Bourbon/oak flavor was dominent to the point where the beer was drowned too much. I'm brewing a PM traditional stout Saturday for another batch of Whiskely. I'm going to use 2oz of American oak chips with 2-3 jiggers of a lighter colored/flavored bourbon like Maker's Mark. This should lighten up the oaked bourbon flavor so the beer can shine through better. By the way,a jigger is 1.5oz,or 1.5 shots.

 

[timrox1212]

So in what order do I add the chips and bourbon to my secondary? Beer then pour bourbon and chips ontop or put the chips and bourbon in and pour the beer ontop?

 

[Seven]

I added 1/2 pint of Maker's Mark to a 5 gallon batch of imperial stout and months later the bourbon flavor was still pretty strong. It wasn't overpowering to me (I love bourbon) but you may want to reduce this amount if you don't want a very strong bourbon flavor in the beer.

I added the bourbon when kegging. Just poured it right into the keg when racking from the fermenter.

 

[unionrdr]

I soak the American white oak chips (2oz) in about 3 jiggers or so of bourbon in an airtight container in the fridge during primary fermentation. Then pour it all into/through a hop sack into secondary,tie of the sack of chips,& drop it in.
then rack the stout on top of it. Leave it for 7 days,then take a shot glass-size sample to see if it's where you want it. then prime & bottle.
I've got the mash going for my traditional stout now.

 

[SmokeyRydr]

I added 1/2 pint of Maker's Mark to a 5 gallon batch of imperial stout and months later the bourbon flavor was still pretty strong. It wasn't overpowering to me (I love bourbon) but you may want to reduce this amount if you don't want a very strong bourbon flavor in the beer.

I added the bourbon when kegging. Just poured it right into the keg when racking from the fermenter.

Any idea how many points of SG that 1/2 pint added?

 

[applescrap]

You could also splash it as you go. I have to come to this as I can have it with, without, with a lot. Red wine, etc...My book says 1 oz chips subtle 2 oz more pronounced. Near full extraction in 2 weeks. Liqour add to taste. I always use the best I can afford at the time within reason. There is some debate on this. Bake chips at 350 for 15 minutes book says.

 

[dx250]

One thing to note when adding bourbon is, what bottle you are adding. If it is a run of the mill 80 proof you may need to add more than the 126 proof cask strength that I am drinking now as water may be added at bottling to dilute to the desired proof. The branding has been left out to save any arguments or bourbon envy that may be caused.

 

[Calder]

How much Whiskey to add?

Time to experiment. Go pour yourself a Stout, and add some Whiskey and see how it tastes. Maybe pour a bottle (12 ozs) into two glasses, and add half a teaspoon to one and a full teaspoon to the other and make a judgement.

If you like the half teaspoon beer better, this equals 5 ml in a bottle. If you prefer the full teaspoon beer, this equals 10 ml in a bottle. Or go some where in between. 1 teaspoon = 5 ml.

When I add spirits to a beer I generally go by 10 ml per bottle, or 500 ml per 5 gallons (10 ml x 50 bottles).

 

[Jayjay1976]

I just finished a batch lime this, used 1 oz untoasted oak chips plus 1.5 oz medium plus toasted american oak cubes, soaked them for a week in a 12 oz jar filled to the top with bourbon. To my palette the oak character is pleasantly robust and the bourbon a mild secondary note. The toasted cubes contribute a nice bit of smoky flavor, already smooth and drinkable at 2 weeks in the bottle but I'm going to age them for a few months to see how it evolves. Mine was a 6 gallon batch.