Irish Car Bomb Stout

[chemnitz]

Okay, so this may be the crazy mutterings of a newbie with more imagination than sense. How about a beer with the flavor of an Irish Car Bomb Cocktail. For those who are not familiar with this drink, it involves a shot of Bailey's Irish Cream and Jameson's Irish Whiskey that is dropped into a pint of Guinness and then chugged. It must be drunk quickly, lest the cream curdle. But what if you could have this drink without having to down it so fast?

So there are three tastes that need to be present:

1) Guinness - This should be easy enough: use a stout as the base for the recipe.

2) Bailey's - Lactose should give the beer the necessary sweetness and milkiness. Cocoa powder (and/or chocolate malt), vanilla extract (or beans), and caramel malts should cover the chocolate, vanilla, and caramel flavors in the liqueur.

3) Jameson's - Can you just add some whiskey into the recipe? In the secondary? At bottling time? How much?

So, that's the basic idea. Does anyone think that this might actually work? Would it taste good? More importantly--does any intrepid soul want to take a moment to hash out a hypothetical recipe for such a thing? I'm an extract + specialty grains brewer at this point, so something along those lines would be wonderful.

Thanks!

 

[Ice9]

You could probably brew a milk stout recipe and then add the whiskey and vanilla at bottling or kegging time. Could be interesting.

 

[ak40kush]

maybe use some powdered milk with the dextrose when brewing cause we know that **** aint real milk so it shouldnt curdle lol after racking into a carboy or secondary fermenter you could add some whiskey.for a standard extract brew of 23L maybe a half L will cover the hint flavouring. Its a good idea you have I must say! let me know how it goes cause I LOVE IRISH CARBOMBS!

 

[Jsamp]

That sounds good actually. If you figure something out let us know.

 

[MeatyPortion]

Damn, I wish I were home so I could give this a shot.

 

[chemnitz]

Thanks for the advice and encouragement. I think that I will probably move forward with this one, but not right away. Perhaps I will brew this as a Christmas ale. At any rate, here is a very rough attempt at a recipe. Any criticism is well appreciated!

Irish Car Bomb Stout (5 gallon batch)

7 lb. pale LME
1 lb. lactose

0.75 lb. roasted barley
0.50 lb. chocolate malt
0.25 lb. black patent

1 oz. Nugget hops (60 minutes)

4 oz. cocoa powder (last 5 minutes of boil?)

dried ale yeast (what kind?)

1 oz. vanilla extract (at bottling time)
16 oz. (1/2 L) whiskey (at bottling time)

Initial Gravity: 1.058
Final Gravity: 1.014
ABV: 5.7%
IBU: 36.8

What do you think? Would it really work to add powdered milk, or will that curdle? Are the other amounts about right?

 

[DrinksWellWithOthers]

Instead of using lactose, cocoa powder, vanilla, etc, why not buy some Kahlua flavored syrup? Like this stuff. Seems like it would be an easier and more accurate way of getting that "car bomb" flavor.

If you want a dry yeast go with US05. Clean and neutral and won't get in the way of the flavors you're trying to display.

 

[smmcdermott]

WOW....this is an awesome idea...

I LOOOOOOVE car bombs.

Please let us know how this turns out. If it works, I am definitely going to brew this. The US05 is a great idea for the yeast. Not sure about the dried milk curtling, but 1 oz vanilla might not be enough to give it the flavor (IMO).

IDK, I am new at this, so perhaps leave it to someone else's suggestion.

 

[mr_clean]

I love it,kudos to your for thinking outside the box.

 

[wildwest450]

You forget, half the fun of a car bomb is shooting beer all over the place and chipping your teeth on the shot glass.

 

[shortyjacobs]

Sounds like this could be way good.....prosted!

 

[Falcor]

You forget, half the fun of a car bomb is shooting beer all over the place and chipping your teeth on the shot glass.

sounds like you're doing something wrong. i like to do my car bombs with most if not all of the bottle or can and get it all down :rockin:

 

[nealf]

Any chance that adding some oak chips would help to mimic the flavors of whiskey? I'm just thinking out loud here.

 

[ak40kush]

Any chance that adding some oak chips would help to mimic the flavors of whiskey? I'm just thinking out loud here.

id say thats an inovative idea. But id say do it in the primary fermenter the after racking add the 1/2 cup of jamesons whiskey. But that is if its going to be a 5G recipe.

 

[shortyjacobs]

Any chance that adding some oak chips would help to mimic the flavors of whiskey? I'm just thinking out loud here.

I know one of northernbrewer's kits for bourbon porter comes with

* 2 oz. US Medium Plus Oak Cubes (Add to secondary)
* 16 oz. bourbon (not included) (Add to secondary)

So yeah, seems like it might help...maybe oak and Jame-O into the secondary?

 

[mc_eric]

1/2 cup of whiskey seems like a lot to me. I'd say soak some oak chips in whiskey, add those, and let that baby age for a while. I did this to an imperial red ale I brewed and it seems to be coming along pretty good. It does take a while for that whiskey flavor to mellow out though. So if you add any whiskey, you should let it age for a couple months before you bottle it, IMO.

 

[JOHN51277]

WOW, this is a really killer idea! It sounds frickin great! I might have to stop on the way home for a few bombs! MMMMM!

 

[paintb22]

Wow I just had this idea last night and didn't even see this post. I brewed 11gal of a rouge chocolate stout clone 3 weeks ago and split it between 3 secondaries. One will be as is, the second has cherry concentrate added to it, and the third will be an Irish Car Bomb Stout. I am thinking about adding 6-8oz of Jameson, 3/4lb of Lactose, and 1oz vanilla extract.

Side Note:
I actually made that Bourbon Porter from NB and it's pretty good. The 16oz of bourbon isn't to powerful but very pronounced. The darker the beer the more booze you can put in it and not have it too over powering. I figured since none of what I am adding is fermentable I would do it at bottling and adjust to taste. I'll be sure to post back how it turns out in about 4 weeks.

 

[FireNightFly]

From a prof. Irishman, Id have to say it isnt an Irish Car Bomb until an Irish fella sticks his finger in it. +))

 

[NoisufnoC]

i'm interested to see how this turns out, subscribed for sure.

 

[ak40kush]

Wow I just had this idea last night and didn't even see this post. I brewed 11gal of a rouge chocolate stout clone 3 weeks ago and split it between 3 secondaries. One will be as is, the second has cherry concentrate added to it, and the third will be an Irish Car Bomb Stout. I am thinking about adding 6-8oz of Jameson, 3/4lb of Lactose, and 1oz vanilla extract.

Side Note:
I actually made that Bourbon Porter from NB and it's pretty good. The 16oz of bourbon isn't to powerful but very pronounced. The darker the beer the more booze you can put in it and not have it too over powering. I figured since none of what I am adding is fermentable I would do it at bottling and adjust to taste. I'll be sure to post back how it turns out in about 4 weeks.

you should post some picture so we can see how it turns out. good luck to ya!

 

[chemnitz]

I'm coming back to this idea that I've let sit on the back burner for awhile. Since then, I've purchased all-grain equipment. So, here is my new plan. I'm hoping to brew it in a couple weeks, so that it will be available at St. Patty's Day. Please correct me if you think that something would not work or work well.

I've decided that I'm going to try to split the batch. Half will be a regular stout and half will be an Irish Car Bomb stout. This way I can compare the two--I could even drink the first batch as an Irish Car Bomb for educative purposes. I think that all of the necessary flavoring for the Irish Car Bomb can be added at bottling (or maybe in the secondary). So, first I will brew this basic recipe for a 5 gallon batch:

8 lb. Two row
1 lb. Crystal 60
.75 lb. black roasted barley
.25 lb. chocolate malt
2 oz. Williamette @ 60 minutes

Yeast: I'm not sure yet. I have both Nottingham and Wyeast 1728 (Scottish Ale) on hand. Would either of those work?

Stats on the basic stout at 70% eff.:
1.049 OG
37 SRM
37.5 IBU

Then, at bottling time, I would bottle up one case of normal stout. Then, I add my special potion to the remaining half and bottle it. The potion includes:

1 cup whiskey
4 oz. low-fat cocoa powder
1/2 oz. vanilla extract
1/2 lb. lactose

These are soaked in the whiskey for a week or so and then strained through a coffee filter.

So, that's my plan. Please tell me if it seems like a good one. I haven't purchased any ingredients yet, so now is the time to set me right. In particular, do the amounts look reasonable? Would this work at bottling time? Or would it be better to rack half of the batch to secondary with the added ingredients? What yeast is best?

Thanks.

 

[electric_beer]

I like it! LOVE carbombs and it would be easy for traveling purposes (I'm thinking SNOWBOARDING!!).

Anyway, tell us how it turns out. I might have to do this instead of the dry stout to use for carbombs.

 

[Cart]

I was thinking Windsor might be a decent bet for the yeast, sweeter finish, and might not have to use as much lactose. Notty should be fine though. Killer idea though!

 

[Rowdy]

subscribed!

i'm starting a chocolate cream stout a few days after christmas so hurry and get this nailed down !!! lol
i love stout, i love whiskey even more, being able so crack a bottle of the two together :rockin::rockin:
the knot whiskey has more of a caramel/vanilla profile than jamesons and its 100 proof. jus sayin

 

[mitch171]

Now I may be way off, but I am thinking about the proportions of stout, Irish Cream and whiskey in an actual Irish Car Bomb. When I make them it is like 1/4 oz Irish Cream and 3/4 oz whiskey. Now Irish cream also contains whiskey and you don't usually use a full 12 oz to make the bomb. So we are looking at at least 1 oz whiskey per 12 oz of beer.

So that puts us at 50 oz of whiskey for a 5 gal batch. I know that sounds like a lot, but that is how Car Bombs are made. That would be 6 1/4 cups of whiskey. Now I could also find my families recipe for Irish Whiskey and post just what spices and how much are used.

This is very interesting and I like the idea a lot. I just might have to give a go at it.

 

[smmcdermott]

Mitch I think you are way off. I tihnk the key is to get the taste of a carbomb not the amounts of each ingredient correct. If you were going to have the same ingredients, it would be like a cement mixer because it would curdle.

I too am not sure, but I think that is close.

 

[duffman2]

Man oh man. I was ready to do a Double Chocolate Stout this weekend but now I'm seriously perplexed. I wonder if that would be too much for this crazy quest! Anybody think this stout would work?

 

[mitch171]

Why would it curdle? And I think you need that alcohol burn to get the actual taste. Now if you want a car bomb with none of the hurt or alcohol bump then you are right on.

I think it would only curdle if you add fresh milk product to the beer and I doubt that is a good idea. You need the proteins from milk to be present for curdling to happen and I hope you don't have that much protein in your beer. More whiskey = higher ABV many beers would be within this ABV and no ill effects.

 

[shortyjacobs]

Irish cream will curdle right quick, but I doubt it would curdle with the proportions you are describing mitch...

In either case though, I'm with smmcdermot here...If I were to do this, I'd be going for more of a "irish carbomb flavored" beer, not 5 gallons of actual irish carbombs...I guess it depends on what you are shooting for though.