My Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale attempt

[Wreck99]

I've done Bourbon porters in the past and am going to approach this the same. I have always added oak chips to secondary for 5-7 days, then bottled with 675ml of bourbon, let condition for 6 weeks or so. I brewed my KBBA last weekend, came in a little low on the OG but we'll see how it turns out.

How did it turn out? Thinking about making this one soon...extract version.

 

[DoubleAught]

How did it turn out? Thinking about making this one soon...extract version.

Not sure yet, bottling in 6 days, oaked it 4 days ago. Looking promising though!

 

[Wreck99]

Decided to mess around with Brewtarget as suggested earlier in this post. I punched in the ingredients and here's what I got. I based it from what I'm familiar with thus far with extract kits. How's it look?


KBBA Clone - Wood-Aged Beer (68F)

Batch Size 5.000 gal / Boil Size 3.000 gal
Boil Time 60.000 min / Efficiency 70%
OG 1.088
FG 1.023
ABV 8.5%
Bitterness 6.9 IBU (Tinseth)
Color 10.0 srm (Morey)
Calories (per 12 oz.) 293

Fermentables
9lb Briess DME - Golden Light (95% 4.0 srm)
1lb Briess - 2 Row Caramel 40 (77% 40.0 srm)
1lb Briess - 2 Row Carapils Malt (75% 1.5 srm)
1lb White Wheat Malt (86% 3.0 srm)


Hops
1.0 oz Kent Goldings 5.5% (Boil 60.000 min)
0.5 oz Fuggles 4.5% (Boil 5.000 min)

Misc
4 oz Bourbon-soaked Oak Cubes (Secondary)
3 cup Bourbon (Bottling)
3 oz Vanilla Extract (Bottling)

Yeast
Wyeast - British Ale (1098)

 

[Wreck99]

Northernbrewer has it coming in at $52.85. About what I expected based on previous posts. Not going to order anything until you guys look it over, make sure I didn't fudge it up somehow

 

[Henry22]

Im brewing this today doing the BIAB method, did everyone mash out at 170 for 10 mins?

 

[justindunham]

I'm interested in trying this recipe but with the added bourbon at the end I was worried about bottle carbonation not working. Are my concerns valid?

JD

 

[Henry22]

I'm interested in trying this recipe but with the added bourbon at the end I was worried about bottle carbonation not working. Are my concerns valid?

JD

I think it might just take longer to carb. Higher grav beers tend to take longer both to ferment and carb. Give it the necessary time and it will be fine.

Brewed this last night, mash @ 150 for 90 mins to increase efficiency, sparged in my bottling bucket and poured the wort back through the grains while they were sitting overtop my kettle, also squeezed the bag. Mashed out @ 170 for 10 mins, then a normal 60 min boil.

Got an OG of 1.062 which is a little low but I got 73% efficiency with a 5.5 gallon post boil. Not too bad, hopefully the bourbon will up the alcohol a little.

Cooled it down, pitched my yeast starter and put on a blow off tube. I'm hoping for some bubbling activity today.

 

[MrSparkleQ]

Decided to mess around with Brewtarget as suggested earlier in this post. I punched in the ingredients and here's what I got. I based it from what I'm familiar with thus far with extract kits. How's it look?


KBBA Clone - Wood-Aged Beer (68F)

Batch Size 5.000 gal / Boil Size 3.000 gal
Boil Time 60.000 min / Efficiency 70%
OG 1.088
FG 1.023
ABV 8.5%
Bitterness 6.9 IBU (Tinseth)
Color 10.0 srm (Morey)
Calories (per 12 oz.) 293

Fermentables
9lb Briess DME - Golden Light (95% 4.0 srm)
1lb Briess - 2 Row Caramel 40 (77% 40.0 srm)
1lb Briess - 2 Row Carapils Malt (75% 1.5 srm)
1lb White Wheat Malt (86% 3.0 srm)


Hops
1.0 oz Kent Goldings 5.5% (Boil 60.000 min)
0.5 oz Fuggles 4.5% (Boil 5.000 min)

Misc
4 oz Bourbon-soaked Oak Cubes (Secondary)
3 cup Bourbon (Bottling)
3 oz Vanilla Extract (Bottling)

Yeast
Wyeast - British Ale (1098)

are the hops and cubes right? I thought it was 1.5 oz at 60 mins? And I was just planning on 1 oz of cubes. The OG looks a little high as well, I was around 1.070.

 

[Henry22]

Walked in today and the thing was bubbling away. Guess I did something right.

 

[Wreck99]

I was just going by brewtarget, that's the calculations it came up with. I can change it to 1.5oz @ 60mins...probably a typo on my part. Everything else look cool?

 

[Wreck99]

Walked in today and the thing was bubbling away. Guess I did something right.

Since I'm only familiar with extract kits, I was going to try this one as such. Just trying to confirm the ingredients before I purchased.

 

[Henry22]

Since I'm only familiar with extract kits, I was going to try this one as such. Just trying to confirm the ingredients before I purchased.

I would think you should keep the hop amounts the same. 1.25 oz of kent goldings @60 and .5 oz of fuggles @5. Just convert the 2-row to lme or dme and the rest are specialty grains. If you have beer smith get it to convert it for you or I can do it when I get home.

 

[Wreck99]

Unfortunately no I don't have BeerSmith. I've been using BrewTarget. If you could convert it, that would be awesome. Thank you! I just want to get the recipe right.

 

[Henry22]

I just remembered I actually did this when I was going to do extract. You convert the main grain by .75 for LME I believe but anyways, starting on page 3 of this thread there is a discussion involving the extract recipe.

 

[MrSparkleQ]

Went to the liquor store last night and while I was browsing I noticed that they have the Alltech Brewery Beers there!!!! They were sold out of the bourbon barrel, but I still have a stash of them. $10.50 for a 4-pack in Wisconsin, much easier than driving to Kentucky!

 

[aiptasia]

I have a scotch wee heavy stewing on about 1 oz. of light toast American oak chips that I soaked in Johnny Walker black label scotch whiskey for a week. I tossed in the oak chips on Tuesday and i'm estimating it'll sit in there about a week to take on the flavors. I'll start tasting it this weekend.

 

[Henry22]

Went to the liquor store last night and while I was browsing I noticed that they have the Alltech Brewery Beers there!!!! They were sold out of the bourbon barrel, but I still have a stash of them. $10.50 for a 4-pack in Wisconsin, much easier than driving to Kentucky!

Thats the same price as in kentucky. At least it isnt more expensive. Definitely one of the more expensive beers I buy but I think its worth it.

 

[Stevo2569]

For anybody interested. A little lesson on Oaking your beer. Posted by another member.
http://morebeer.com/content/using_oak_in_beer

 

[Henry22]

So I have 4 ounces of medium toast American soaking in about 250 fl oz of makers, won't be using it for another week and a half. Should I add it all or just some and no bourbon? Wish I would have gotten cubes now but oh well.

 

[DoubleAught]

Went to the liquor store last night and while I was browsing I noticed that they have the Alltech Brewery Beers there!!!! They were sold out of the bourbon barrel, but I still have a stash of them. $10.50 for a 4-pack in Wisconsin, much easier than driving to Kentucky!

Wow, 4 pack here is like 12 something...me thinks me getting screw-ed

 

[helibrewer]

So I have 4 ounces of medium toast American soaking in about 250 fl oz of makers, won't be using it for another week and a half. Should I add it all or just some and no bourbon? Wish I would have gotten cubes now but oh well.

I made mine with 2 oz of cubes soaked in Bushmills. I only added the cubes, I think the total contact time was about 4 weeks in secondary, just thrown in the fermentor. By just adding the cubes, you can add small amounts of whiskey late and taste as you go. If you dump it all in and it's too much, you're kinda stuck.

 

[Henry22]

I made mine with 2 oz of cubes soaked in Bushmills. I only added the cubes, I think the total contact time was about 4 weeks in secondary, just thrown in the fermentor. By just adding the cubes, you can add small amounts of whiskey late and taste as you go. If you dump it all in and it's too much, you're kinda stuck.

I'll prob use most if not all of the chips and kept the bourbon and add to taste.

Thanks

 

[DoubleAught]

Bought the bottle of Makers Mark to bottle mine with tomorrow!!

 

[eljefe]

I have a scotch wee heavy stewing on about 1 oz. of light toast American oak chips that I soaked in Johnny Walker black label scotch whiskey for a week. I tossed in the oak chips on Tuesday and i'm estimating it'll sit in there about a week to take on the flavors. I'll start tasting it this weekend.

Damn that sounds really good. I have a wee heavy in the queue and would like to hear how yours turned out with the JW Black. I would never have thought of those two together but I think you are onto something the more I think of the taste profiles.

 

[Buckeye_Brewer1]

Bottling Question?

How much priming sugar is everyone planning on using to bottle with for the KBBA clone? I typically use the tastybrew.com link below to calculate my priming sugar needs. For the English Pale Ale Category it only recommends 0.5 OZ for a 5 gallon batch. I also checked the American Pale Ale category and it called for 4.5 OZ for a 5 gallon batch. With the KBBA being a hybrid beer I was thinking of splitting the two using around 2.5 - 3 OZ. Any input on this would be appreciated.

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

 

[Henry22]

Bottling Question?

How much priming sugar is everyone planning on using to bottle with for the KBBA clone? I typically use the tastybrew.com link below to calculate my priming sugar needs. For the English Pale Ale Category it only recommends 0.5 OZ for a 5 gallon batch. I also checked the American Pale Ale category and it called for 4.5 OZ for a 5 gallon batch. With the KBBA being a hybrid beer I was thinking of splitting the two using around 2.5 - 3 OZ. Any input on this would be appreciated.

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

It's a hybrid Irish red, English pale ale so maybe the average of those two. Or even better, email them and ask how many volumes of CO2 they bottle with. I would think they would tell you if they gave out the recipe.

 

[DoubleAught]

Drinking my first tonight. It's still young (7 days) but tastes damn good. I dropped a couple tablespoons of vanilla extract in the bottling bucket at the last minute. I think this one has more body than the original, but as far as I can tell is pretty spot on as far as taste accuracy goes.

I think after a couple more weeks of conditioning this will be one fine brew. Might just be a house regular.

 

[Henry22]

Pretty sure final grav came out to 1.011 from an SG of 1.062 which puts it at about 6.8%ABV. Not sure if the added bourbon will add any alcohol, we will see. Unfortunately I wont be drinking this one for at least another month.

 

[Henry22]

How many volumes of CO2/priming sugar did everyone use?

 

[Buckeye_Brewer1]

I used 3 oz of dextrose for a 5 gallon batch.