NorthernBrewer Bourbon Barrel Porter

[Hwk-I-St8]

Got one cookin' right now. Added 3 pounds of caramelized wildflower honey to it. Dumped the oak cubes into a quart sized mason jar filled with Cruzan Black Strap Rum, it'll all go into the carboy with a couple Indonesian vanilla beans, and a few ounces of coffee beans and roasted cocoa nibs. Will age it for several months.

What does the honey do for it?

 

[JDWebb]

Kicks up the ABV a notch, adds a nice caramel aroma, and not all of caramelized honey is fermentable, which leaves a sort of nice slight residual sweetness. The honey was caramelized to the marshmallow aroma stage.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I finally got this brewed a little over a week ago using the updates to the recipe I suggested above. All grain brew came in at about 1.079. Initial fermentation went very well and I plan to rack to a corny keg this coming weekend. I decided to go with half the supplied oak and those are soaking in 16 oz of Blanton's right now. I'm guessing that the flaked oats, flaked barley and yeast selection will likely push this into something closer to a stout. I'm hoping for a richer mouthfeel.

I have Madagascar Vanilla beans on order that should be here in a couple days.

My plan is to rack to the keg, purge O2 and let it bulk age for another month or 6 weeks. In September I'll add the oak/vanilla/bourbon mix and repurge the O2. I can then draw off a sample once every couple weeks but I plan to leave it on the oak until November or so. Whenever I deem it's ready, I'll just stick the keg into my kegerator, do a force carb and bottle from the keg.

I haven't tried a sample yet, so I'm really excited to rack to the secondary, taste and get a gravity reading.

All the above timelines are subject to change based on samples. I really want to give at least two weeks secondary before I add the bourbon mixture. Other than that, everything else will be based on how it seems to be progressing.

 

[Timberline]

My first iteration of this one went into the bottles a little over a month ago and they're hiding in a cool, dark corner of my basement until Thanksgiving.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

OK, after a couple weeks in the secondary, the FG is stable and the flavor has really come around. This could be a really special brew.

I added the bourbon/oak/Vanilla beans on Saturday. I'll check it every couple weeks, but the plan is to age until at least the end of september, maybe mid October. I'll just have to see how the flavor evolves. It's really nice to have it in a corny. I just sanitize the posts, sanitize a gas hose, connect CO2 and draw off a sample. I'm going to use a similar process for an Octoberfest.

 

[HopGobbler]

I think you'll be happy with this kit, it's not one that I can drink all the time, but it definitely came out tasty

 

[rival178]

Will this plan work?

5 weeks in the primary, adding the oak and bourbon for the last 2 weeks, then move to secondary leaving behind the oak to condition for a few months? Then into the Keg.

Is that enough time for the oak?

 

[bleme]

Will this plan work?

5 weeks in the primary, adding the oak and bourbon for the last 2 weeks, then move to secondary leaving behind the oak to condition for a few months? Then into the Keg.

Is that enough time for the oak?

I don't know about the oak, but is there a reason you wouldn't skip secondary and condition in the keg? You could add priming sugar to the keg which would help consume the O2 from the headspace. This will give you a less oxidized beer than using a secondary.

 

[rival178]

Only reason is I only have 2 kegs and I don't want to lose one for 6+ months while this conditions.

 

[rival178]

Will this plan work?

5 weeks in the primary, adding the oak and bourbon for the last 2 weeks, then move to secondary leaving behind the oak to condition for a few months? Then into the Keg.

Is that enough time for the oak?

Only reason is I only have 2 kegs and I don't want to lose one for 6+ months while this conditions.