NorthernBrewer Bourbon Barrel Porter
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MDRex
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I just racked mine onto the oak and bourbon Sunday night. I used 14 oz. of Jim Beam Black, which is suprisingly good but more robust than the Makers.
FlipMasterFlash
Well-Known Member
Both were very true of my batch at 3 weeks as well but now 6 months later the bourbon mellowed (used 22 oz.) and the carbonation is right (maybe a touch high actually).
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about 4 months here and the makers mark still shows it's presence. Used 16oz. If this thing will ever mellow, it will be an awesome beer.
MDRex
Well-Known Member
Quick question, when I racked mine to secondary it smelled a little bit like banana. It fermented at about 64-66F. Is that smell normal for this beer?
saluki_brewer
Well-Known Member
JoeDub...I tried my first bottle at 3 weeks also and it was exactly like you described. I had the second one only a week later and it still had a very strong bourbon and oak flavor, but the flavors seemed to have melded substantially and I got a little bit of brown head. It still has quite a ways to go, but I was very surprised at the difference between week 3 and week 4.
I didn't have any banana aroma with mine (although might be nice with some of the chocolate character of the beer). let us know if it is still there at bottling time
MDRex
Well-Known Member
Honestly it could just have been me, sometimes my sense of smell sucks because of my allergies. Now it could have been chocolate aroma that I picked up as banana. I sometimes do that because banana is something I tend to not like in beers. Thinking back, it really was like a chocolate covered banana smell, and that does sound good.
Brewed this beer on 2/26/11. Just threw it in the keggerator to chill and carb. Had to taste it. No bananas but i can taste the makers mark but it does not overpower the chocolaty malt porter. Cant wait to try it in a week!
bottlebomber
Well-Known Member
I made a batch of BBP about 9 months ago. This is how it went : the wort tasted greeat but overly hoppy which is normal. I let it ferment in primary for three weeks, never did a secondary. About two weeks in I added the "oak cubes". Just before bottling I added my corn sugar and a whole bottle of Makers Mark whiskey, that's right I said a whole bottle.
Opened a bottle after about a month - Bleh! Harsh hop flavor and a very separate and independant booziness from the whiskey.
Two more months go by. Now were getting somewhere. The hop flavor had nicely mellowed (I always add an extra oz or two btw) and the flavor of the whiskey was starting to emulsify with the beer.
Fast forward to six months from bottling date and this beer was showing its true colors. Wow. I took a couple 22s to the brew club meeting and the all-grain boys were huddled in the corner glowering at me from over their delicious fragrant tasters of my Porter. One of them at least had the decency to admit that it was "not bad for a Betty Crocker beer". It stole the show.
DEFINITELY make BBP at least once but don't expect to be impressed until at least three or four months. The only thing I would change was maybe tone down the corn sugar by an ounce or two, the carbonation was almost out of control, maybe from some extra fermentable sugars from the whiskey I added. To make a long story longer, this is one of the best beers you will ever drink.
Opened a bottle after about a month - Bleh! Harsh hop flavor and a very separate and independant booziness from the whiskey.
Two more months go by. Now were getting somewhere. The hop flavor had nicely mellowed (I always add an extra oz or two btw) and the flavor of the whiskey was starting to emulsify with the beer.
Fast forward to six months from bottling date and this beer was showing its true colors. Wow. I took a couple 22s to the brew club meeting and the all-grain boys were huddled in the corner glowering at me from over their delicious fragrant tasters of my Porter. One of them at least had the decency to admit that it was "not bad for a Betty Crocker beer". It stole the show.
DEFINITELY make BBP at least once but don't expect to be impressed until at least three or four months. The only thing I would change was maybe tone down the corn sugar by an ounce or two, the carbonation was almost out of control, maybe from some extra fermentable sugars from the whiskey I added. To make a long story longer, this is one of the best beers you will ever drink.
sivdrinks
Well-Known Member
Great read, all 17 pages! Im in between the Imp Stout kit and the Big Honkin Stout kit from NB. I want this to be big and tasty. Just had the Lost Abbey Angels Share on Brandy barrels on tap the other day so... I wanna add coffee, oak chips or spiral, vanilla bean and bourbon ( have some Bookers 124.7 proof waiting ). Any thoughts on the kit, fermentation schedule, yeast, amount of bourbon or type/origin of oak?
MarkyMark80
Member
Anyone else having trouble getting this to carb up? I bottled this mid March and I have only had 1 12oz bottle carb up properly. I mostly bottled 22oz bottles. The 1 12oz bottle i i did have carb up was AWESOME. I think I'm just going to keep sitting on this and waiting, it would be a shame to dump it.
jamesjensen1068
Well-Known Member
Alright, I have a question. I brewed this back on 4/9/11 putting the wort on a yeast cake from a batch of NB Scottish 60 Schilling. Two weeks out I transfered it to secondary and took a reading. It's down to 1.018 and tastes great, everything is nicely melded, all the flavors seem balanced and it has a very "clean" taste, no esters, etc.
Should I really wait two more weeks before I add the Oak/Bourbon? Maybe give it a week a week in secondary then add the oak/bourbon.
What do you guys think?
Cheers
Should I really wait two more weeks before I add the Oak/Bourbon? Maybe give it a week a week in secondary then add the oak/bourbon.
What do you guys think?
Cheers
Didn't have any trouble with mine but this could be a good thing - wait a month or two before opening the next one and you will likely enjoy an even better brew than the one that was already carbed! My main issue is I only have 2 bottles left and am trying to save these for this winter!
just ordered this after reading all of the reviews... probably going to settle on using less(maybe 12oz of makers) after reading all of the "boozy" comments... How does it taste compared to something like a KBS? that is fairly boozy.
If you are looking for something more along the lines of a bourbon barrel aged stout (have not had KBS, but love Bourbon County Stout), you may prefer the bourbon and oak (as per bourbon barrel porter kit) in the imperial stout kit - my second batch is bottle conditioning as we speak!
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6 months on mine and it has really mellowed and mended good. It doesn't have a real strong oaky presence so maybe that is why the bourbon took a while to mellow. Another month or so and it should be perfect. I am thinking of adding a vanilla bean to my second 5 gallons though. Has anyone done this to this recipe?
MDRex
Well-Known Member
I just bottled 4 gallons of my porter, which was on the oak for 2 months. The remaining 1 gallon went into a growler(with airlock) with the brett dregs from 2 bottles of Orval. Should be interesting to see what that does to it, but it will probably be 6 months to a year before that is bottled.
just finished brewing mine and put in the Primary!
From what I have gathered from this thread is that I should cut back on some of the bourbon, right? Figured I would do 12 oz rather than 16.
Also pondered splitting it in the secondary and adding cold pressed coffee to one half... thoughts?
From what I have gathered from this thread is that I should cut back on some of the bourbon, right? Figured I would do 12 oz rather than 16.
Also pondered splitting it in the secondary and adding cold pressed coffee to one half... thoughts?
McBrewskie
Well-Known Member
I'm thinking of doing this. I thought of adding a slight bit of peat, thoughts? Is it absolutely not needed, will it **** it up?
McBrewskie
Well-Known Member
Standard size bottle of Makers? I was thinking of doing a whole bottle of Wild Turkey 101.
I brewed this as my first ever batch probably 1 year or so ago and the 16 oz. of bourbon is about perfect. I wouldn't go any less nor too much more. Really turns out to be one hell of a beer and although lighter in body than most bourbon barrel aged ris's, this beer can hold a candle to those commercial examples IMO.
bottlebomber
Well-Known Member
Yep a whole bottle of makers. In my opinion this beer doesn't reach full potential for 12 months, and by that time the liquor and the beer are at one with each other. I've brewed it again since, actually I didn't know what I had the first time till I was pouring the last couple bombers that managed to be forgotten about. It was probably the single best beer experience of my life.McBrewskie said:
It can take more liquor... your pretty brave brewing this as your first batch, not because its particularly difficult but because I remember my first batch I almost felt like taking a week of of work to stare at it fermenting, and worry about all the things that weren't going wrong with it, and then try to drink it after 10 daysduckmanco said:
McBrewskie
Well-Known Member
Thanks. I am absolutely doing this one next.
I think I'm doing this next as well. I was going to go with the AHS pecan porter, but since coming across the comments on this beer, the pecan is going to have to wait a bit.
Question, has anyone compared the extract kit to the AG kit for this NB recipe? I can do AG, albeit a BIAB method, but the recipe calls for 15 total pounds of grains, which is pretty much the size limit for my brew kettle. If the extract kit is just as good, I'd rather just do that I suppose.
I'm also planing on using Zaya Rum instead of bourbon. It is an excellent sipping rum with lots of vanilla flavors that I'm hoping transfer well into this porter.
Question, has anyone compared the extract kit to the AG kit for this NB recipe? I can do AG, albeit a BIAB method, but the recipe calls for 15 total pounds of grains, which is pretty much the size limit for my brew kettle. If the extract kit is just as good, I'd rather just do that I suppose.
I'm also planing on using Zaya Rum instead of bourbon. It is an excellent sipping rum with lots of vanilla flavors that I'm hoping transfer well into this porter.
bottlebomber
Well-Known Member
Don't bother with the AG, the extract is just as good for this one. It gives you a nice sack of specialty grains, and the subtle differences between AG base malt and LME are irrelevent with all the other flavors going on here. I've done BIAB, and its hard to get really good efficiency on a batch that size, at least with my setup
PA49erFan21
Well-Known Member
You are a brewing machine! How many batches have you done so far? I must say though, this brew does sound delicious.
Got my starter of Wyeast 1728 going last night. Gonna try to take some pics and post along the way for this batch. Starter consisted of 4 cups water to 3oz DME...which ended up as about a 700 ml starter (after evap). Also added a pinch of yeast nutrients. It was churning away as of this morning.
I also talked to NB about doing a full boil vs the partial and they recommended to do so if you have the kettle space. Hop schedule to remain the same but will add most all of the LME's in the beginning.
I also talked to NB about doing a full boil vs the partial and they recommended to do so if you have the kettle space. Hop schedule to remain the same but will add most all of the LME's in the beginning.
Westphalen
Member
nm
Westphalen
Member
Thoughts on throwing the Bourbon Barrel Porter (http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/bourbon-barrel-porter-extract-kit-1.html) directly onto the yeast cake from the Mild (http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/mild-ale-extract-kit-2.html) ??
Or perhaps the IPA (http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/india-pale-ale-extract-kit-2.html) onto the cake of the Mild?
Thanks!
Or perhaps the IPA (http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/india-pale-ale-extract-kit-2.html) onto the cake of the Mild?
Thanks!
Westphalen
Member
This might be the 3rd time you see a similar message but here goes again...
Thoughts on throwing the Bourbon Barrel Porter on the yeast cake from the "Mild" Northern Brewer kit?
I'd post the links to both but I think that might be why my posts aren't showing up.
EDIT: SHOWED UP! lol
Thoughts on throwing the Bourbon Barrel Porter on the yeast cake from the "Mild" Northern Brewer kit?
I'd post the links to both but I think that might be why my posts aren't showing up.
EDIT: SHOWED UP! lol
MDRex
Well-Known Member
I think people will recommend that you just use some of the yeast from the cake, as the whole thing will be over pitching. You'd probably also want to do a quick wash to make sure you don't have much hop trub. As for how to use, I'll let someone with more experience try to answer that.
I just got the kit today and will brewing tomorrow.
Question: The kit comes with a mesh bag for steeping. I've only done AG BIAB or Extract recipes and I'm not sure if steeping is the same thing as mashing or not. Would there be a benefit to using one of my large nylon bags for steeping to allow the grains to roam freely vs the constricted sock?
Question: The kit comes with a mesh bag for steeping. I've only done AG BIAB or Extract recipes and I'm not sure if steeping is the same thing as mashing or not. Would there be a benefit to using one of my large nylon bags for steeping to allow the grains to roam freely vs the constricted sock?
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