NorthernBrewer Bourbon Barrel Porter

[casey914]

just one bottle of kbs left... not going anywhere but in my stomach!

 

[MDRex]

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.

 

[casey914]

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?

 

[casey914]

basically 72 hours later and no more bubbles... Lets hope it is still doing something.

 

[McBrewskie]

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]

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.

Standard size bottle of Makers? I was thinking of doing a whole bottle of Wild Turkey 101.

 

[duckmanco]

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]

Standard size bottle of Makers? I was thinking of doing a whole bottle of Wild Turkey 101.

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.

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.

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 days

 

[McBrewskie]

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.

Thanks. I am absolutely doing this one next.

 

[Philip_T]

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.

 

[bottlebomber]

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

 

[Philip_T]

Thanks bomber, I too suffer from efficiency issues on bigger batches so I'll be going extract on this one.

 

[PA49erFan21]

Thanks. I am absolutely doing this one next.

You are a brewing machine! How many batches have you done so far? I must say though, this brew does sound delicious.

 

[Philip_T]

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.

 

[54BelAir]

Just ordered the kit. All of the rave reviews made me do it. Now I need to decide on which bourbon Makers or Knob Creek. I love both.

 

[Westphalen]

nm

 

[Westphalen]

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!

 

[Westphalen]

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

 

[MDRex]

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.

 

[Philip_T]

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?

 

[jamesjensen1068]

Instead of making a starter I brewed NB Scottish 60 Schilling with the Wyeast 1728 and then used the yeast cake on the Bourbon Barrel Porter. Had excellent fermentation and hit the FG with no problems. Bonus was having a great session beer (60 Schilling) to drink while waiting for the BBP to finish. The BBP is excellent!

 

[Westphalen]

Instead of making a starter I brewed NB Scottish 60 Schilling with the Wyeast 1728 and then used the yeast cake on the Bourbon Barrel Porter. Had excellent fermentation and hit the FG with no problems. Bonus was having a great session beer (60 Schilling) to drink while waiting for the BBP to finish. The BBP is excellent!

Exactly! Did you do any yeast washing or just dump the fresh wort onto the cake of the 60 Schilling?

 

[jamesjensen1068]

No yeast washing. I got a fresh fermenting bucket sanitized and put the BBP wort in then pitched the yeast from the Scottish 60 Schilling batch.

 

[bottlebomber]

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.

Don't do BIAB for this one, it will be just as good flavor wise. NB in my opinion provides poor instructions for steeping grains. While PH isn't as important in steeping grains, it is still important. This is what I've been doing (for full boil). I heat 1-1.5 quarts of water to about 160 in a smaller pot, like the one you make pasta in, and I put the grains in a mesh bag in the pot and put the lid on, letting them steep for about 45 minutes. I then heat the rest of my water, equaling 5.5 gallons total in my brew kettle. I try to time in so that when the steeping is done, my water will be about 168 degrees. Then I take the bag of grains out of the smaller pot, and swish them around in the kettle to do a sort of a sparge on them. Then I pour in the steeped liquid from the pot and proceed with the recipe. It really does give you the most flavor from the grains

 

[Philip_T]

Don't do BIAB for this one, it will be just as good flavor wise. NB in my opinion provides poor instructions for steeping grains. While PH isn't as important in steeping grains, it is still important. This is what I've been doing (for full boil). I heat 1-1.5 quarts of water to about 160 in a smaller pot, like the one you make pasta in, and I put the grains in a mesh bag in the pot and put the lid on, letting them steep for about 45 minutes. I then heat the rest of my water, equaling 5.5 gallons total in my brew kettle. I try to time in so that when the steeping is done, my water will be about 168 degrees. Then I take the bag of grains out of the smaller pot, and swish them around in the kettle to do a sort of a sparge on them. Then I pour in the steeped liquid from the pot and proceed with the recipe. It really does give you the most flavor from the grains

Thanks again bottlebomber.....I was thinking of doing exactly what you state here after doing a bit of more research here. That spells it out perfectly for me!

Regards,
Phil

 

[bottlebomber]

Thanks again bottlebomber.....I was thinking of doing exactly what you state here after doing a bit of more research here. That spells it out perfectly for me!

Regards,
Phil

1 meant 1-1.5 quarts per pound btw, the extract kit has 2 lbs so that would be like 3 quarts or as much as a gallon, to clarify

 

[Philip_T]

Brewed this one up today. Used a little bit too much water for the full boil and ended up missing the OG a little bit (1.062 vs 1.065).....and apparently my thermometer is junk. It was reading that the wort was under 70, so I dumped it in the carboy and pitched the yeast only to then look at the fermometer reading a 78. Put it in a tub with some ice packs and a wet towel...hopefully nothing major.

 

[casey914]

racked this yesterday on top of 14oz of makers and oak cubes(soaked for 4 days) @ 1.020 @ 70F... getting closer!

 

[Philip_T]

Nice! Mine has only been in the primary for a week so far....gonna let it ride at least another week or before checking gravity and racking. It just stopped bubbling last night. Fermentation went very nice. Violent for the 1st two days, then nice and mellow for the next 3-4.

 

[craig_reed]

I want to know if you guys have followed the late LME addition of 15 minutes with the dark malt extract, or if you have been adding that with the wheat DME for the full 60 minute? I read through this entire thread and saw no mention of that?

This would be my first "kit" I bought off the internet - it just comes fresh with everything you need?