NorthernBrewer Bourbon Barrel Porter

[msinning]

Hey Glenn, do you remember how long it took to stop foaming? Im going on about 10 days now.

 

[Philip_T]

Had one of mine after 3 months in the bottle. The rum and oak are still a little too strong at the moment and I can tell it's just not ready yet. In fact, I'm not sure it'll even be ready for Christmas. I think those of you guys who recommend letting it go a year are speaking the truth.

 

[glenn514]

Hey Glenn, do you remember how long it took to stop foaming? Im going on about 10 days now.

Took mine about 24-36 hours. I think the difference in time may be due to the fact that I could NOT get the oak chips into the wort...just too much foam. It did finally settle down, however. I'm sure yours will, too.

glenn514

 

[acuenca]

Mmmm... Just cracked a bottle (used 16oz of woodford reserve for 1.5 weeks in secondary for 2 weeks). Damn, if you like bourbon... and I likes me some bourbon, this is nice but I can really tell it still needs to mellow to let that porter come through. It's a little cold so I thought I'd have some at room temp and it's such a great warmer...Very raisin-y with vanilla notes up front and center. I think this one'll age nicely.

 

[BrewHeads]

Awesome! Def a fan of bourbon. Was thinking about getting this next.

Definitely think I will. Anyone try barrel aging this instead? (using a mini barrel)? Wonder if it gets same or better results.

 

[duckmanco]

Never tried a real barrel but if you have one then by all means go for it, but the original recipe is so damn good, you def. dont have to. I need to rebrew this as it was my first batch of homebrew ever and I still have a few 22oz. bottles left over from last year. Love the stuff.

 

[BrewHeads]

Awesome. That's def my next batch.

 

[kwoodkicker]

So I brewed this BBP Saturday evening, and awoke Sunday morning to a pretty rapid fermentation. It already had about 2"+ of krausen and was having a lot of action in the air lock (roughly 3 bubbles per two seconds). Yesterday I noticed the krausen was less and the air lock activity had diminshed to about one bubble every 10 seconds. Today when i got home from work, all of the krausen had dropped back to the bottom of the carboy and airlock activity is about one bubble per 45 seconds. Is this brew really done ferminting already? I do add one side note that I fermented at about 74 degrees. Anybody have similar experiences, or any input on this?

 

[glenn514]

Kwood...it's probably done with the initial furious fermentation. Activity is still going on in that carboy, however. It's just not as fast and furious! Put an airlock on it and leave it sit for another couple of weeks.

glenn514

 

[glenn514]

I brewed up my batch of BBP specifically to be consumed at my daughter and son-in-law's home during the Christmas season, celebrating not only Jesus' birth but also the birth of my first grandchild.

Well, on Monday my daughter made the BBP have a purpose! She gave birth to a very cute little boy named Boaz Frederick! He was 19" long and weighed 7lb 13oz at birth. My wife and I and all FOUR of our daughters will be together in the Dallas, Texas area on Christmas Day, enjoying one another, the in-laws and our beautiful new addition to the family!

glenn514[now an aged grandfather]

 

[glenn514]

Doh! No, I'm not a "post whore." I just forgot to attach this picture of my grandson to the previous post!

glenn514

 

[TrainSafe]

Congrats. Beer always seems to taste better when it has a purpose.

 

[29thfloor]

Anyone have issues with this being overcarbed in bottles? Is 5oz priming sugar too much for a beer that finishes as 1.020?

Mine has been in the bottle over a month now and it seems way overcarbed. Is there any chance it just needs more time or will this just get worse?

I know sometimes a beer can seem overcarbed before the 3 week bottle conditioning phase is up but it's been over a month so I'm not sure what's going on. It seems to calm down a bit if I chill it down for a couple days but it still seems like way too much CO2.

 

[Sippin37]

Anyone have issues with this being overcarbed in bottles? Is 5oz priming sugar too much for a beer that finishes as 1.020?

Mine has been in the bottle over a month now and it seems way overcarbed. Is there any chance it just needs more time or will this just get worse?

I know sometimes a beer can seem overcarbed before the 3 week bottle conditioning phase is up but it's been over a month so I'm not sure what's going on. It seems to calm down a bit if I chill it down for a couple days but it still seems like way too much CO2.

For my first few batches I was always just throwing in the whole 5 oz. priming sugar packet. Now I carb to the style of the beer. I don't have a link handy (on phone) but you can google carbonating by beer style. I would think for a porter that you would be putting in around 2.5 to 3.5 oz or so for a full 5 gallon batch, but definitely check for yourself. Hope that helps!

 

[29thfloor]

Yeah that does help. Looking at the calculator here:

TastyBrew.com | Homebrewing Calculators | Botting Priming Calculator

I should have only used 3.5oz for this beer.

Still, it seems way overcarbed even for using 5oz. Would it make sense to uncap them and then immediately recap to let out some of the CO2? Or would that let out too much and end up with just flat beer?

 

[29thfloor]

Seriously. Look at this.

 

[dlm3]

I'd leave them alone. Besides risking infection, if the yeast are done fermenting the priming sugar, there wouldn't be any additional CO2 produced after re-capping so it might end up relatively flat. I suppose you could try it with one bottle and see what it's like. I'd probably wait at least a week after re-capping to try it though so the CO2 in solution and in the head space has time to equalize.

 

[martialscientist]

Finally got around to brewing this. This was my first time doing a yeast started and had a little sigh of relief when fermentation began.

 

[glenn514]

Took two cases...24 bottles each...of this brew to Texas for the baptism of my first grandchild. The events didn't occur as I had thought...so I got to bring some of this yummy brew back home! I've got a 12-pack down in the cellar; I'll let it age for a few more weeks. But what we DID drink of the brew while in Texas...oh, I'm liking this beer! And my #3 daughter thinks it's among the best beers she's ever had!

glenn514

 

[msinning]

Bottled this one a little over a week ago. Tried one yesterday, had some pretty decent carb to it already but definitely needs some time for all the flavors to blend together. Very happy with it!!

 

[djbradle]

I put this in the primary at 58 degrees ambient in the basement on Jan. 2nd and hit the OG of 1.065. I just took a reading this morning and it's now at 1.024 with active ferm still going on. I gave it a swirl and placed it to a warmer spot at the basement stairs at around 68 degrees which is on the upper level for this Scottish ale yeast. Temps are supposed to be between 55 and 70 degrees for this strain. Any objections to this move? Bubbling had slowed to ever 5-10 seconds at this point. The sample tasted great! What were everybody else's FG's? If I can get this into the teens I'll be pleased. I have two vanilla beans sliced and opened sitting in 20 oz of bourbon with the 2 oz of toasted oak cubes going for 1.5 weeks now. This is an extract kit btw, my second batch ever. It's level at the 5 gallon mark on the bucket which was better than my number 8 at about 4.5 gallons when moved to secondary. I didn't do a full boil with this bbp.

 

[djbradle]

Before I add this bourbon/vanilla bean(2)/ oak cube mixture are there any thoughts out there as to the best way to do it?

I was thinking of adding the full 20 oz because I typically like very strong beers. I had placed the vanilla beans in the jar about 4 days ago. The oak cubes have been in there for almost 2 weeks. I used a cheap bourbon, Crow reserve.

 

[glenn514]

Make sure you have enough "head space" in your fermenter. When I added the bourbon, my Better Bottle overflowed with LOTSA foam! I was unable to put the oak bits in...barely got the bourbon in! However...I WILL brew this one again! Very, V-E-R-Y tasty!

glenn514

 

[smurfwar]

I soaked my oak chips in knob creek whiskey for about 2 months. brewed this on 9/1/11. Went 2 weeks primary and two weeks secondary. Added vanilla to the secondary along with the oak chips. Now it has beed sitting in a keg conditioning since 9/30/11. 31 days to go until its tap date. Haven't sneaked a taste yet. Smelled delightful when transferred to the keg. You guys make it difficult not to sneak it in early as how good everyone says it is. *will power*

 

[vengazor]

I brewed this kit on 10-05-11 and bottled on 12-7-11. During the process i put the toasted oak cubes, 20 oz Makers Mark and 2 oz of vanilla extract from a caribbean island we had sitting around, for three weeks then added to carboy before siphoning the wort. When i was bottling, the mix smelled strongly of bourbon and i was worried about the fact that i may have used too much boubon, but after bottle conditioning for a month, this beer is fantastic, maybe the best i have made in my 20 batches. This is also the first batch that i used Muntons Kreamy X as my carbonation mix.

I have a few questions though about gravity measurements.

When adding 20 oz of 80 proof whiskey in the carboy, what does an OG and FG reading really tell you? I feel that the beer is much higher alcohol percentage than what i can calculate, any help here would be appreciated.

 

[djbradle]

My secondary went without the oak since the oak was more potent than I liked. I threw in the two vanilla beans and 600 mls of bourbon. No foaming on my end though. The secondary is still bubbling slowly. Awesome taste from the gravity sample. The OG was 1.065 and the FG just a couple days ago was 1.018 after the bourbon pitch. OG and FG give you an estimated abv. With whiskey or bourbon alcohol will increase but less than perceived since its 5 gallons of beer. Some have said 1 percentage point but I doubt that. Just over 6 percent for me unless the FG drops a bit more.

 

[smurfwar]

Omg its so good. Still tastes young but got other things to keg and no more empties available. Will be making again in a few months and bottling that batch. 8 months conditioning should make it perfect. So glad i waited the 4 months to taste. *drool*

 

[Effington]

I bottled this beer March 2010. I just tried a bottle this weekend and it's AMAZING.

The smell is oaky and bourbony, but the taste is smooth and mellow. This beer is great for aging.

 

[martialscientist]

Bottled this 3 weeks ago and had to taste a bottle. It's already amazing and can't wait to taste it after it has aged.

 

[glenn514]

I had a bottle the other night from a batch I brewed in August 2011...and it was AWESOME! I've got a 12-pack of it down in the cellar. I think I'll leave it alone for some weeks, and then enjoy another bottle or two. Oh, did I say it was AWESOME? Oh, I guess I did. But it was...A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

glenn514