Tonights brew: Bourbon Barrel Porter

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clindt

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What do you all think of this recipe?

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.57 gal
Estimated OG: 1.056 SG
Estimated Color: 28.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 26.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type
10.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)
0.63 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
0.25 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)
0.12 lb Carafa II (400.0 SRM)
0.70 oz Target [10.00 %] (60 min)
0.50 oz First Gold [6.90 %] (10 min)
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)
4.00 oz Burbon Barrel Oak Chips (Jack Daniels Whiskey Barrel Chips)
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04)


Do you think I need you add any bourbon to this recipe? If so, how much?

I have also heard of people adding the oak chips at the end of the boil to sterilize and tossing them into the primary. Opinions please.
 
16 views and no replies? Has anyone brewed a Bourbon Barrel Porter?
 
No I havent, but I have tasted some good ones, I believe they add to secondary, but I dont think it takes much...I love bourbon flavored beers, I plan to make one soon. Good Luck.
 
Add the oak to the secondary with no additional bourbon. You will get plenty of oak & bourbon character from the 4 oz. of Jack Daniel's chips.
 
Thanks for the advice. I put the chips in the secondary and splashed them with bourbon so they were just damp. They will sit that way until I secondary the beer in 7 days.
 
all depends on the individual. there is no real measure as what is good or bad just remeber that you want it to show in the beer not over power it. last time i used some in a pumkin beer i used about 2 oz. you have differnt kinds too, theres different toast, types of wood and there there are also flakes that some say work quicker. well good luck
 
I made one last August with a similar grain bill. I didn't oak it at all, but I did add 400ml of Makers Mark to the secondary. I was going for a strong (most would say overpowering) whiskey flavor and that's what I got. It has mellowed well since then, but it's still not subtle.
 
g_rath said:
But how much of each?

From my notes:

"After 7 days in primary fermenter, add 1.5 oz of toasted oak chips + scraped inside of 2 vanilla beans to a measuring cup and just enough bourbon to cover it. Let set for 20 min, make sure surface of all wood is touched by the bourbon. Add mixture to secondary and rack porter onto it.

After 2 weeks in the secondary when you're preparing to bottle, measure off a specific amount of beer and add small measured amounts of bourbon until you reach a balance that you enjoy. For me this ended up at an additional 10 ml bourbon to 1 pint of beer - multiply this up to find the amount to add to the main batch. ( 1.4 cups for me)"

This is what was good to me, your mileage may vary with toasted oak chips.. might be good to err on the light side, you can always make it oakier but you can't remove it. I aged mine for 2-3 months before drinking (well... before drinking it openly ;)
 
I did a Nortehrn Brewer bouron barrel porter kit a while back and it called for chips and 16 -oz of bourbon to the secondary for about three weeks.
I was a little scared of having porter-flavored bourbon, so I only added 2-oz of bourbon and that was enough for me, especially with the infused oak chips.
But it's all what you're looking for, IMHO
 
I came across this recipe from a local guy here where I live ( I have never met this person but I was passed this recipe because it was supposedly very, very good).
I had been planning on making it but have since decided that I may try to do a bourbon barrel scotch ale instead.

Either way, I had always planned on racking onto the soaked oak chips and bourbon in secondary.

nb
 
g_rath said:
i cant log in to it. maybe cut and paste the info?


Weird, it should be public. Anyway, here it is:

From Adam Oct '07

- 7lbs dry amber extract
- 1lb crystal malt (120 deg L)
- 1/2lb black patent (480 deg L)
- 1/2lb chocolate malt (350 deg L)

- 1.5 oz Norther Brewer Hops @ 5.7% (60 mins)
- 0.5 oz Tettnang @ 2.8% (15 mins)
- 0.5 oz Tettnang @ 2.8% (1 minute)

- 1 tsp gypsum
- 1 tsp Irish moss

- White Labs London Ale Yeast (WLP013)

- 2.5 oz Oak chips
- 750 ml Evan Williams Bourbon

Dissolve gypsum in 2.5 gallons water. Crush all grains, add to grain
bag. Put grain bag in water. Heat water to near boiling, turn off
heat, and steep grains for 30 minutes. Remove grain bag, bring water to
boil. Add malt extract. When the threat of boil-over has passed, add
in Norther brewer hops. Boil for 45 minutes. Add in 0.5 oz Tettnang
hops and Irish moss. Boil for 14 minutes. Add in 0.5 oz Tettnang hops.
One minute later, remove wort from stove. Do a one week primary
fermentation (I used a glass carboy).

In another glass container, combine oak chips and Bourbon. Let sit
during the one week fermentation. After one week, add the Bourbon and
oak chips to the secondary fermenter. Rack beer onto oak/bourbon
mixture. Do a 1 or 2 week secondary fermentation. Bottle and enjoy!


Here are some of his other recipes: http://dais.cs.uiuc.edu/~adamlee/homebrew/index.html

I'm probably going to spin this into a bourbon barrel scotch ale and see how it goes.

Like I said, I've never met this person but he is affiliated to the university I work at and someone from work gave me his recipe.
 
2 questions and a comment...

(1) Where do you get Jack Daniel's oak chips?
(2) Do you have to do anything to sanitize the oak chips before adding them to the fermenter?

I've been putting together a recipe for something similar, but now a bourbon barrel scotch ale has me thinking.
 
Hill Country Brewer said:
2 questions and a comment...

(1) Where do you get Jack Daniel's oak chips?
(2) Do you have to do anything to sanitize the oak chips before adding them to the fermenter?

I've been putting together a recipe for something similar, but now a bourbon barrel scotch ale has me thinking.

Any stuff I've added I always "sanitize" by soaking it in some kind of alcohol for a few days. If I don't want it to impart the alcohol flavor I use cheap vodka, if I do then I use whatever flavor (like bourbon) I want ti impart.

I've been thinking about the bourbon barrel scotch ale a lot today. I would really like a good gauge of how much bourbon to use for a 5Gal batch to give it a nice, but not overwhelming, bourbon flavor..

nb
 
Check the Bourbon Vanilla Porter under my recipes. It's more grain, and higher ABV, but it may give you some other ideas. I would just add bourbon to taste at bottling, and I personally don't like too much. Consider just adding it to 1/2 of the batch. That way you get 2 different beers out of it. The vanilla beans in these kinds of porters are really nice, too.
 
Are there oak chips that are already flavored with Jack Daniels? If so, where do you get them?

Also, is that recommended or is it better to simply soak oak chips in JD?
 
just for the record, if you want true bourbon barrel, jack daniels doesn't do it. It's charcoal-filtered, thereby disqualifying it as a bourbon. that said, I'm sure it would still give you a mighty fine product in the end. I just started a stout for my own bourbon barrel style beer. I'm planning to use enough woodford reserve to soak 3-4 oz of oak. Woodford is not too sweet, and I think it will be pretty nice with this stout.
 
I'm planning on making the Northern Brewer Bourbon Barrel Porter. Reciple below. 16 oz of Makers Mark in a 5 gal batch seems like A LOT to me, however, I've never used bourbon in a beer. Opinions on this?

Specialty Grains
1.0 lbs. Simpson's Chocolate
0.5 lbs. Simpson's Dark Crystal
0.5 lbs. Simpson's Black Malt

Fermentables
2 lbs. Wheat DME (boil for 60 min.)
6.3 lbs. Dark Malt Syrup (boil for 15 min.)

Boil Additions
1 oz. Chinook (60 min)
0.5 oz. Argentina Cascade (15 min)
0.5 oz. Argentina Cascade (5 min)

Special Ingredients
2 oz. US Medium Plus Oak Cubes (Add to secondary)
16 oz. Makers Mark bourbon (Add to secondary)

If you choose liquid yeast
Wyeast #1728 Scottish Ale Yeast. Optimum temperature: 55-70° F.
 
I'm doing my own bourbon beer right now, and am going with 16 oz. in a 5 gallon batch, but I love bourbon.
 
I brewed the Northern Brewer BBP extract kit a few months ago ... I actually used 20oz Maker's Mark in the 5g batch -- which was added to the SECONDARY with the oak chips. It came out REALLY well. I've had many folks comment on the complexity of the flavor ... most of whom are not even big beer drinkers.

It's a brew that's getting better & better with age, and I need to start rationing the bottles from myself. Believe it or not, it's actually not at all overpowering. Kind of chocolatey... I'm probably not the best at describing tastes, other than "damn, that's good!"

I just don't understand how some folks are saying only 2-4 oz in a 5g batch. That seems it would be fairly faint (IMO)
 
Thanks for the help. I'm going to stick with the recipe and go with 16oz's. How long have you aged? I'm thinking 3 weeks primary 3 weeks secondary, 3 months bottles (I was considering kegging this but I think this is going to be more of a "once in a while" beer. Can't wait to try this
 
Thanks for the help. I'm going to stick with the recipe and go with 16oz's. How long have you aged? I'm thinking 3 weeks primary 3 weeks secondary, 3 months bottles (I was considering kegging this but I think this is going to be more of a "once in a while" beer. Can't wait to try this

I didn't let it spend that long in primary- it won't hurt you, but I figured that 3 weeks in secondary and then a few months in bottles will get it conditioned and I have an open primary to fill with more immediately-drinkable beer. I got the O2 barrier caps from Austin Homebrew Supply for mine, just so I can age it longer without worrying as much about oxidation.
 
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