I recently had a reliable source tell me that he puts bourbon in his airlock and that he does it because it gives the beer a very subtle bourbon aftertaste when it’s all said and done. Have any of you tried/heard this?
whatever is in your airlock will not affect the flavor of the beer. even if it gets sucked into the beer, it’s unlikely that amount will be enough to affect the flavor. unless the bourbon gets sucked into a 1 gallon batch… maybe
if you want a subtle bourbon flavor. you can add a small amount of bourbon to your beer
It sounds like a myth perpetuated by the evil bourbon empire to get people to buy more bourbon. 
One for the airlock, one for me…
You can add 5x the amount of bourbon into the bottling bucket as you have in your airlock and still barely taste it in a 5 gallon batch. I use vodka in my airlock (mainly because someone left a jug of crap vodka at my house after a party and I want to give the junk a purpose) and have never tasted it in my finished product.
+1 to BIG BOURBON starting rumors & spreading lies to sell more product!!
[quote=“GeerBoggles”]You can add 5x the amount of bourbon into the bottling bucket as you have in your airlock and still barely taste it in a 5 gallon batch. I use vodka in my airlock (mainly because someone left a jug of crap vodka at my house after a party and I want to give the junk a purpose) and have never tasted it in my finished product.
+1 to BIG BOURBON starting rumors & spreading lies to sell more product!![/quote]
Not to threadjack, but you can take that crap vodka, your favorite fruit, and some sugar and make a rather drinkable “Brandy” from it.
