Hey guys, primary is finishing up at about 3/4 weeks.
When you add the bourbon and oak chips, do you soak the chips in the 16oz bourbon and then add it all? Or just add un-soaked chips?
Any reason I couldn’t keg this? I do wonder about the bourbon coming out of solution and floating on the top, is that stupid?
Thanks!
I don’t think there’s any “correct” way to do it. I’ve brewed this one and I soaked the oak chips in the bourbon for 2 weeks then added bourbon and oak chips to the secondary and let it sit for 2 weeks. It tastes great but it is very smokey. I’m not sure if that’s a product of soaking in the bourbon first or if that would happen even if I put the chips directly into the secondary.
So not sure if that really answers your question but that was my experience. Read through the reviews of this recipe to see what other people did and that might give you some direction.
The bourbon ain’t gonna come out of solution, don’t worry.
Add the bourbon and oak together. I’d also recommend cubes in lieu of chips…others have had issues with too much oak character from chips.
Try to save some…I have 1 bottle left from 2011’s batch…wish I had more.
I’m just going to soak the oak in the whiskey for a day or 2 and then just add the whiskey to the keg. P.S. I’m using dark oak chips cause that’s what I have on hand. I did this on the rebel rye porter and it worked great without having to put the oak in the beer.
I brewed this as an extract kit. I soaked the oak chips for two weeks in bourbon, then dumped it all in secondary for two weeks. The flavor of the beer is great but it has too much oaky/smokey flavor for my taste. When I brew this again I’ll probably cut way down on the oak. But that’s just my preference. Too bad we all don’t have star trek transporters and could send you quick samples.
(Pun intended on trans-Porter) haha.
Seriously, good luck, this is a great beer.
Ron
I ended up soaking the chips in 16oz bourbon for 3 days, then adding the bourbon and maybe 5 chips to the secondary. I also missed the gravity by .005 or so as I forgot to add a bit of malt to the kit.
So I’ve aged my bottles a while and gave one a try. Very nice! Nice balance of malt, bourbon and oak. If I brew it again and hit my gravity I’ll probably do the same thing but let a few more chips into the secondary.
