Anyone here made this one before? I just ordered it and am already anxious to get it going. I didn’t realize until after ordering it that you actually need to get some bourbon to put into it later on in the process. Any advice from people who have made a bourbon beer like this before?
If you already have bourbon on hand use that. If you need to buy bourbon then I would suggest buying a cheap bottle as it doesn’t really make a difference once in the beer.
Now, if you like to drink bourbon, and have to buy some for this, I would suggest getting one that you can appreciate drinking as you will have the remaining left over for consumption.
I’m probably going to do one of these in the near future, not the kit, but just a generic one. I thought I would use oak chips (since I happen to have a bag of them), pour enough bourbon in a glass jar to cover the chips, then dump the whole shebang into the secondary. What do you guys think would be a commonsense max amount of bourbon to put in 5 gallons of porter? I want a distinct oaky-bourbon flavor, but nothing overwhelming. Second question: I definitely don’t want a citrusy hop flavor in that kind of beer, but I’ve toyed with the idea of just skipping late boil hops altogether. Thoughts?
I just kicked my keg of NB Bourbon Barrel Porter. One of my favorite kits from NB. I used Makers and I think I probably overspent for the amount of flavor that comes through. I can’t see why a cheaper bourbon wouldn’t get the job done. There’s another thread about the amount of bourbon/type on the NB message boards. If think it was Denny who commented about the correct amount for 5 gallon batches.
Great kit though, you’ll love it.
That sounds great. I’ll probably use Makers just because I like the stuff anyways. Thanks guys.
I’ve done brewed it a couple of times and for all the ingredients and time invested I’ll be sticking with Makers.
I was wondering if there were any sanitation issues to worry about with the bourbon and oak cubes. I’m guessing the bourbon might be enough to sanitize the bowl and the cubes?
That’s correct.
I have done a couple of batches of BB Porter. I held a 6 pack back from the first batch that I made over a year go. Last week I grabbed a bottle from that batch by mistake and it was absolutely amazing. Bourbon bite was gone and very smooth overall. No comparison to the 2nd batch which has been in the bottle for 6 months now.
[quote=“micahkoll”]I just kicked my keg of NB Bourbon Barrel Porter. One of my favorite kits from NB. I used Makers and I think I probably overspent for the amount of flavor that comes through. I can’t see why a cheaper bourbon wouldn’t get the job done. There’s another thread about the amount of bourbon/type on the NB message boards. If think it was Denny who commented about the correct amount for 5 gallon batches.
Great kit though, you’ll love it.[/quote]
I would like to have this on tap as well. Did you just put the oak and bourbon into the keg when you kegged? Or did you do a secondary?
[quote=“jonbeer”][quote=“micahkoll”]I just kicked my keg of NB Bourbon Barrel Porter. One of my favorite kits from NB. I used Makers and I think I probably overspent for the amount of flavor that comes through. I can’t see why a cheaper bourbon wouldn’t get the job done. There’s another thread about the amount of bourbon/type on the NB message boards. If think it was Denny who commented about the correct amount for 5 gallon batches.
Great kit though, you’ll love it.[/quote]
I would like to have this on tap as well. Did you just put the oak and bourbon into the keg when you kegged? Or did you do a secondary?[/quote]
The only beer I’ve ever secondaried ended up going bad (I think there was oxidation from the transfer), so I don’t do a secondary. BUT, I soaked the oak in a little bourbon before adding it to the primary for around two weeks. I added the bourbon after active fermentation was complete. I thought maybe the high alcohol would affect the yeast, but it did not. I think my FG was around 1.011 - not 100% sure because I don’t have my notes in front of me.
Very cool. One more question for the group.
Do you think this recipe would be just fine if I switched out the MO for Rahr 2-row? I don’t have any MO on hand. :oops:
I just saw a extract kit for a BB stout that added 9 oz of bourbon at bottling. I was wondering how that would be in an imperial stout? I was wondering since its such a big beer that 9 oz would seem a little weak.
I racked to the secondary after two weeks. I do like to bottle condition for more time than secondary condition. The instructions call for conditioning in the secondary for two to three weeks before adding the bourbon and oak cubes, then going for one to two weeks before bottling.
I was wondering if there was any reason to wait two to three weeks before putting the bourbon and oak cubes in. I’d rather get this into bottles earlier than these instructions would recommend, yet I also want to let it age some with the oak cubes. So, again would there be any reason to not put the bourbon and oak cubes into the secondary after a week (or even immediately)?
[quote=“dustinwwww”]I racked to the secondary after two weeks. I do like to bottle condition for more time than secondary condition. The instructions call for conditioning in the secondary for two to three weeks before adding the bourbon and oak cubes, then going for one to two weeks before bottling.
I was wondering if there was any reason to wait two to three weeks before putting the bourbon and oak cubes in. I’d rather get this into bottles earlier than these instructions would recommend, yet I also want to let it age some with the oak cubes. So, again would there be any reason to not put the bourbon and oak cubes into the secondary after a week (or even immediately)?[/quote]
I’ve got a recipe that I made that uses oak cubes and I rack directly on top the cubes from the boil kettle - before I even pitch the yeast. Every batch I’ve made turns out great. The oak is very subtle, never overpowering. Right or wrong, I have no idea, but its seemed to work well for me. There’s a guy in my brew club who does the same thing and it works for him as well.
I was more wondering if the bourbon would cause problems with the yeast or something than the oak cubes themselves.
I wouldn’t add the bourbon until after active fermentation. Maybe two or three weeks into the process. 10 oz of bourbon in 5 gallons of beer won’t really affect the yeast.
I’ve never done NB’s Bourbon Barrel, but with Denny’s BVIP I always use Maker’s. Its not crazy expensive, but it actually tastes good, and I frequently have it around anyway. I’ve never been in the “use cheap stuff you can’t tell the difference in beer” camp. If it doesn’t taste good to me, I’m not going to add it to my beer. 
It will be three weeks this weekend. I’ll probably add it in then and give it a couple weeks before bottling.
And it’s 16 oz in this one for what it’s worth.
