Ok, I am looking at brewing NB Imperial Stout and a few questions to folks
out here who has brewed it or somthing close. I want this to be ready for
christmas and would like to add oak chips and Bourbon,and my questions
are. 1) Is the time frame ok for it to be drinkable 2) light,meduim or
dark oak chips and 3) how much bourbon. On the bourbon side I’m hoping
for just a slight hint of it, so I was thinking of around 10oz and was looking
to use dk oak chips.
It will be drinkable by then. Easily
As far as the oak chips. I’m not sure… I don’t use them
For the bourbon. Start with a very small amount. Give it some time. Taste. Then decide if you wanna add more. You can always add bourbon to the glass too. So keep that in mind
For the oak chips, it depends on the flavor that you want in your beer. The lighter the toast, the more subtle oak/vanilla flavors you’ll get. Dark chips on the other hand can be quite “woody” (in a good way) and is a more intense oak flavor. If you’ve never done anything with oak before, I say start in the middle with the medium toast (or the medium plus) and soak them in your bourbon for a few days before adding to the beer.
I would do as mentioned above and add your 10 oz or so of bourbon and wait about a week and taste it to see how the flavors are coming along. You can always add more bourbon later, but if you over do it right away, you cant go back. If you’ve got a lot of time you could skim through the thread of Denny’s BVIP as a lot of people talk about how much, and what type, of bourbon they added to the beer and their results. Good luck
