Secondary stratification w/ a bourbon barrel porter?

So I'm a bit perplexed. Brewed up an AG version of Northern Brewers "Bourbon Barrel Porter". Held her steady at a 153 degrees through an hour mash, and hit my target OG of 1.065, with 5 gallons into the primary. Pitched one packet of Danstar Windsor Ale yeast and over the next 2.5 days witnessed the most vigorous, violent fermentation I've seen in about 28 batches. Ten days later, I racked the brew on top of 2 oz. oak cubes and 16 oz. Makers Mark bourbon in the secondary. Four weeks later, bottling day...took a hydro sample as I was siphoning into the bottling bucket....FG 1.023....seems WAY too high!

So I guess my first question is this...would adding 16 oz of bourbon skew the FG that much? If anything, I figured by adding additional alcohol, the FG would have DROPPED.

Also, would the porter/bourbon have stratified in the secondary? I took a taste of the hydro sample from the bottom of the secondary and a taste of the dregs from the bottling bucket, and got a much more pronounced bourbon flavor from the dregs in the bottling bucket (which led me to believe there was stratification in the secondary, since the sample from the bottling bucket would have been thoroughly mixed).

Anyway, that's a long-winded, 2-question post...but any thoughts would be appreciated!

Windsor yeast is like that- it's very low attenuating.

Thanks Yoop...good to know. Was afraid I may have two cases of bottle-bombs conditioning in the spare bedroom.

hopdropper said:

Thanks Yoop...good to know. Was afraid I may have two cases of bottle-bombs conditioning in the spare bedroom.

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No, I don't think so. I've had Windsor stop at 1.022-1.024 for me in most of the beers I've made with it. I actually liked it in an oatmeal stout, but decided not to use it any more due to it stopping so high.

Hey Yoop, how much would the 16 oz of bourbon alter the FG? I'm guessing I should have taken a reading on the porter BEFORE adding the bourbon, but I neglected to do so.

Just my guess, you would have to find out if there is any gravity points in bourbon, then calculate what the FG was before you added the bourbon.

I have a 1 gallon belgian tripel lagering on my secondary, and i just added 3 ounces of makers mark and .25 ounces of oak cubes. After 36 hours, there is a clear stratification in the beer, with lighter liquid om top, and thicker liquid below. Should I be concerned about this? Is this normal with Oaked beers?