rifraf
Well-Known Member
One of my homebrewing buddies recently moved away for work, but just found out he's coming back for a few weeks at the end of August. He'll be back again April/May of 2013 so we've decided to brew a nice imperial stout while he's here at the end of the month to drink at the end of his return in May.
Been trying to research, and just wanted to throw a plan at the forum and see what people thought. We don't have a recipe yet, but neither of us have done bulk aging or oak flavor yet so have just been discussing the strategy.
Brew an ~8-10% stout at the end of August. Ferment for about a month in primary before racking over to a Better Bottle for bulk aging. Mid December or so, drop a bourbon soaked oak spiral into the bottle. Mid march, have a taste and see how the oak flavor is maturing. If it's ready, bottle then and drink April/May. If we want more oak flavor, let it sit and bottle very early April to drink towards the end of May.
Does this make sense? Do we need to add yeast for bottling? Thanks in advance for the help!
Been trying to research, and just wanted to throw a plan at the forum and see what people thought. We don't have a recipe yet, but neither of us have done bulk aging or oak flavor yet so have just been discussing the strategy.
Brew an ~8-10% stout at the end of August. Ferment for about a month in primary before racking over to a Better Bottle for bulk aging. Mid December or so, drop a bourbon soaked oak spiral into the bottle. Mid march, have a taste and see how the oak flavor is maturing. If it's ready, bottle then and drink April/May. If we want more oak flavor, let it sit and bottle very early April to drink towards the end of May.
Does this make sense? Do we need to add yeast for bottling? Thanks in advance for the help!