Bourbon Stout

[Shaggydog]

Hello,
I am a fairly new brewer (I have made 5 extract batches of beer with 4 very good results) and I would like to try something a bit harder and still stay with extract brewing... I am a huge fan of the Goose Island Bourbon county stout and was told it kinda starts as a Russian Imperial stout and from a lot of things I have read (many varying opinions) I would need to add bourbon oak chips at some point to get to that Goose Island flavor. I have a bag of the Jack Daniels bourbon barrel chips to work with (incredible aroma) and would like opinions on how long to leave them in the secondary (I plan on ageing at least 6 months) should I add them and let them sit the whole 6 months (Goose Island leaves the beer in the kegs for a year) of would that overpower my beer flavor. Any and all opinions will be appreciated.

 

[Talonracer67]

Don't age by a set amount of time, you are unable to duplicate the way they age their beer in your small scale setup so don't worry about the time factor. Just add your chips and taste regularly. Its alot easier to add more oak flavor-than subtract it.

 

[BlindPidgeon]

I make a bourbon ale that's always been a hit with my friends, and I use oak chips (4 oz. oak chips, and 1 oz. American oak cubes -heavy roast, for 5 gallons) from my LHBS. I let them soak for about a week before brew day in Maker's Mark. I then pour off the liquid to remove excess tannins, and just dump the chips straight into the primary fermenter. When I rack over to secondary, I don't transfer the wood chips.

Hope this helps.

 

[Shaggydog]

Thank you for the input! this has so far been a unique experience for me...first was the fermenter explosion and then the incredible fermenting (wasn't expecting that) I plan to go 2 weeks in the primary and then go to the secondary and ad Jack Daniels bourbon barrel smoking chips that I have been soaking in bourbon (I will drain and discard the bourbon) not sure how much of the chips to use (suggestions taken) I plan on leaving it in the secondary for about 6 months (checking occasionally for flavor)if anyone has helpful hints ....I will gladly accept them!