Brew #11: Bourbon Barrel Porter, November 22, 2014

Brew #11 and I finally got around to brewing an bourbon/oaked beer.  This was on my to-brew list from the start.  I bought this kit from Northern Brewer at the same time as the Plinian Legacy to save on shipping.  Since I could get the yeast locally, I didn't risk it getting screwed up in shipping.

Recipe
Batch Size: 5 gal
Boil Size: 3 gal
Target OG: 1.065
Target FG: ???
Style: Porter
Recipe Type: Extract with specialty grains
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Water:
Acadia bottled spring water

Specialty Grains:
1 lb English Chocolate Malt
0.5 lb English Dark Crystal
0.5 lbs English Black Malt

Fermentables:
2 lbs Wheat DME @ 60 min.
6.3 lbs Dark LME @ 15 min.

Hops:
1 oz Chinook (pellets) @ 60 min.
0.5 oz US Goldings (pellets) @ 15 min.
0.5 oz US Goldings (pellets) @ 5 min.

Other:
2 oz Medium toast oak cubes, secondary 12 days
16 fl oz Makers Mark Bourbon, secondary 12 days

Yeast:
White Labs WLP 028 Edinburgh Scottish ale yeast

Brewing Notes
11/19/14 - Yeast Starter:
Again, the kit's recipe recommended a yeast starter due to the high starting gravity, so 3 days prior to brewing I made a 4 cup starter: boiled 4 cups of water, 4 oz extra light DME, and 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient for 10 minutes.  I chilled to 82F in an ice bath, then poured into the 1 liter flask, shook it up like crazy, then poured in the vial of yeast

11/22/14 - Brew Day:

• Sanitized (star san) my cold side equipment in the big mouth bubbler primary.
• Heated 3 gal water to 155 F in 5 gallon economy stainless kettle on the stovetop.
• Steeped specialty grains in muslin bag for 20 minutes.
• Removed the grain bag and held it above the kettle to drain.
• Brought to boil
• Removed kettle from the burner.
• Added 2lbs Wheat DME and stirred well
• Returned to boil, set timer for 60 minutes and added:
  1oz Chinook @ 60 min.
  1/2 oz Goldings @ 15 min.
  6.3 lbs Dark LME @ 15 min.
  1/2 oz Goldings @ 5 min.
  All hops were in a nylon mesh bag.
• Moved kettle to the ice bath in the sink to chill to 100 F
• Added 2 gal of pre-chilled water to the kettle to bring temperature to 70F
• Siphoned to BMB, then added more room temperature water and the entire yeast starter until I had 5 Gallons.
• Took an OG reading of 1.064, corrected to 1.066
• Put the BMB in the beer corner of the dining room.

11/22 - 12/6/2014 - Primary Fermentation:
Active fermentation began within 8 hours.  I like yeast starters.  They go well with my impatience.  Rather than waiting out up to 3 days lag time, I get to see near-instant results.  Starting at this point, I planned to make a starter for any beer with OG of 1.060 or greater. Racked to secondary on 12/6 - Gravity was 1.024 (5.5% ABV)

12/6-12/30/2014 - Secondary Fermentation:
Bulk conditioning and bourbon/oak aging.  On 12/16 I started soaking the 2 oz of oak cubes in 16 oz bourbon in a quart mason jar.  On 12/18 I took an FG measurement on the beer, which was still 1.024 (5.5% abv).  I did this here because after adding the bourbon, these measurements would be meaningless.  I poured the oak cubes and all of the bourbon into the secondary on 12/18.  I did some math to figure the approximate final abv of the beer based on the addition of 16 oz of 50% alcohol.  My estimate is 6.4% abv.

12/30/2014 - Bottling:
Bottled per our standard practice with 5oz of corn sugar boiled in 2 c water to prime. I didn't bother taking an FG reading because of the reasons discussed above. Yield was 52 12 oz bottles.

1/15/2015 - First Taste:
Fully carbonated at this time, but I rationed these, assuming it would improve over time and it did. By the time I tasted the last one in November, I think this had reached it's prime.  Too bad it was gone... I guess I needed to repeat this one too.  See Brew #28.