"dry hopping" with whiskey Barrell stave

@hojo813 I have no notes, so my guess is two weeks.

 

I don’t know if you can see my image but I just made this and I soaked my whisky wood chips in Woodruff reserve bourbon while primary fermentation worked. Then put them in a Muslin bag and let them float for about 2 weeks. Turned out great with great bourbon flavor. I also used 2 lbs of toasted coconut at the same time and same method.

 

Right-clicking on the tiny icon and then choosing 'Open in new tab' allows me to see the pic. Nice-looking beer to go along with your description of the taste. Did you add the soaking bourbon to the fermenter too? I think I may have done so and that may be why the oak flavor was so strong.

By the way, nice label too.

 

Sorry no I put the wood chips in a bowl and then filled the bowl up with the bourbon and covered will my beer fermented. I did not pour the liquid into the beer cause I didn’t want a huge bourbon taste and I think it hit the mark. The brew master at Blackberry Farm Brewery said it was really nice so that made my day!!

 

Post some pics

 

I have only used cubes in my homebrewing but from my readings it seems that chips provide their flavors very quickly (in a matter of a few days). It would be prudent to consider this as part of your beer production schedule.

Cheers!

 

Does "cough syrup" = a medicinal taste?

Are you using tap water to brew? Do you treat your water (e.g., carbon block filtering or add campden tablets) to remove chlorine?

Cheers!

 

Hard to tell from above, but are you saying that you did nothing to remove chlorine/chloramines from your water?

 

It never hurts to know what's in your water, and it can actually be very helpful once you start paying attention to mash pH and building water profiles to complement beer styles.

Unless your water comes from a private well, it would be very unusual for it to not be disinfected with chlorine or chloramines.

Assuming your water does contain chlorine/chloramines (something easily learned from your supplier, without testing), there are a few reasons why chlorophenols (the medicinal taste) might be perceptible in one batch, but not others...

- different grain bills and/or different hops (or amount of hops) and/or yeast strains... chlorophenols are formed from chlorine and phenols/polyphenols, the latter of which come from grains and/or hops and/or yeast.

- different sparge temps/pH. Higher temps and pH encourage release of Tannins (polyphenols), which can combine with chlorine.

- off flavor may be masked by other flavors, depending on the style/ingredients.

- different levels of chlorine/chloramines in the water on different days.

- bacterial infection

 

Given that input I would be willing to bet that you are perceiving chlorophenols in your batch of Black IPA.

I would recommend that you add the process of removing chlorine/chloramine from your tap water in future brewing.

Cheers!