3 gallon bourbon stout recipe?

If you want to decide if this is over your head or not:

Can you aerate?

Can you keep your fermentation constantly within 1 or 2 degrees and at a cool temperature for the yeast range?

Can you do a full wort boil?

Can you mash that much grain volume if you're going AG?

Do you feel comfortable with your brewing schedule to tackle an expensive beer that needs time to set up and become drinkable 6-12 months later?

If you can do all of this, you should proceed.

 

It all depends on how 'big' of a beer you're wanting. Bourbon barrel stouts can range anywhere from 6% to upwards of 20% abv. I suggest trying a lower OG stout for your second batch, and infusing some bourbon soaked oak cubes to secondary for extended aging. How much? really depends on how much bourbon flavor you're wanting, and the alcohol strength of your beer

 

I'll ask the question (not trying to dissuade you), but do you want to replicate the very good bourbon characteristics in the highly-hypes beers such as Bourbon County Brand Stout, or are you willing to settle for something less? If you want the real deal, you'll need to have access to a used bourbon barrel and be able to fill it (no airspace), and I don't think there is such a thing as a 3-gallon used barrel. Other methods that are available to homebrewers to get the bourbon flavor just do not replicate the flavor that you might want, so you could be disappointed.

But as suggested above, you need to be able to handle the complexity of brewing a very stout stout to be able to pull this off, and then have the time to age it on oak that has been soaked in bourbon. I wish it were as simple as adding bourbon during the brewing, aging or bottling process, but it's not.