Adding Alcohol Pre-Boil

I would add it post fermentation myself.

Obviously you don't want any unaccounted alcohol for whatever reasons that may be, but what little bourbon you need to add to give a little bourbon flavor, will leave very little alcohol in the beer anyways that the extra risk/work isn't needed, IMO.

You aren't adding a 1/5th of bourbon to your beer.. A shot or two will be small in a 5 gallon batch.

 

I would think that the bourbon flavor would evaporate out - or most of it - if you added pre-boil.
I've done bourbon beers, usually by soaking oak chips in it. I only need a few ounces, and the chips, and just a splash of the soaking liquid, go into the beer. Not enough to add a large amount of ABV. I never measured, but over a 5 gallon batch it has to be on the order of a .1% ABV gain or less.
If you want to experiment with adding it pre-boil, go to town, it's your beer
PLease let us know how it comes out afterwards.

 

The pure alcohol will definitely boil off. The question being, what will remain? The spirit draws color and flavor from the oak barrel over the course of aging, so there is something introduced into the bourbon post-distillation that was never boiled. I would suspect that a long boil will lose some of those delicate aromatics, if not all of them.

Then there's the yeast, which is known to take its fair share out of the aroma of your hops, hence dry-hopping after primary fermentation is done.

I would suggest you won't hurt anything by adding bourbon pre-boil, but you might not notice much flavor enhancement from it, either...

 

It's an interesting idea and this is the first I've read of it.

Brew Bud-Light and then dump your bourbon in.

 

As others have said, the amount of alcohol added by a shot or two or bourbon in five gallons of beer is inconsequential. If you add the bourbon prior to the boil, I would worry about boiling off or ruining some of the flavors. As a test, you could try boiling a cup of bourbon for an hour, and then tasting it. My guess is that it will not taste like something you want in your beer.

 

it's not a bad idea, but adding bourbon to the boil isn't a particularly good idea either.

I wouldn't be too concerned with the small amount of additional alcohol. but if you are, you can heat the bourbon up to about 160 and hold it there for a bit. that's all distillation is anyway, boiling alcohol out of liquid. only you can let it escape to atmosphere and collect it with a still.

boiling the liquor at 212 will definitely drive off some aromatic volatiles, which is exactly what you want to be adding to the beer. then again, put a shot in the microwave for a minute, let it cool and decide if it sucks. probably sucks. probably don't want it in your beer.

Cheers.

 

I personally would add it after but I have nothing to back that up with, just throwing out my opinion. I wouldn't want to risk adding uncertain flavors into the beer by boiling the liquor, but on the other hand, it may do nothing harmful. I've added bourbon soaked wood chips post fermentation and got exactly the flavor I was looking for.

 

I've added bourbon that has soaked on wood chips for 6-8 weeks, and, although I have never measured the amount of liquid, I think it ends up around 8 oz. for a 5-gallon batch. This amount gives me the flavor level that I like. However, I'm not concerned about the alcohol that may remain in the liquid, and I certainly never taste it in the final beer. Also, I suppose some of the alcohol evaporates from the liquid during the 6-8 weeks while it is soaking the wood chips, so it likely is not 80 proof when added.

 

An ounce of 80 proof bourbon added to 5 gallons of 5% ABV beer will increase the ABV to a hair under 5.055%. Two ounces would increase it to a hair over 5.1% ABV.