I am doing my first homebrew with bourbon. I am debating on the amount and figured better to go a little light and adding if needed then going heavy at first. My thought is adding 8 - 9 ounces during kegging, then let carb and then pulling samples. If it needs more bourbon I can always add more. Is there any issues with adding bourbon to a cold carbed beer?
I have no experience adding to cold beer, but I would err on the light side with bourbon. My second brew ever was the bourbon barrel kit from NB. 16 oz was way too much for that one, and I would start at 6-8 oz depending on the style. Maybe more for a big imperial stout. You may want to pour 8-12 oz of beer from the keg and experiment with different amounts and then scale to 5 gal. I don't see any issues with this approach. I may be doing the same thing with my latest beer.
I’ve done it before, works fine. What style? I’m going to guess a stout of some sort. You don’t need a lot. I would start with 6-8 oz, and then taste and adjust accordingly. Use less if it’s a lighter beer.
I definitely agree with pouring samples, adding to taste, and then scaling up. My method is to pour 4-5 100ml samples and dose with my tincture/flavoring at different rates and then compare them until I find the flavor and balance I'm looking for.
Do you do this with the current beer? The beer is done fermenting and I am just waiting for my vanilla tincture. Or do you do it with a similar commercial beer?
I haven’t taken a FG reading but should be @9% chocolate porter. Samples are tasting good and definitely more chocolate than toasty. Also, will be adding a vanilla tincture.
I do this with the beer I've brewed and intend to serve. Keg and carbonate the beer, pour your samples and do some math to scale up when you find what you like. If you have something like a small syringe or sub 1/4 tsp measuring spoons that's an easy way to keep things consistent. I like to add the tincture to all samples in varying amounts and taste rather than just adding to one sample until it's too much. This makes it easier to compare the tincture amounts directly rather than relying on memory of flavors/balance.
Great method. I've used ~2oz/gal of bourbon in a 12% barleywine and ~2.5oz/gal in a 14.5% stout. For a 9% porter I would start with ~1-1.5oz/gal and go from there.
