Bourbon Homebrew

You could simply add some bourbon to you beer.

 

Yup, mix some into your brew.

 

Depends on how much bourbon flavor you want...but personally I would add no more than 1/2 a cup...and probably less.

 

I would start with even less and taste a sample. You can always add more but can't go in reverse.

 

The kit recipes I've seen do oak chips soaked in bourbon added to the secondary. Reference Northern Brewer's "BA" porter:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/bourbon-barrel-porter-extract-kit.html

 

I've had very good results with 10oz in 5 gallons, so that would be ~1/4 cup per gallon.

 

You're going to find that a little goes a long way. I'd add some, give it a few days, and add some more after a small nip.

Edit:

I think if you're only going to get ~9 beers out of this batch you might consider adding a little bourbon to the bottom of your pint glass before you pour the beer. You can measure the amount when you get it right for your taste. You can easily multiply that volume of bourbon per glass into your next batch if you want to repeat.

 

Some Bourbon distilleries offer wood chips made from their old shredded barrels. Let it ferment with them (or just age your beer in an old bourbon barrel) and I think that might impart a richer deeper flavor when it's finished.

 

Re: the suggestions to just add bourbon to the beer in the glass; it sorta works but the taste is different, and maybe acquired. When I've kegged beers and added bourbon at kegging it typically took a couple of weeks for the flavors to blend. It was usually pretty nasty for the first 4-6 days and slowly mellowed into something nice.

I'm not a fan of bourbon straight up (maybe I just can't afford the good stuff), but it often tastes wonderful in beers.

 

At bottling or kegging.

 

http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/bourbon-homebrew.108858/#post-1601669

http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/bourbon-homebrew.108858/#post-1604060