Infusing Goose Island Bourbon County Stout

^ I second this method. Delicious and really close just make sure the beans are fresh and plump.

My proprietors experiment was time consuming but worth it... Shred and toast coconut flakes, 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes and mix a 12oz Bourbon County in a French Press. Let refrigerate for a few hours, and enjoy.

 

if you homebrew, just use a bottle capper to put a new cap on there.

 

I would think whatever you would want to infuse would need to be very flavorful. I wouldn't think things like graham crackers would really impart all that much flavor this late in the game.

I would stay pretty classic: fresh vanilla beans, freshly roasted coffee beans (i.e. that day), freshly toasted coconut, high quality cocoa powder, etc. (anything very aromatic and flavorful).

I really enjoyed your creative suggestions, but I am just giving you my thoughts. I just don't want you to lose a delicious BCBS! Good luck and post an update if you decide to do it!!!

 

Darwin's beer reviews on youtube..he does some french press videos.

 

I had a couple buddies over last year and we had a BCBS pressing night. Toasted coconut was awesome, and we only let it sit in the french press for about 15 minutes.

We tried vanilla beans and vanilla extract. Both worked, but the bean will give you a better flavor, IMO, however, the bean takes longer to impart the flavor. So if you are doing it all in one evening with friends, extract might be better. The number of drops to use depends on personal taste.

Lastly, we pressed in some raspberries. Wow, very tasty, I would suggest this, only, caution on the amount. You can always add more if it is not strong enough for you. We smashed up too many and the raspberry flavor really dominated the brew. Good, but less berries would have been better.

Once you get comfortable with your french press, sky is the limit! I really enjoy a few mango pieces in my Surly Furious.

 

I've seen many times where people french press Cinnamon Toast Crunch and they seem to rave about it. I need to try this.

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/home-made-bcbcs-variant.183584/

 

@Jslay013

 

I've tried it once with coconut only. I toasted the coconut in a pan until golden brown (no oil, unsweetened coconut). I pressed the coconut immediately after toasting into the beer. The biggest problem was that the carbonation was completely killed with the warm coconut. I think I should've let it cool first. Either that or the french press killed it. I did do several presses of the coconut to get the most flavor in, so that could've been it.

Next time I plan to let the coconut cool and also save 1/3 of the bottle to mix in with the infused beer to add carb back in.

 

That is a crucial step in this process

 

The web page i was following actually wanted me to pour the BCBS straight into the hot pan with the coconut... Good thing I didnt do that LOL

 

I have done this several times and it always comes out nice.


Open fridge and take out cold bcbs.

Slice vanilla bean (fresh) down the middle and pop it in the bottle.

Set on counter for 45 minutes

Pour and enjoy

I don't notice much carb loss in this short period of time but you can try to reseal if you are paranoid. You can also strain the beer if ya want. If you don't you have to clean the glass after to get all the vanilla out before your next beer. Simply rinsing it won't work.

"Work smarter not harder"

 

Maybe I'm crazy but part of the appeal of beer, for me any way, is it's simplicity. You open, pour and enjoy. If you have to add all these things to beer to make it palatable, then maybe you don't like the beer. I like to enjoy beer the way the brewer intended for me to enjoy it. To me adding anything to the beer distorts what it was meant to be.

A lot of people seem to enjoy it though... especially with BCBS... which is a beer I don't really understand. It's way too boozy for me.

 

Step 1: Buy a keg of BCBS
Step 2: Run said keg of BCBS through a randall filled with vanilla, cocoa, and coconut.
Step 3: ????
Step 4: Profit

 

I've done the BCBS French press with various ingredients including, but not limited to, vanilla beans, freshly toasted shredded coconut, cinnamon, peppers, cacao nibs, cherries, etc. and the best ingredient I've found to date is an entire Butterfinger candy bar. Crunch it up in the package, dump into press, gently pour 3/4 bottle over the contents, place cap back on bottle and place both the bottle with remaining BCBS and the press in the fridge. Leave to soak for 20 minutes, then pour the strained contents of the press and the remaining BCBS from the bottle into your favorite glass, drink and enjoy. It as insane how well it worked......boozy, decadent, liquid butterfinger. So fuggin tasty.

 

Best I've experimented with recently was high end fresh ground butterscotch coffee, toasted coconut, and a couple dashes of ground cinnamon. It was out of this world good! And to the people who only drink it as a base because it's the best (which I agree that it is), you're really missing out to not try it once French pressed with other flavors you enjoy. Just don't be too heavy handed or you'll ruin the beer.

 

Just bought a French press to do this (well...and brew coffee at work soundlessly to avoid buying shit Green Mountain every day.) (seriously that stuff is the one thing from VT that is terrible.)

Anyway, yeah it's alright...don't use too much CTC 'cause it makes it waaaay too sweet. Used about 1/2 cup with 2014 BCBS and it was too much. Prolly use much less, just try to add a hint, don't try to change. Oh, and don't add the bottom-of-the-bag sugar. Sounds good but bad idea. It's cheap sweetness. Just makes a quality beer like BCBS taste terrible.

 

is this an actual thread about ruining one of the best beers? yikes ba.

 

Why is this the beer that I always hear about mixing?

 

Okay here you go. What I normally do is get two bottles of bcbs one as cold as you can get it. Take your toasted unsweetened coconut and place in your French press with one SMALL scoop of your best course ground coffee. Now pour in the ice cold bottle. Be gentle like your pouring a cheap lager. place in fridge for 30min-1hour now press. After pressing serve in X amount of glasses. Now open second bottle and top off glasses. Works best with about 3-4 glasses but I've split these magical concoctions with my bro a few times. After you've perfected this try it with a small spoon of peanut butter INSANE. oh and if you got any super tart sours press those with about 1 cup of cubed watermelon. Perfect for the summer. CHEERS.