King Henry Clone: Input?

Not a bad idea . . . it would be one hell of a big grain bill to pull only first runnings. I've done a partigyle once. I think I got 2/3 from first runnings and 1/3 from second. So to get the same OG all from first runnings total bill would be 37#-ish. Second brew from second runnings would be healthy at projected 1.060ish. For me, I'd close to max my mash tun, 1.25 qt/# would run me nearly all the way up to top of 16 gallon kettle . . . sounds like fun, I'll have to try it!!!

 

I'm going to try it. Penciled in for APR 2nd. Hopefully ready to start drinking by Winter '16. Cheers!

 

I brewed this in July 2016, after primary it sat on 0.25oz/gal of American oak cubes for 13 months. Finally kegged it up last night. I went from 1.120 down to 1.036, and after the addition of 6 oz Elijah Craig, my ABV is about 11.7%. Definitely a bit on the sweet side on the initial taste. I may consider more IBU's or a use a yeast with higher attenuation next time... but overall it tastes very good. I will post full notes when its carbed.

 

Now that this is cold and carbed its improved much more than I expected, really delicious. I may still consider bumping the IBU up slightly next time but I wouldn't change much else. I would definitely recommend extended oak aging as I described above. I boil the oak cubes for 3 minutes before using them.

 

I brewed a very similar recipe 1.5 weeks ago. How happy were you with both the oak and bourbon character? Would you adjust further?

 

I wouldn't change a thing in terms of bourbon and oak. I got so much vanilla in my batch that a few friends described it as a "vanilla bomb". In fact, after doing 6 or 7 strong ales with oak and spirits I'm pretty set on my process:

• Boil 0.25 oz/gal medium toast American oak for 3 min
• After 1 month primary, rack beer into secondary with oak for 6+ months
• Add bourbon to taste at packaging, I think I used a bit over 2 oz/gal for this beer