Day 22:Brewdolph the Bourbon-Nosed Reinbeer: Greg Maruzzella

[Scott H]

Brewdolph the Bourbon-Nosed Reinbeer
(Vanilla Bean Bourbon Barrel Stout)

Ingredients
 Fermentables
 3.3lb Special Dark LME
 3.3lb Light LME- Pilsen
 1lb Amber DME- Sparkling Amber

Grains
 6oz Roasted Barley
 8oz Dark Chocolate Grain
 8oz Caramel 90L
 
 Hops
 0.5oz Magnum Hops
 0.5oz Cluster Hops

Yeast
 1 Sachet Dry Yeast – Safale-04

Fun Stuff
 2.5oz Oak Chips
 Bourbon of Choice (I used Woodford Reserve, just enough to cover the chips, approximately 6 oz)

Or, just grab the kit sold at Bull City!

Brewing
• Steep grains at approximately 160 degrees for 20 minutes.
• Add LME and DME
• Boil Magnum hops for 40 minutes
• Boil Cluster hops for 20 minutes (total boil time 60 minutes)
• The same day as brew day I soaked the oak chips in bourbon in a sanitized jar, just enough to cover the chips. I have read from people who have soaked the chips for 2 days to a month. The chips could also be added without soaking, but would need to be boiled for about 5 minutes to sanitize.

Primary
• Fermented between 64-72 degrees for seven days.
• 24 hours before adding to secondary I scooped out the innards from 2 vanilla beans, chopped everything and added all to about an ounce of vodka. Soaked beans in vodka for 24 hours to sanitize the beans and help to release the vanilla aroma. Others have added the beans to the oak chip/bourbon mixture, but I was told that the vanilla would be overpowered with this method.

Secondary
• Strain the bourbon off of the oak chips and add the oak chips to secondary, we used a coffee filter. I was told adding the bourbon would overpower the beer, but I have read other recipes where folks did this and they say it tasted really good.
• Add the vodka/vanilla bean mixture.
• Rack beer on top of beans and chips.
• Leave in secondary for 3 – 4 weeks. I did 3 weeks.

Bottling
• Nothing special, usual process

By December 1st it will have been in bottles for 4 weeks, not sure where it will be placed in the calendar.
I really hope this is a good beer for everyone! I don’t taste the vanilla at all, but I think it’s pretty tasty. My wife and I just started brewing this past year, and this is probably my most complex recipe to date. We I wanted to do something special for the advent calendar. Thanks for all your homebrews! Cheers!

[spidermonk]

Really nice and roasty, not syrupy or any off flavors at all, good head. The bourbon comes through really sneaky and mild though strong on the aroma, but its definitely there and I pretty sure I'm getting a hint of vanilla too. The warmer this one gets the more the flavors come through. I wish I hadn't refrigerated it now and drank it at or near room temperature. Did you use the dark or light oak chips?

Interesting on the wood chips, I've used them several times now and have never pre-boiled them for sanitiation. Maybe I'm playing with fire there and just been lucky so far

Thanks for the really good beer.

[Chris Creech]

Bourbon and oak in the aroma for sure. The beer has a bitter bite to it before is smooths out at the finish. I enjoyed this one. The only thing I would change would be to try to lower the perceived bitterness a touch because the hops + the roasted grains is causing a chalky bitterness. Great beer all-in-all though, thanks!

[klinger]

I enjoyed this beer. Not overpowering on the bourbon/oak the way that some bourbon barrel style beers can be -- just a nice low level. I agree with Chris that lowering the bitterness a bit would be nice -- it would allow some of the other flavors to shine a bit more. I didn't get any vanilla in this. I suspect if the bitterness was lower it would come out more.

Nice, very drinkable BB Stout!

[Heiko R.]

Had this last night. Bourbon & oak levels were just right and once it warmed up a little the vanilla started coming out. We both enjoyed this one a lot. Thanks for sharing! Heiko