Derby Day Stout

The inspiration for this recipe came from the fact that for the past couple of years National Homebrew Day has coincided with Derby Day. This usually leads to hilariousness as I try to successfully brew a beer while imbibing vast quantities of mint juleps through out the day. Then last year it hit me; I like bourbon-barrel aged stout, I like mint chocolate stout, and I love love love mint in my bourbon, why not combine them all into a trifecta of awesomeness: Bourbon Barrel Mint Chocolate Stout! This may be the worst idea ever or the greatest beer to ever grace my lips, only time will tell.

Batch Size: 5.5 gal
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70%

10.8lbs Pale malt 2-row English
2.33lbs Biscuit malt

0.75lbs Roasted barley malt

0.75lbs Black patent malt
0.5 oz Northern Brewer hops [12.3%] (60min)
0.5oz Northern Brewer hops [12.3%] (20min)
1oz Fresh spearmint (flame out)

1 piece mint candy (flame out)

2oz American oak cubes heavy toast soaked in bourbon (secondary)
1 vial Dry English ale yeast (White Labs WLP007)

The day before brew day, I made a 1.5L starter for the yeastie beasties. I also added oak cubes to bourbon in an airtight container to soak until it's time for the secondary.

Brew day went reasonably well up until the very end. I did a single infusion mash at 155F for 1 hour, hit my expected OG after a batch sparge, and boiled down to the desired volume after 1 hour. Then disaster struck! I put my trusty homemade immersion chiller in the wort, turned on the cold water, and walked away to do some clean up. When I returned, the damn chiller had sprung a leak, adding ~2gal of water to my perfect wort :( This in turn decreased my final OG by 0.020. Not the end of the world, but definitely worth having a beer over.