[CVas]

Hi All,

I have an Imperial Irish Stout that has been sitting in a 5 gallon bourbon barrel since March of this year. For context, this is the second batch of beer that has been put into the barrel, but I have a feeling that it will be over-oaked and maybe a little hot from the bourbon. So I just brewed the same Stout recipe and I plan on blending this new Stout with the one in the barrel.

I have never blended anything before, so I looking for any tips, tricks, or insight that may help this go smoothly and produce the best tasting beer. Also should I be worried about the yeast being dead (I plan on bottle conditioning) and should I add any champagne yeast or will the fresh beer have enough to condition?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Cheers!

[dmtaylor]

You should taste the bourbon stout before blending at all.  See how it tastes.  You might change your mind.

The yeast is indeed dead.  You will need to pitch a small yeast starter along with your priming sugar.  Then it will carbonate just fine.  Without fresh yeast, it probably would never carbonate.

[santoch]

+1 on everything Dave said.  I would add that should you want to blend, do it in a series of glasses and measure how much of each you put in.  then taste them side by side and see which ratio you like best.  Then, back it off 1 or 2 levels (so you are using less of the more powerful one), and that's the actual ratio to use. I've come to accept that there's something about scaling to a full batch that makes a little of the powerful flavor go a longer way than you though.  (This technique applies to adding anything to a beer, such as vanilla, fruit extracts, spices, etc.)