Abysmal Stout (Bourbon “Barrel” Aged)

Step by Step
Soak the charred cubes starting on brew day in Bourbon or rye of your choosing (mid-shelf). Mash in the grains with 6.2 gallons (23.4 L)
of 164 °F (73 °C) strike water to achieve a mash temperature of 150 °F (66 °C). Hold this temperature for at least 60 minutes, then begin mashout process. Collect 7.5 gallons (28 L) of wort. Total boil time is 2 hours. Add hops and licorice root as indicated. You may want to add a yeast nutrient as well to give the yeast an extra boost to help finish fermentation.

Chill the wort, aerate, and pitch the yeast. Try to hold fermentation at around 68 °F (20 °C) but be careful that internal fermentation temperatures may be quite a bit higher than ambient temperature. Once fermentation begins to die down, add the candi syrup and chopped vanilla bean.

When your beer is ready for transferring into secondary (about 3–4 weeks), pour the liquor off the oak cubes (reserving for cocktails!) and place cubes into the vessel. Rack the beer on top of the cubes. Big stouts like this are often best with considerable age, after many months (minimum of 2 months) of aging to allow the oak and intense flavors to meld together, while the sometimes hot alcohol character of a fresh beer smooths out. Consider a January brew day for a Christmas beer release. If time does not allow for such a long aging, decrease the quantity of oak used or switch to an oak alternative with a shorter extraction time.

Golden Promise replaced by Maris Otter
Victory malt replaced by Biscuit malt (or Amber malt)
Midnight wheat malt replaced by chocolate wheat