Ideas for a cherry vanilla bourbon porter

Any help would be appreciated...I'm fairly new to brewing (about 10 extract kits in) and want to make a cherry vanilla bourbon porter. Going with a porter extract kit from Midwest and plan to get the bourbon taste by adding a cup and a half of bourbon at bottling. Where I'm stuck is the vanilla Bean/cherry extract addition. Since I'm going to have a lot of flavors going on should I still go with a full 4 oz of cherry at bottling as well as the recommended 2 gutted beans in secondary. I want the bold flavor but not an artificial taste. Maybe cut the cherry amount in half? Haven't used an extra an fruit flavoring yet to know how strong they are so any help would be awesome...thanks!

jmcm_brew said:

Any help would be appreciated...I'm fairly new to brewing (about 10 extract kits in) and want to make a cherry vanilla bourbon porter. Going with a porter extract kit from Midwest and plan to get the bourbon taste by adding a cup and a half of bourbon at bottling. Where I'm stuck is the vanilla Bean/cherry extract addition. Since I'm going to have a lot of flavors going on should I still go with a full 4 oz of cherry at bottling as well as the recommended 2 gutted beans in secondary. I want the bold flavor but not an artificial taste. Maybe cut the cherry amount in half? Haven't used an extra an fruit flavoring yet to know how strong they are so any help would be awesome...thanks!

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Personally, I would recommend not using extract for the cherries. 1-4 lbs per gallon in secondary. I use frozen cherries from the grocery store. Just defrost, smash a little bit before you add. Also. I add vanilla extract or bean at primary so i can add more if necessary to secondary. I actually did an experiment last year where we made 10 gallons of pale ale, added 2 oz of vanilla to both during primary. Then added 5 lbs of strawberries to one carboy and 5 lbs mix of cherries and blueberries to the other. Added about 2 more oz of vanilla at the time of fruit addition to increase vanilla smell. The strawberry was not nearly as impressive as the cherry/blueberry mix. And the color was astonishing!