Bourbon Vanilla Porter (AG) - Page 10

bkov · 09-20-2009, 06:38 AM

should work except might not be as good. vanilla extract is usually made from other stuff, not vanillla beans.

**Lil' Sparky** · 09-20-2009, 12:33 PM

If you use extract, make sure it's "pure vanilla extract"!

OldSole · 09-23-2009, 06:34 PM

Hey everyone. I just brewed this recipe for the first time as a 3 gallon batch. Mashed at 156F for 60 min. I only hit around 1.072 OG because I cut my boil short by a half-gallon. D'OH!. Anyways, do you think this is still a big enough beer to hold up to the bourbon and vanilla?

**Lil' Sparky** · 09-23-2009, 07:23 PM

Yeah sure it is.

theacolyte · 09-26-2009, 02:55 AM

I just racked a different, extract porter, on top of 200ml of bourbon and 2oz of vanilla. Tapping the keg tomorrow. Exciting.

**Lil' Sparky** · 09-26-2009, 04:45 AM

It'll be really good by Thanksgiving, so don't drink it all too fast. ;-)

I've got a case left from the batch we did in Jan and it's holding up really well. It'll be great this winter.

**mrgstiffler** · 10-04-2009, 08:18 AM

I'm going to try and do an extract version of this, with some modifications, on Friday. I've made a stout rather similar to this that turned out horrible. Had a medicine/plastic/bandaid astringent taste to it. I think this was due to it hitting 90F during fermentation when my AC died. I'm looking to avoid this and minimize any extract twang. The weather is a lot friendlier now and I'm going to use extra light DME for half the fermentables. My LHBS doesn't have brown malt unfortunately.

Here's my recipe:
5lb Extra Light DME
3lb Dark LME
1.5lb Chocolate Malt
.5lb Crystal 120L
.25lb Black Patent
1oz Chinook (60 Minutes)
.5oz US Golding (15 Minutes)
.5oz US Golding (5 Minutes)
1.5tbsp Pure Vanilla Extract (Secondary)
16oz Maker's Mark (Secondary)
White Labs WLP028 Edinburgh Scottish Ale Yeast w/starter

I've seen a few recommendations for adding some DME and 5.2 pH stabilizer to the steeping water. I'm going to try doing that, along with adding a Whirlfloc tablet to the end of the boil. DME, pH stabilizer, Whirlfloc and the starter are all totally new to me. I'm hoping it will turn out better than previous batches.

**Lil' Sparky** · 10-04-2009, 12:17 PM

The whirlfloc is going to help "clear" your very black beer... save it for a light colored brew.

I'm going to bet your last batch's problems were high fermentation temps, too. Keeping that in check should make huge improvements in your beer.

dhacker · 10-04-2009, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkov

is crisp brown malt the same as brown malt like in the recipe?

"Crisp" is a brand and not a type. You'll be fine!

theacolyte · 10-04-2009, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrgstiffler

I'm going to try and do an extract version of this, with some modifications, on Friday. I've made a stout rather similar to this that turned out horrible. Had a medicine/plastic/bandaid astringent taste to it. I think this was due to it hitting 90F during fermentation when my AC died. I'm looking to avoid this and minimize any extract twang. The weather is a lot friendlier now and I'm going to use extra light DME for half the fermentables. My LHBS doesn't have brown malt unfortunately.

Here's my recipe:
5lb Extra Light DME
3lb Dark LME
1.5lb Chocolate Malt
.5lb Crystal 120L
.25lb Black Patent
1oz Chinook (60 Minutes)
.5oz US Golding (15 Minutes)
.5oz US Golding (5 Minutes)
1.5tbsp Pure Vanilla Extract (Secondary)
16oz Maker's Mark (Secondary)
White Labs WLP028 Edinburgh Scottish Ale Yeast w/starter

I've seen a few recommendations for adding some DME and 5.2 pH stabilizer to the steeping water. I'm going to try doing that, along with adding a Whirlfloc tablet to the end of the boil. DME, pH stabilizer, Whirlfloc and the starter are all totally new to me. I'm hoping it will turn out better than previous batches.

This is essentially what I did, and it worked well - I'd just be careful about 16oz of maker's. If I was to do it all again, I'd probably use 150ml of makers, and maybe 1oz of vanilla. In my opinion, the bourbon/vanilla flavors are almost too strong...

Amount Item Type % or IBU
1.00 lb Dark Dry Extract (17.5 SRM) Dry Extract 12.50 %
6.00 lb Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 75.00 %
0.50 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 6.25 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 6.25 %
0.50 oz Sterling [7.50 %] (60 min) Hops 11.9 IBU
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (60 min) Hops 27.1 IBU
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
8.00 oz Malto-Dextrine (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Windsor Yeast (Lallemand #-) Yeast-Ale

Racked (in keg) over:

2oz vanilla extract
200ml Makers Mark