Have a bourbon porter in primary for 2 weeks. Recipe says to put in secondary with 2oz wood chips and 16 oz bourbon for 4 weeks. Do I really need to rack and put in secondary or can I just add ingredients to primary and let sit for 4 weeks? I hate all the cleanup!!!!
Secondary question-Necessary?
- Thread starter blarsen71
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Running_Crazy
Active Member
I would say yes you can leave it and add the wood chips. You should steam (sanitize) the wood chips before adding though. I think that I have read about that on here. Good Luck!
IMO to get the full flavor you should soak the oak in the bourbon to sanitize.
Use a secondary as you want the beer off the yeast to impart the most flavor of the additions. Most people oak in secondary.
Use a secondary as you want the beer off the yeast to impart the most flavor of the additions. Most people oak in secondary.
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
I would NOT boil, or steam the chips at all. Soak them in the bourbon for at least a few days and they will be fine. IF you want to use boiling, then you'll want to pitch the cooled water they were boiled in too. Otherwise you're tossing a lot of the oak flavor/aroma down the drain (poor idea IMO).
Something else to think about. The flavor you'll get from chips WILL change over time. Even over a couple/few months they will change drastically. IF you want a more stable flavor from oak, use either cubes, staves or spirals. IMO/IME, chips are the worst option of all of them.
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
IMO= In My Opinion
IME= In My Experience
You could soak for longer if you wished. I would advise using the same bourbon you would drink. Don't go cheap on this.
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
Depends on what you're after. Start with one, split and scraped (drop it all in) and taste after 2-4 weeks. Add more IF needed.
Again, go with the better/higher grade product. Do NOT go with cheap beans, or those that have been on the shelf for untold months. Amazon has a good number of sources of high quality beans for damned cheap prices.
BTW, I started my own vanilla extract back in February. Bottled it this past weekend. There's several recipes available online, but I used 2-2.5oz of beans in a pint mason jar filled with Skyy vodka. Now I'm just waiting to use it (or have a family member use some) so I know how it came out.
Well I have some from Midwest. I'm sure they are fresh do to when I wanted to order them they we out. I'm a cook I'm use to seasoning something and tasting it to see if I like it. Not use to havering to wait two months to see if its any good b
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
I bought this package of vanilla beans the first time. Second time around I bought more (1/2# I believe).
Without knowing what Midwest sells (specifics about the bean) I wouldn't use it.
BTW, you seriously learn brewing patience when you either make a BIG brew (over 10-12%) or start making mead. My mead batches are typically planned for 10-12 months in process as a bare minimum (12+ months being the goal most of the time). So compared with that, waiting a few more weeks, or even months, is nothing. :rockin:
Without knowing what Midwest sells (specifics about the bean) I wouldn't use it.
BTW, you seriously learn brewing patience when you either make a BIG brew (over 10-12%) or start making mead. My mead batches are typically planned for 10-12 months in process as a bare minimum (12+ months being the goal most of the time). So compared with that, waiting a few more weeks, or even months, is nothing. :rockin:
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