spartanchip

Recipes 

today i am brewing AHS vanilla porter, and i have a couple questions for those of you who have also made it or have made a very similar beer.

the ingredients include some vanilla flavoring (it is a powder) i am not terribly interested in using this because i feel that vanilla beans would give this beer a much better flavor and it would be more natural. if so would i need to add the beans at secondary?

i am wondering if anyone has done this or am i just totally overthinking it.

lastly, i am going to be making this a vanilla bourbon porter, when should i add the bourbon? begining of secondary? late in secondary? before bottling?

thanks a lot

brew on

__________________
Primary I: air :(
Primary II: Edwort's Apfelwein (4.16.2009)
Primary III: air :(


Bottle Conditioning: Vanilla Bourbon Porter (8.3.09)
Drinking: AHS Irish Red Ale, AHS Summer Saison Belgian Ale

On Deck: AHS Texas Blonde

golfguy819

Recipes 

i've never made it, but if your using vanilla beans, i would split them and scrap the inside into the secondary and rack on top of them. i've even heard of people chunking the shells and throwing them in as well. as for the bourbon, i'd add at bottling time (or kegging if you keg) like you would with priming sugar

__________________
Primary: Christmas Cheer
Secondary: AHS Oaked Porter
Kegged:
On Tap: Blonde Ale, Pumpkin Ale
On Deck: Cream Ale, Honey Nut Brown

spartanchip

Recipes 

yeah that was my thought was splitting and scraping the beans and then racking on top of them.

any other thoughts?

thanks

__________________
Primary I: air :(
Primary II: Edwort's Apfelwein (4.16.2009)
Primary III: air :(


Bottle Conditioning: Vanilla Bourbon Porter (8.3.09)
Drinking: AHS Irish Red Ale, AHS Summer Saison Belgian Ale

On Deck: AHS Texas Blonde

dgoldberg

Recipes 

I'm bottling the extract version today. I recently made my own vanilla extract, so I am using that, but there is some discussion about beans towards the end of this thread:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/how-much-vanilla-vanilla-porter-89818/

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Primary: Vanilla Porter, Kolsch
Drinking: Bavarian Hefe, Apricot Wheat, West Coast Pale Ale

Shay

Recipes 

I would suggest you brew this recipe: Vanilla - Recipes - Recipes - Denny Conn's Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter It is quite famous. I would add the bourbon at bottling time and use vanilla beans in the secondary.

golfguy819

Recipes 

This is on my "to-brew-list" when I get back home. How noticeable is the bourbon flavor? I thought about excluding it (didn't want to have to buy a bottle just for this beer), but I might see if I can find a small bottle.

__________________
Primary: Christmas Cheer
Secondary: AHS Oaked Porter
Kegged:
On Tap: Blonde Ale, Pumpkin Ale
On Deck: Cream Ale, Honey Nut Brown

conpewter

Recipes 

I've done AHS vanilla porter (all-grain). It turned out to be a wonderful porter, but the vanilla flavor just never came through. I would add 2 beans (split/scraped) to secondary for a couple weeks if not more. When making extract you leave the beans in for 6 months.

__________________
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." - V

Primary: Nothin
Secondary: Shady Lord RIS, Water to Barleywine, Pumpkin wine, burnt mead
Kegged: Crappy infected mild
Bottles: Apfelwein, 999 Barleywine, Oatmeal Stout, Robust Porter, Robust smoked porter, Simcoe Smash

Shay

Recipes 

There is really no noticeable bourbon or vanilla flavor in it. They all just blend together to create the flavor. I do not like bourbon, but I really enjoy this beer.

spartanchip

Recipes 

i am sorry, what do you mean by that...?

thanks

__________________
Primary I: air :(
Primary II: Edwort's Apfelwein (4.16.2009)
Primary III: air :(


Bottle Conditioning: Vanilla Bourbon Porter (8.3.09)
Drinking: AHS Irish Red Ale, AHS Summer Saison Belgian Ale

On Deck: AHS Texas Blonde

BrewBrain

Recipes 

I had the Drydock vanilla porter on tap in Colorado a couple years ago. It was awesome. They posted the homebrew recipe on their site HERE

The recipe calls for 5 beans, and they tell you how to get them in there. I haven't tried the HB version, but the vanilla flavor was very noticeable in the commercial version. It was also quite chocolaty. Excellent blending of flavors.