Vanilla & Bourbon Additions to 13% RIS

Here's my recipe:



Yes, I'm aware of the low efficiency (54%) but it was due to a poor crushing of the grains at Midwest (thread)

Anyway, thanks to this thread, I took two Medium Char American Oak spirals, soaked them in about 10 ounces of Blanton's sideways in a gallon freezer bag and removed as much air as possible and it's sitting in my cellar in the dark (not sure if light affects bourbon)

I'm planning on soaking those for 1 week and adding to my keg with the bourbon in a small mesh bag.

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This is a 13.5% Imperial Stout and it tastes pretty good but the maturation will of course help it taste better so I was thinking 2 weeks of spirals in the keg. I'd like to also add a vanilla bean. I have 2 but most threads I've seen here say 1 is plenty. do I just toss that in?

The plan is tasting from the keg once per week to see how things are coming along but storing the keg at room temp (65 F) to mature faster than it would in the cellar at 55F.

How does all of this sound?

Can someone who has experience with Bourbon or Vanilla beans in a 12%+ RIS sound off on their personal mileage on adding these flavors to an RIS? Should I keep the oak and vanilla in the keg longer than 2 weeks?

How long should I wait before tapping this beer? Should I wait until the summer? I'd love to have this beer around the 1st week of March.

I guess it really depends on my taste and kegs are nice as I can try it slowly to see how it progresses but I do hear not to keep the oak or vanilla in there too long but RISs can improve with age...Thanks!

The RIS I have that's oaked, I used (equivalent for a 5gal batch) 2oz med toast cubes for a month and either 4 or 5 oz whiskey. Mine checks in at about 11-12%, so you may need just a tad more? Vanilla, I have no idea.

Thank you for the info.

Split the beans and pull it open the goods are inside.use both IMO then taste to get flavor to your likening

I used two vanilla beans, split and the insides scraped out, then chopped the husks and soaked in two oz of Makers Mark with one Ceylon cinnamon stick for a 5 gallon batch. That sat for a week then I racked my stout on top of it in a secondary and bulk aged for 9 weeks or so. It has aged for another month or two in the bottles and I think it's great so far. I have 12 of them "lost" in my cellar so I can try a few in a year and possibly enter it into a competition. Mine is right at 10.2% ABV as well.

My extract RIS that I have is currently 8.5% (came out lower than I wanted) but I soaked about 2oz of American Chips for about 3wks and added them to the secondary in a muslin bag for about 6 days. The flavors came out strong and quick that 6days was plenty. The spirals will probably take longer but I would suggest checking it more often just to be sure that you have exactly the flavor that you want. Oaked bourbon flavor really won't age out from what I've read and you don't want it to ruin the taste of your beer.

Side bar..... Do not put them in a muslin bag. it was a PITA to get them out of my carboy.

oceans11_gt said:

Side bar..... Do not put them in a muslin bag. it was a PITA to get them out of my carboy.

Click to expand...

To add to that, don't dump the carboy in the sink when rinsing it out with the chips. It was a PITA getting all the bits of wood out of the garbage disposal.