Infusing a Vanille Bourbon Porter

I have D. Conn's imperial vanilla bourbon porter in a primary (modified slightly based on locally available supplies):
5 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 52.63 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 13.16 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 13.16 %
12.0 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 7.89 %
12.0 oz Carafa II (412.0 SRM) Grain 7.89 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 5.26 %
0.50 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 33.7 IBU
0.25 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (10 min) Hops 2.2 IBU
1 Pkgs British Ale (Wyeast Labs #1098) Yeast-Ale

It is time to move to secondary and per recipe add the vanilla (I am also adding sour cherries). Recipe calls for 2 whole bean scraped in the secondary and bourbon at bottling. I got bored and made 375 ml of bourbon in a bottle with 1# cherried and 2 scraped beans last friday.

My question: Since I have an infused bourbon should I add it at bottling instead of flavoring the beer in the secondary, or flavor the beer and use the other 375ml of straight bourbon, or try both? I know any of them could work, just looking to see if anyone else has tried something like this and what were their expereinces/thoughts after the fact.

Thanks

I plan on scraping and soaking a couple beans in some good rum for a week before adding the whole lot of it to the fermenter when I make my Vanilla Porter (which I'm planning on brewing this weekend).

Thanks, anyone else done it already? I know Conn's recipe has been done by a number regulars. (yes, a bump )

I'm transferring mine over this weekend but bottling a 12 pack before adding vanilla and bourbon. If I were you I was just add the whole thing and sample it as it progresses. Then pull it off the vanilla and add more bourbon if it needs it.

I tried the bourbon last night. Nice! Cherry up front with vanilla lingering, both mellow. This makes my question all the more pressing. Someone must have experimented with this before.

kryolla, do you add the bourbon to the ferm? I was waiting until bottling for fear of knocking the yeast with 1-2% instant alcohol increase. Just realized same argument applies to naturally priming bottles. Uh oh...

therealrsr said:

kryolla, do you add the bourbon to the ferm? I was waiting until bottling for fear of knocking the yeast with 1-2% instant alcohol increase. Just realized same argument applies to naturally priming bottles. Uh oh...

Click to expand...

I'll add it to secondary this weekend when I transfer but only 3/4 cup and taste it a week later. Hopefully Santa will bring me a 3 gallon keg for this as I plan to bottle some in belguim bottles to give out on New Years Eve party

I would add it to secondary and taste it....that will tell you if it needs more.If you add it at bottling then you have what you have.

u2 sold me, thank you very much!

Bottled last night. For anyone who comes across this in the future with an infused alcohol idea...
The porter picked up light hints of the cherry and vanilla from the secondary as planned. The cherry vanilla infused bourbon turned out very nice, first sip is a bit of cough syrup but then goes down very smooth compared to the straight stuff. When bottling I did some pretty extensive testing on amount and infused vs. straight. While I prefer the infused as a bourbon on the rocks I went with the stright in the beer. The roughness ws beneficial to the beer in my opinion.