Denny Conn's Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter

Threw this in the kegerator a day or two ago... been carbing....been sneaking ourselves a few glasses here and there. I fear it'll be gone by the time it's fully carbed. LOL very nice beer, thank you sir!

It also turns out me and the misses are not a big fan of bourbon (Never tried it before, had a shot or 2 or.... i don't remember really) before adding it to the 4 gallons of beer I ended up with (I hate not getting 5 gallons). We added much less then the recipe called for. We can still taste it, but it's nice.

That's exactly how you should do it! I'm not a bourbon fan, either, which is why I say to add "to taste".

Brewed this today. I did a scaled down 2.5 gal all grain and BIAB brew on my stove top (only my second AG BIAB ever) and managed to hit all my numbers. OG was 1.080 when I pitched. It looked and smelled wonderful.

Anyone used Gentleman Jack for the whiskey addition?

One more time.....as long as it's not rotgut, the bourbon doesn't matter. If you can taste the differences between bourbons, you've used too much.

Denny said:

One more time.....as long as it's not rotgut, the bourbon doesn't matter. If you can taste the differences between bourbons, you've used too much.

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Denny - curious if you've ever tried other additions besides vanilla/bourbon. Was thinking some coconut and rum would be a fun experiment. Any feedback on this?

I don't want to 'ruin' a good thing, but I'm tempted to experiment a bit.

Riseabovebb said:

Denny - curious if you've ever tried other additions besides vanilla/bourbon. Was thinking some coconut and rum would be a fun experiment. Any feedback on this?

I don't want to 'ruin' a good thing, but I'm tempted to experiment a bit.

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The only other thing I've done with it is add coffee in place of the bourbon and vanilla. Worked really well. Not being a big flavored beer guy (in spite of this recipe) I haven't done anything else.

I plan on brewing this next week. Can't wait!! It has been on my "to brew" list for far too long!! My plan is two split the 10 gallons....5 will be a straight Vanilla Porter and the other 5 will be the BVP.

Phunhog said:

I plan on brewing this next week. Can't wait!! It has been on my "to brew" list for far too long!! My plan is two split the 10 gallons....5 will be a straight Vanilla Porter and the other 5 will be the BVP.

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To answer (in advance) a question I get all the time...the FG should be in the mid 20s. MANY people freak out and worry about it and try to get it lower. It isn't supposed to be lower.

I wanted to brew this for my companies Xmas party but the girlfriend shot that idea down. I bet if I brewed it without the bourbon she would like it, but the Bourbon really adds complexity to the beer.

They all drink BMC, so chances are I'd be bringing most of it home anyways, which is totally fine with me.

FWIW, I don't care for bourbon at all. I buy a bottle for this beer and it sits in the liquor cabinet until I brew it again. But as you say, the bourbon adds a lot of complexity. That's why I always tell people that if you can tell what kind of bourbon you used, you used too much. The beer should be the lead flavor with the vanilla and bourbon as integrated backup notes.

Hey Denny, I want to make your original recipe but my Efficiency is at 60%. How would you suggest scaling up this recipe. I brew in a 15 gallon kettle, and mash in an rectangular cooler with cpvc manifold.

sdwrestler1012 said:

Hey Denny, I want to make your original recipe but my Efficiency is at 60%. How would you suggest scaling up this recipe. I brew in a 15 gallon kettle, and mash in an rectangular cooler with cpvc manifold.

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When I scale a recipe I scale ALL the grain, not just the base malt as some do. I like to have the relative % of grains remain constant.

Going to try to make the partial mash version on page 7 and was wondering if the DME should be added for 60 min boil or late edition or at flame out? Or does it really matter? I assume the sugar is added at flame out. Can not wait to try it!

mrwaffles said:

Going to try to make the partial mash version on page 7 and was wondering if the DME should be added for 60 min boil or late edition or at flame out? Or does it really matter? I assume the sugar is added at flame out. Can not wait to try it!

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Add everything at the beginning of the boil.

Denny....have you noticed any difference from using vanilla beans vs. using high quality real vanilla extract?

Denny, added everything but the sugar at beginning and seems to turned out ok. hit 1.076. not bad for first time mashing that much grain. added 2 extra lbs of pale row as i was a lb short on the dme. looked really tasty!

Phunhog said:

Denny....have you noticed any difference from using vanilla beans vs. using high quality real vanilla extract?

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Yep. Good beans have always beaten extract for me. I get the beans from hawaiianvanilla.com . They also make a killer extract, but IMO the beans are better. But I obviously didn't try every extract out there. If you have one you think is great, use it.

Just finished running this off into the brew kettle.. even the runnings smell so amazing that I'm tempted to take a sip. Nutty, roasty & chocolatly.. I can't wait to taste this in a month or so.

Denny, do you really get 38 IBU with the amount of hops listed in your recipe? (0.65 oz. Magnum @ 60min, and 0.40 oz. Goldings - E.K. @ 10 min) When I enter your recipe into BeerSmith, it shows only 11.1 IBU with that amount of hops. I'm not nearly as concerned with getting the proper IBU number as I am with brewing the recipe correctly. Perhaps you or someone else who has brewed your recipe can set me straight on this. I can't wait to brew this beer!

craigger64 said:

Denny, do you really get 38 IBU with the amount of hops listed in your recipe? (0.65 oz. Magnum @ 60min, and 0.40 oz. Goldings - E.K. @ 10 min) When I enter your recipe into BeerSmith, it shows only 11.1 IBU with that amount of hops. I'm not nearly as concerned with getting the proper IBU number as I am with brewing the recipe correctly. Perhaps you or someone else who has brewed your recipe can set me straight on this. I can't wait to brew this beer!

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That's what Promash tells me. I use the Tinseth formula. I'll try to remember to check when I'm near my laptop, but that sounds right.

Thanks, Denny. I appreciate your help!

Aschecte said:

Not ideal but this will work in a emergency . Take a piece of sanitized racking cane 3/8" and put it into your hole in the bing where your airlock would normally be.

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Isn't it called a carboy bung? So you should really be putting that cane in the hole in your bung, you wacky kids.

I rarely if ever rack to secondary anymore. Once you're sure this beer is done fermenting would adding the vanilla into the primary give substandard results?

Ideally I'd rather add the vanilla to the primary, and then rack onto bourbon when I keg it.

Jukas said:

I rarely if ever rack to secondary anymore. Once you're sure this beer is done fermenting would adding the vanilla into the primary give substandard results?

Ideally I'd rather add the vanilla to the primary, and then rack onto bourbon when I keg it.

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Yeah, that should be fine. I hardly ever use a secondary any more, either, but I do for this one. Old habit, I guess, but I don't think it's crucial.

I poured this at an underground beer festival/private party last weekend. Everyone LOVED it!! Many, many people came up to me and said it was their favorite beer at the festival. Pretty excited since there were quite a few excellent (IMO) beers there. Glad I have another keg aging for the holidays!! Thanks again Denny!!

Legged this last night, after I had gotten really busy and let it sit on the vanilla for 20 days. I think it's going to need a while to mellow.

Fortunately I had done a 8gal batch so I also kegged almost 3 gal I had split off into a raspberry porter.

The vanilla will fade quite a bit in the first few weeks.

Kegged today. Made this 2 months ago. Went from 1.077 down to 1.017. Two beans after 2 weeks fermentation and Dropped 1.25 oz oak cubes soaked in bourbon. Left oak & vanilla for 7 weeks. A little worried. Slightly vinous character. Wasn't really getting anything else coming through. I believe (or hope) that after a week on gas this mellows and melds.

Tasted it for the first times since kegging tonight. Vanilla has faded a bit and is very pleasant. Beer is quite boozy so I'm curious to see if that boozy taste will mellow a bit. I added the bourbon by pouring 375ml of makers mark into my sanitized keg and then racking the beer on top.

I opened my first one this weekend. I used two vanilla beans (per recipe) and left them in for two weeks, and I have NO vanilla flavor at all. I'm wondering if I should have used more beans or left them in longer. Tastes AMAZING otherwise, though. I'll definitely be brewing this one again!

2 vanilla beans should be plenty to have a strong vanilla taste, at first anyway.. Did you split the beans open before you put them in? Were they quality/fresh beans?

yes, br1dge, they were 2 nice big, fresh, quality beans. i split them open, scraped out the inside stuff and included it AND the shell just like Denny's instructions.

I was wondering the same thing. I have a imperial stout in secondary right now and was planning on putting two vanilla beans in and then bottle and store for Christmas 2013. I was wondering if the beans would shine through an imperial being aged a year?

I need to brew this again. Its fantastic.

MollyHatchet said:

I was wondering the same thing. I have a imperial stout in secondary right now and was planning on putting two vanilla beans in and then bottle and store for Christmas 2013. I was wondering if the beans would shine through an imperial being aged a year?

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My experience is that the vanilla will still be there but very muted.

I was ready to brew a 10 gallon batch today but the power is out. I guess that's the downfall of electric. I have a burner but we have wind gusts up to 50 mph today in the forecast so outside is no good.

Anyone think this would be good by christmas?

Christmas is really pushing it. The beer doesn't need to age much, but just fermentation, adding the vanilla and bottle conditioning could take a month.

I keg so I was thinking 10 days in the primary then add the vanilla beans (maybe an extra one?) Wait a week then cold crash for a few days and keg it on the 22nd and force carb it. Do you think that's too tight of a time line?

brewmasterorr said:

I keg so I was thinking 10 days in the primary then add the vanilla beans (maybe an extra one?) Wait a week then cold crash for a few days and keg it on the 22nd and force carb it. Do you think that's too tight of a time line?

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In the words of Clint Eastwood "Do you feel lucky?". It might work, but I wouldn't put money on it.

Any way to make a 10 gallon batch work on a system using 1/2 barrel kegs? I am capable/willing to split the boil up, but I'm doubtful I can even mash a 10 gallon batch.

Thinking of scaling back to what will fit...but I split 10 gallon batches with either of my brothers in law when they brew with me. I am hopefully to get a 5 gallon batch to myself.