Vanilla Porter

I am interested in brewing a Vanilla Porter .. being a new brewer .. should I take a prter recipe and just add a vanilla bean or extra to the boil?...

take a good porter recipe, something chocolatey would be best, add the bean or a little extract/essence to your secondary fermenter, and leave it in. i haven't used beans cause theyre expensive, but one or two is good i think. try a recipe with a 1/2 lb. crystal 80-120, a lb. of chocolate malt, 4 oz. black patent and about 5 lb.s of your choice of extraxt, i'd go amber or dark, but some peoople like to use light for everything.

just a bean/extract to the secondary?..not to the boil?...that's surprising but then again I am new to this...thanks

How about taking a vanila pod and leaving it in a pack of DME for a month before brewing. The same way you make vanilla sugar! Then dumping the pod in the secondary.

I've done it with a single vanilla bean, split, in the secondary. That usually enhances chocolately flavors perfectly for me. I'm afraid if you add it to the boil you're going to evaporate the oils that give you the flavor. When my wife makes flan using vanilla beans she never allows the milk to get more than warm while steeping the beans.

BeeGee can you elaborate on "choclatey" flavors?...do you mean actual chocolate or chocolate malt?...thanks

chocolate malt would be sufficient to produce chocolatey flavors, you just need to use enough of it. a lb. for a 5 gallon recipe is enough. my mocha java porter uses a lb. and is very chocolatey.

The recipe my LHBS suggested uses 1 vanilla bean in the secondary. The only thing that I am not sure of is sanitizing the bean. I think that I may just soak it in some vodka for a bit and then put it in when racking to the secondary.

Perhaps soaking the vanilla bean in a few ounces of a porter that you like would work.