vanilla bourbon porter question

Ok, just wanted to see what the general consensus is. I've read different things where people either put the vanilla beans in bourbon for a week and then add to secondary, add just the beans to secondary and then add bourbon to bottling bucket at bottling time....What do most of you do, and what differences in flavor have you seen if you have tried it both ways? My plan is to add the beans and bourbon to secondary for a week and then bottle but just wanted to see what everyone else does.
Thanks!

I have soaked vanilla beans in vodka for Pumking clone and added both beans and vodka, no noticeable of flavones or anything that I could tell from doing that. I have soaked some oak chips in Woodford Reserve but did not add that with the chips I added fresh at bottling time for a RIS.

I ask Denny Conn what's best.

I have used the second method myself where I add the beans to the secondary and bourbon to taste. It's all about tasting along the way to get balance.

Since you're doing a vanilla bourbon, definitely go with soaking 2 split and scraped beans in 4oz of bourbon and adding to taste.

usfmikeb said:

Since you're doing a vanilla bourbon, definitely go with soaking 2 split and scraped beans in 4oz of bourbon and adding to taste.

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When you say "scraped beans" do you scrape out the innards of the bean and use the innards or do you discard these and use the outer shell only?

Seven said:

When you say "scraped beans" do you scrape out the innards of the bean and use the innards or do you discard these and use the outer shell only?

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You use the innards. That's where all the flavor is.

Use both the innards and the rest of the bean as well. Soak it all in the bourbon for 5-7 days, shaking every time you walk past it. Add it in the bottling bucket a 1/2 oz at a time until you get the flavor you want. If you get the level of vanilla you want, but still want more bourbon flavor, then add more raw bourbon.