Soaking Oak Chips and Vanilla in Bourbon

So...i have this wonderful Smoked Porter that I made. Now, i'm looking to remake it and add Vanilla, Oak and some Bourbon. Any suggestions? I've heard a couple different theories

1) Soak everything in the bourbon, then just pitch it into the secondary for for a week.

2) Only pitch the oak cubes, because they will have absorbed the Vanilla and Bourbon flavors, but do NOT pitch the extra bourbon.

3) Soak the Vanilla in Volda, pitch the entire thing. Soak the Oak chips in the bourbon, but only pitch in the oak chips.

Anyone have any suggestions on what I might want to do here?

I had a stout that was only ok when i made it, but then added oak chips that had soaked in Jim Beam Black for a few weeks and it really made it a nice brew. I used just enough bourbon to cover the chips and then pitched everything in. Never used vanilla, but the bourbon/oak adds some vanilla notes to it.

Thats the great thing about brewing, everyone had their own way.

I've never done it before, but I'm replying because my next brew is going to be a vanilla bourbon porter and I want to see what the other replies are.

I had similar questions about a brew i want to do. I found an earlier thread pretty helpful, let me see if i can find it.

Here it is

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/bourbon-barrel-old-ale-182151/

If i remember some left the oak,bourbon, vanilla bean on for a month or so in secondary and some one else quite a bit longer. They both posted favorable results. I personally havent tried it yet, so i cant attest to anything. But it sure sounds delicious

I have yet to work with oak chips (but recently bought some for the exact same type of recipe) but brewed a Vanilla Bourbon Porter last winter in which I fermented the porter, before racking to secondary I took one of my liquid yeast vials and through in (I think) 3 vanilla beans, which I sliced open, then chopped up. From there, I added Jim Beam to the vial and let it sit a few days to extract it, then dumped all of it (bourbon included) into the fermenter for about 2-3 weeks. I plan to use a similar technique when adding the oak, but using a bigger container when soaking all of those items plus the oak cubes (though I still haven't determined how much I want to add for this recipe... general consensus I've read seems to suggest 2oz, which is about 2/3 of the bag I bought) and dump them all in for the same duration. Hope at least some of what I have there helps, the rest is still theory obviously

your option #1 is the correct way to go.

you don't need to soak the vanilla in vodka since the bourbon will do the same thing. vodka is good when you don't want that bourbon flavor you'll get; vodka is "odorless" - it's the only alcohol you won't smell of when you sweat it out. i'd say if you soaked the vanilla bean in the bourbon then pour it all in since the bourbon is now vanilla infused. if you didn't soak the vanilla bean in bourbon, then it's your choice on whether you use all the liquor or just the oak. i heart vanilla bourbon oaked beers:cross:

edit: i would go longer than a week with the oak, though. 2 weeks, 2 months, a week is kinda, well, weak.

jessup said:

your option #1 is the correct way to go.

edit: i would go longer than a week with the oak, though. 2 weeks, 2 months, a week is kinda, well, weak.

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That seems like a GREAT idea...Like i said...i've heard a few different ways to do this...i'm thinking racking to a secondary and letting it hang out on the oak and bourbon for while sounds like a great idea.

Hey 1971hemicuda. I'm in Aurora IL! Do I know you at the brew club? PM me.