Vanilla Oak IPA

Had a thought for a nice "winter warmer" IPA. I'm aiming for a somewhat malty (kinda sweet) IPA with a hint of hoppy sweetness with vanilla and oak.

Here's what I came up with:

OG: 1.060
FG: 1.014
ABV: 6.0%
SRM: 11.5
IBU: 49.24 (Tinseth)
Efficiency: 75%

BIAB at 154 for one hour

6 pounds 2-row
5 pounds Maris Otter
1 pound Victory
1 pound C40
1 pound Honey Malt

Hops:
1oz Magnum @ 60min
.5oz Amarillo @ 20min
.5oz Amarillo @ 10min

Yeast:
California Ale w/starter

Additions:
2ea Vanilla Bean
2oz Oak Chips (soaked in bourbon)

Thoughts?

Thanks!

-Jason

Seems I forgot a couple of steps...

Fermentation:
7d Primary
14d Secondary (w/additions)
14d Bottle

5 weeks grain to glass? I'm okay with that.

I wouldn't really see this as an IPA. It meets the IBUs I suppose, but you won't really have much flavor from your Amarillo additions, and with 1-lb of crystal 40 and 1-lb of honey malt it will be very (cloyingly?) sweet.

The vanilla is an interesting thought, as oaked IPAs are not uncommon. Here's my two-cents, and feel free to ignore, since I'm not talking from vanilla-IPA experience here. I can't really see the American, fruity, citrus-y hops going well with vanilla. I would go for a British style IPA dropping the crystal and/or the honey malt a little bit. Magnum would still be fine for bittering, but use Fuggles or EKG or maybe even Northern Brewer which has a woody and, some say, minty taste for finishing hops, and go with at least 2oz. I would cut back the oak to 1oz and only age it on oak for 1 week, the bourbon would be optional too.

At any rate, take my thoughts for what you see them as worth. I think it sounds like an interesting experiment!

You may want a little more late additions of hops to make it more IPA-like (if that is what you are going for). Your IBUs may be at 50 but you won't get much hop character with 1 oz of Amarillo in the last 20 minutes. Just my $.02.

Thanks... How about this for hops and additions:

1oz Magnum @ 60min
1oz Northern Brewer @ 20min
1oz US Goldings @ 15min
1oz Northern Brewer @ 10min
IBU: 70.65 (T)

2 Vanilla beans
1oz Oak Chips
6oz Bourbon

All of the additions are soaked in the bourbon for the week before secondary and all poured in at racking.

And the grain bill:

6 pounds 2-row
5 pounds MO
.5 pound C40
.5 pound Victory
.25 pound Honey

I think that looks like a much better stab at this style (whatever style it is) than your first post. I'd be interested to hear how this turns out.

I'm probably not going to brew this one up until the winter. I have my spring relatively planned out and I'll have to take the June-September time off from brewing due to the ambient heat here in Florida and my lack of a temp controlled fridge. I think it'll be a nice wintery brew anyways.