Bourbon vanilla porter

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HawleyFarms

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Edit: all of these were found online and did not put them together myself.

What do you guys think of these 3 recipes. I've been making a lot of stouts lately but haven't made a porter yet. Had an awesome woodford reserve bourbon vanilla porter at a local amateur competition and would like to give it a try. Going to use Maker's Mark or woodford reserve for soaking oak chips.

What do you make of the molasses in the 3rd recipe? Anyone try that?

1st Recipe: 5 gallon

8# Pale 2 row
1# crystal 40
1# Munich
8oz Black patent malt
8oz CaraPils
4oz Chocolate malt

1oz Northern Brewer @60
1oz Cascade @5

Nottingham

4oz bourbon soaked oak chips@secondary
2 Vanilla beans @secondary

2nd recipe: 6 gallon

12# 10.8oz Pale 2 row
2# 3.3oz Munich malt
1# 8oz brown Malt
1# dark crystal Malt
8.1oz chocolate Malt
7.1oz crystal 60

1oz magnum @60
.5oz EKG @10

Windsor

4oz bourbon soaked oak chips @secondary
2 vanilla beans @secondary

3rd Recipe: 5 gallon

9# 8oz Pale 2 row
1# crystal 40
8oz CaraPils
8oz Chocolate Malt
6.4oz black patent malt
14.9oz molasses

1oz Northern Brewer @60
.4oz EKG @15

Nottingham

4oz bourbon soaked oak chips @secondary
1 vanilla bean @secondary

Or just go with Denny Conn's recipe here in the database? Really want something I can be competitive with.

Suggestions welcome. Looking for feedback if you've tried any of these recipes.
 
I like the second one the best. Vanilla and bourbon (and the oak flavor contained therein) compliments some residual sweetness in my pallet. So I like bigger beers for vanilla bourbons. I just made one that was similar and its aging right now. It came out to be 10.5% abv and needs to mellow but is very tasty. I'm also a proponent of brown malt in porters. I would actually call the other two (recipes 1 and 3) more stout-like than porter like.

Also, there's no sense it wasting good maker's mark. Just buy a bottle of evan williams or something cheap. The bourbon character that comes through is pretty subtle so it doesn't make much difference whether you use expensive whiskey or cheap whiskey.
 
IME, I've found that in order to get a noticeable vanilla character from vanilla beans, you need somewhere around 2 beans per gallon. I've had a lot of people tell me this is too much, but it worked very well for me in a vanilla stout. (3 gallon batch with 6 beans, which I scraped and soaked in bourbon for about 4-5 days, then added to secondary for about 2 months)
 
IME, I've found that in order to get a noticeable vanilla character from vanilla beans, you need somewhere around 2 beans per gallon. I've had a lot of people tell me this is too much, but it worked very well for me in a vanilla stout. (3 gallon batch with 6 beans, which I scraped and soaked in bourbon for about 4-5 days, then added to secondary for about 2 months)

holy cow thats a ton!!!

For a 5 gallon batch I used 2 beans slit down the middle and diced, then soaked in barrel strength bourbon for 24 hours. I only kept it in the secondary for 2 weeks and it's a fairly prominent vanilla flavor. I also had a charred oak spiral in there which may be contributing to the vanilla flavors though.
 
No offense, but I am thinking the quality of the vanilla beans used wasn't all that great.
 
holy cow thats a ton!!!

For a 5 gallon batch I used 2 beans slit down the middle and diced, then soaked in barrel strength bourbon for 24 hours. I only kept it in the secondary for 2 weeks and it's a fairly prominent vanilla flavor. I also had a charred oak spiral in there which may be contributing to the vanilla flavors though.

My process was similar, although I soaked my beans for 5 days kept the ale in secondary for only 1 week and the vanilla flavor is noticeable but not super prominent.

One variable here is that if hanswalrus secondaried for 2 months, he may have also aged it afterward for quite a bit, too. I've heard that vanilla flavors tend to fade over time.
 
No offense, but I am thinking the quality of the vanilla beans used wasn't all that great.

My totally unscientific metric is that I should be able to smell them through whatever medium they're being stored in. I've even been able to smell mine through a glass jar, or so I tell myself.
 
No offense, but I am thinking the quality of the vanilla beans used wasn't all that great.

I think you're right. The beans I used for that beer were ordered from Beanilla. Some of the beans were definitely "meaty-er" (more sticky good stuff on the inside) than others which is why I decided to use so many.
 
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