bourbon oak and vanilla added to kit

Hey everyone, newbie here, well to the forum at least, I've been doing extract and a few partials the past year. Mostly IPA's and Belgian stuff. I've done a few stouts/porters and I want to do a big flavor one to enjoy on my week off for the holidays. I've got the imperial stout extract kit from NB and i want to add some vanilla beans (figured 3 or so would be suffecient) and some bourbon soaked oak. My question is, how much oak should I use for a 5 gallon batch? Also what works best cubes, chips, or spirals? And what toast would be best? Any suggestions on bourbon? basically i just want ideas from you guys that have done a similar brew since I've never done booze and oak before. Thanks for the input yall.

1) Chips have the most surface, therefore extract the oak the quickest. Two to three weeks suffices.
2) I tend to use 4 oz of chips in the primary.
3) Toast is very much personal taste. Light toast is more oaky with a vanilla-like flavor. Medium and dark toast pick up the charred taste. Since you are planning to use vanilla beans, that points to the darker toasts.
4) Use a bourbon you like to drink, but maybe the cheaper end of a brand. I have used Wild Turkey 101 often. I've been using around 180ml of Turkey to pre-soak the oak.

Awesome info sir, i think I'm going to use some buffalo trace on the chips, mostly because its cheap haha

My last porter was cubes and 2oz I think. I used a version of Makers Mark but can't recall which. I like cubes to cut down on splinters and I used a sock to make extra sure. I also used the bourbon that I soaked. I think using good bourbon is necessary because you need to add it to the beer to get the taste. I tasted weekly after 3 weeks until I got the flavor I liked.

BurlyWind said:

Awesome info sir, i think I'm going to use some buffalo trace on the chips, mostly because its cheap haha

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I hope you'll name it Buffalo Chips RIS.

You just named the beer sir hahahahaha