Adding Vanilla to a Porter with Chocolate Wheat

[PilotsPheer]

What I have fermenting

2lbs Rahr 2-row
1lbs Flaked Wheat
1lbs Chocolate Wheat
0.5 lbs Caramel Wheat
6lbs Wheat Malt Syrup
1oz Summit
1oz Cascade
1oz Centennial
US-05

I've made this Porter for my long-time girlfriends 30th birthday coming up in August. She loves Breckenridge's Vanilla Porter, and obviously I'm not trying to mimic that but I'm wondering if anyone has experience adding Vanilla to a Chocolate-based beer. I'd really like to add that vanilla dimension; if it's feasible?

If it is, I have 5 sealed vanilla pods. Any suggestions as to when to add, how much and do I need to sanitize them?

Thanks for any imput

 

[rcsoccer]

If it is, I have 5 sealed vanilla pods. Any suggestions as to when to add, how much and do I need to sanitize them?

Usually, people soak the vanilla beans in some kind of liquor (Rum, Vodka, Whiskey, etc...) and then add to the secondary/keg/bottle. I've only had experience adding vanilla extract to secondary. IMO, if you add it to secondary you can add a little bit and adjust it later whenever you bottle/keg.

Good luck!

 

[PilotsPheer]

Usually, people soak the vanilla beans in some kind of liquor (Rum, Vodka, Whiskey, etc...) and then add to the secondary/keg/bottle. I've only had experience adding vanilla extract to secondary. IMO, if you add it to secondary you can add a little bit and adjust it later whenever you bottle/keg.

Good luck!

Thanks for the quick response! I will probably sanitize them in whiskey or rum for sure. I have vanilla extract, but I bought some pods because I read several people say "they have better flavor". I've read a lot about adding them to the secondary too, so I will probably do that.

Anyways, I'm still wondering if anyone has had a similar experience with chocolate wheat and then adding vanilla and how it turns out. Mostly, how many seeds/pods to add? It's been in the carboy for 1 day and is going crazy!

 

[rcsoccer]

Anyways, I'm still wondering if anyone has had a similar experience with chocolate wheat and then adding vanilla and how it turns out. Mostly, how many seeds/pods to add? It's been in the carboy for 1 day and is going crazy!

I've done a Vanilla Chocolate Porter that I added both vanilla extract and pieces of chocolate to the secondary and it had a great vanilla flavor.

Maybe try soaking 1 bean pod in about a 1/2 cup of liquor for a week and see how it looks. Use clear rum/vodka if you want to be able to see how much of the vanilla is extracted. It should turn a light brown/whiskey color. Or, just soak all of the beans in a cup of liquor and add as much as you think would give you the flavor that you want.

 

[t3e871]

I just made a chocolate/vanilla porter. I added .5lb of baker chocolate at flameout, fermented for a week, then added 3 pods to secondary.
I cut the 3 pods in thirds, scraped the middles and added all of the matter to the 5 gal batch. It's been sitting in the secondary for 4 days and I plan to taste it after a week. I'll post my results here.

 

[Swifty]

I added Nome extract to a few of my bottles on the last Porter I made. My brewclub did one that worked well with 4oz so I did a calculation and came up with 2ccs per 16 oz. Mine was too strong at 3 to 4 weeks. I left it on the shelf for 3 months and it mellowed to be real nice.. both were added at bottling.

Hope that helps