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Adding Bourbon and Vanilla at bottling time

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cmcclure4134

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I've only brewed 3 batches and I decided to go out on a limb and brew a recipe I found online that sounded good. It's a stout that calls for adding 8 oz Ol No 7 and 6 oz of vanilla extract to the bottling bucket and bottle. Doesn't call for any priming sugar. Will this work without the priming sugar? I know the extract and Bourbon has sugar in them. Is it enough?

Thanks!

I Am
CJ MC
 
Many recipes you'll find online don't explicitly call for priming sugar at bottling since people use other methods to carbonate like kegging. There won't be much in the way of fermentable sugars in the bourbon or extract to help with your carbonation, so I'd expect you'll want to add priming sugar like you would for a normal batch.

It might help if you link to the recipe so we can take a look though.

Best of luck! Sounds tasty.
 
fall-line is correct. You'll need to add priming sugar if you are going to bottle carbonate this. I'd watch the amount of vanilla extract as 6oz sounds like a lot of very concentrated flavor to add to your beer. I would try taking a small sample, and adding very small amounts to it until you reach your desired flavor, then scaling it up to the size of your batch. I had a roommate once that added a ridiculous amount of vanilla to something and although it smelled wonderful, it was inedible. Hate to have that happen to your brew after all this hard work!
 
Wonder if I could add the bourbon and vanilla into secondary and then add priming sugar as usual during bottling. I just read on another thread about adding it earlier so the flavor will work its way throughout the beer.
Suggestions?

Ok. Thanks I will go with a lesser amount. I'm game for experimenting with it but definitely want it drinkable!
 
That recipe does look tasty indeed. If it were me, I would go lighter on the vanilla too. In fact, I'd replace the vanilla extract with one (possibly two if you want it) whole vanilla pods. If you go this route, then definitely do it in secondary rather than the bottling bucket. I'd also include the bourbon during secondary as you suggested.
 
Here is another recipe with detailed instructions that might help you with this one. I'm not suggesting you change your ingredients, but reading through this thorough set of instructions for Northern Brewer's Bourbon Porter might help you with the process. They are really generous in that the put their full recipes online. Worth supporting down the road..

Good luck!

http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/BourbonBarrelPorter.pdf
 
Thanks for the input. I actually transferred it to secondary last night. I'm going to be busy for the next week so I thought I would go ahead. I added the bourbon and vanilla to the secondary as suggested. Although I just read your post so I didn't change the vanilla, but I did reduce it to only 1oz. I soaked the bourbon in oak chips for three days and then added the chips and what bourbon was left over into secondary along with the vanilla. I also washed my yeast and saved it. First time for that. We'll see how the beer turns out. It's a learning process and I'm enjoying it and like experimenting. If I like the taste I can always tweak it in further batches.

Thanks againi for the input. I'll let it set in secondary for a few weeks then bottle and I'll post how it turned out.

Chris
 
I've got a batch of Bourbon Barrel Stout fermenting right now! Very active! Recipe estimates it should end up 5.5 to 6.0. I thought "Bourbon" Stout should be a little more Stout so supply shop recommended and sold me 2 extra lbs. of light DME to add last 15-20 min of boil, which I did. I have the oak whiskey barrel chips soaking in 3-4oz of Maker's Mark. Question is, drain MM and put chips in bottom of secondary fermenter before transferring brew or put MM w/ chips in secondary?
 
A little late to the thread and you've already made some moves but moving forward.

Yes you can add the vanilla and bourbon directly to the bottling bucket and it would work very well! 6oz of vanilla would be a ridiculous amount for a 5 gallon batch, that stuff is wicked strong. I saw you dropped it to 1oz and that might actually be a little light so you may want to add a bit in at bottling but your taste after secondary will dictate.

Speaking of taste, IMO you should begin tasting your beer at around 5-7 days to. This is the only way to gauge where it's flavor profile is. Ideally let everything be a little stronger than you want because both flavors will fade as the beer conditions

For the chips, drain the bourbon off, place them in the secondary and rack the beer onto the chips.
 
Excellent suggestions. Thank you. I had planned on thiefing sp? Lol a little off before bottling and I'll see what it tastes like after I use the hydrometer. Maybe I'll add a little more vanilla then. I did the same thing with the bourbon soaked oak chips. So on the same sheet of music there. Looking forward to this one. Thanks for all the help everyone. Oh and thanks for the northernbrewer link fall-line.
 
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