Adjuncts for brown porter?

[Sadu]

I put down 10G of brown porter yesterday, split over 2 fermenters.

I read that people will often add adjuncts to one and leave the other plain and I'd like to try this.

Can anyone recommend something to add? Recipe has brown / chocolate / crystal / 2-row malts in it plus 1450 Denny's favourite yeast. OG came out at 1.059, quite a bit higher than expected (we added a sparge step and got 12% better efficiency than last time).

I hear about people adding vanilla beans, only issue with that is that I don't have a bottle of vodka and don't really want to buy a whole bottle just to sanitise some vanilla beans. Any workarounds there?

Otherwise what about a couple of shots of espresso coffee?

Any other suggestions?

I gather these kind of adjuncts get added to a secondary?

 

[friarsmith]

You could always buy one of those point-of-sale 2oz "I swear I'm not putting this in my Mountain Dew travel cup" sized bottles of cheap vodka. Or drop vanilla beans in boiling water for 15-30 seconds and remove with a slotted spoon before adding to your beer

Other thoughts (the options are endless)

1. Overnight Cold-steeped coffee with vanilla beans
2. Oak chips sanitized like the vanilla beans or soaked in bourbon or rum for a few days
3. Toasted Coconut
4. Here's a radical idea: dry hops
5. Toasted hazelnuts/almonds etc (insert nut)

http://draftmag.com/10-brilliant-brown-ales/

I just said "insert nuts"

 

[treacheroustexan]

I definitely like to overnight cold-steeped coffee method. Raspberries could be good also?

 

[BigEd]

I put down 10G of brown porter yesterday, split over 2 fermenters.

I read that people will often add adjuncts to one and leave the other plain and I'd like to try this.

Can anyone recommend something to add? Recipe has brown / chocolate / crystal / 2-row malts in it plus 1450 Denny's favourite yeast. OG came out at 1.059, quite a bit higher than expected (we added a sparge step and got 12% better efficiency than last time).

I hear about people adding vanilla beans, only issue with that is that I don't have a bottle of vodka and don't really want to buy a whole bottle just to sanitise some vanilla beans. Any workarounds there?

Otherwise what about a couple of shots of espresso coffee?

Any other suggestions?

I gather these kind of adjuncts get added to a secondary?

I'm not trying to be picky here, just accurate. Those aren't adjuncts, they're flavorings. Adjuncts are unmalted fermentable ingredients like flaked grains or sugars. You can add the vanilla bean directly, no need to use vodka. Other spices could be used that you think might go well with the flavor of the beer, perhaps cinnamon, allspice, or cardamon.

 

[Chanoc]

Hi Sadu.
Any unflavored white spirit may do...
You could even use aged spirits.
The flavor shouldn't be that prominent dissolved in 5 gal of water.
If unsure... dissolve a shot or two of the spirit you're considering in a couple of gallons of water to determine detection threshold. ..
HTH...

 

[CU_tony]

I would jump on a bottle of cheap vodka because it can be used in a pinch for an airlock while cold crashing as a little alcohol getting sucked into your beer isnt as bad as some star san.
Also, yes to my knowledge most things like vanilla beans, coffee, and wood chips are added AFTER the bulk of fermentation has occurred, and most of the time that seems to be THE reason to rack to a secondary, so that the yeast cake doesnt affect the flavoring (I think)

That being said, you have two batches, so try anything at all for one and you have nearly a control experiment to judge it against!

 

[Sadu]

I'm not trying to be picky here, just accurate. Those aren't adjuncts, they're flavorings. Adjuncts are unmalted fermentable ingredients like flaked grains or sugars.

OK thanks, I stand corrected.

 

[Sadu]

Yeah I forgot about those small vodka vials at the bottle store for people to slip into their juice. One of those would work for the vanilla beans. Do you just infuse a couple of beans in the vodka and throw them in? What about the seeds, would they be great in beer? If they don't go well in beer then it's the perfect excuse to make some yummy ice-cream.

With overnight cold-steeping, could someone detail this method please? Is this a matter of coarsely grinding some beans and steeping in cooled boiled water overnight? Then add to the beer sometime during secondary?

 

[CU_tony]

I honestly havent used any vanilla beans, but what Ive imagined is that you put the whole bean "pod" including the seeds into enough vodka to cover it overnight.
This is to sterilize the pod without boiling which would likely leach the flavor out
As long as the amount of vodka is minimal compared to the volume of beer, I would probably just dump the whole lot into the secondary because hey, extra alcohol!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=163669

Seems like you do want to split or shred the bean before soaking in vodka and def. dump the whole amount in for extra giggles

 

[d3track]

I like to spray my vanilla beans with star san as I cut them, add them to carboy, and rack on top. To me, the vodka soaked beans taste less fresh. Same for coffee, coarse grind, into muslin bag in the beer for 48 hours.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Just wanna point out, I had a coffee raspberry amber ale tonight and it was phenomenal. Would make a good brown. Give it a shot!

 

[Sadu]

Just wanna point out, I had a coffee raspberry amber ale tonight and it was phenomenal. Would make a good brown. Give it a shot!

Damn. Maybe I rack this into some growlers and try different yummies in each one

 

[JKaranka]

I don't use flavourings, but if you want adjuncts, around 1/2lb of dark invert sugar (#3/#4) lends an incredible complexity to porter.