Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Bourbon Vanilla Porter (AG)

[LLBeanJ]

Unless I'm missing something, it should be just like any other transfer, I.e., fairly low chance as long as you were careful.

 

[coinhall09]

Ok , I didn't slosh it around but I'm waiting to bottle / or keg the other 4 gallons so I just put the airlock back on .( after I sanitized it of course )

 

[LLBeanJ]

Should be okay then.

 

[coinhall09]

Thank you LLBeanJ!

 

[chapusin]

Hey guys, so this is my course of action. I did a 10 gallon batch after it's done fermenting, I plan to slice open 5 madagascar vanilla beans, remove and throw away the insides, then chop the beans into pieces and drop them in 20 oz of makers mark, age this for a week and then throw the aged bourbon and beans into the sanke keg for secondary where I will force carbonate as well. Does this sound correct? also, do you guys think the spear might clog with the beans if they get sucked out?

 

[LLBeanJ]

You don't want to discard the insides of the bean pods. Those are the actual vanilla beans. Slice and scrape out the beans (or "pulp" for lack of a better term) and put the contents into the bourbon. Chop up the outer pods into approx. 1" long pieces and toss those into the bourbon as well. After a week or two of soaking, remove the outer pod pieces and discard them. The inner "pulp" and bourbon then go in your brew.

 

[Squad1Guy]

I just finished my primary fermentation (1.065 to 1.016) and I had a couple of questions:

1) I let my initial fermentation temps get a bit high and I picked up some esters....not bad but they are still there (raisins and cherries seems to be the prevalent flavors). It is actually appropriate for the style and I think it might compliment the vanilla and bourbon well. Any thoughts on this? (Not that I can do anything about it now!!)

2) How much is my gravity likely to drop in the secondary? I planned on going for 2 weeks to give it a nice vanilla flavor, but it seems like it will not drop. I used S-05.

Thanks!

 

[PrivetDriveBrewery]

I'm thinking I'd like to follow this recipe but split it into two halves at the end. One half vanilla bourbon, one half vanilla java. I'm planning to do extract approximately 5 gallons with 2-3 vanilla beans and have a couple questions about what the best way to do this would be.

Once it's in primary, should I still cut and scrape the bean pods and put them in a little bit of bourbon and add to secondary? Then after secondary is done split the beer into two and add the bourbon to one half and coffee to the other? I don't want too much bourbon flavor to get into coffee half from soaking the beans. Is there a better way to add the beans into secondary without soaking them in bourbon?

I planned to add 10ml of bourbon per 16oz of beer at bottling. I've never added coffee to beer, any recommendations on how much and what the best way to do this is? What's the best way to make/prepare coffee?

Any other thoughts on how to do this? Any input is much appreciated!

 

[jkn09]

I don't know what the best method is for coffee, but I do know you could do vodka instead of bourbon for the whole batch, then switch to bourbon for the bourbon half. The vodka should be flavorless and keep the vanilla flavor through the java half.

 

[LLBeanJ]

+1 on vodka for the vanilla extract. You don't need much, maybe an ounce or so in a small plastic food storage container.

For coffee, you'll want to either add grains directly to the beer in secondary or add cold-brewed coffee at time of bottling. I've not gone the direct grains route, but I have used cold-brewed coffee before and it works very well. For a half batch, I'd combine maybe 5 or 6 ounces (by weight) of course ground coffee with about 24-32 ounces of water in a container. Let it sit out at room temp for a couple of days, shaking intermittently, then filter with a French press or run through a coffee filter. Add half the cold-brewed coffee to your bottling bucket and sample. Add more if needed until you get the coffee flavor where you want it.

 

[chapusin]

You don't want to discard the insides of the bean pods. Those are the actual vanilla beans. Slice and scrape out the beans (or "pulp" for lack of a better term) and put the contents into the bourbon. Chop up the outer pods into approx. 1" long pieces and toss those into the bourbon as well. After a week or two of soaking, remove the outer pod pieces and discard them. The inner "pulp" and bourbon then go in your brew.

I read this after I had already discarded the pulp. I'm soaking 4 madagascar pods in 15 oz of bourbon at the moment, do you think there will be any vanilla flavor in there (10 gal batch)?

 

[LLBeanJ]

I know you do get some flavor from the outer pod, but most of it comes from the beans themselves. I doubt you'll pick up much flavor in the end. You may want to try to get your hands on a few more beans and add them to the others.

Or... you could just toss a little vanilla extract into your bottling bucket when the time comes.

 

[chapusin]

I know you do get some flavor from the outer pod, but most of it comes from the beans themselves. I doubt you'll pick up much flavor in the end. You may want to try to get your hands on a few more beans and add them to the others.

Or... you could just toss a little vanilla extract into your bottling bucket when the time comes.

I do have more beans but I'm afraid of adding too much. Maybe I'll scrape one more bean and throw everything inside the bourbon along with the other pods..

 

[blaster_54738]

Quick question. Brewed this on Thursday and I plan on using vanilla extract I picked up when we were on our cruise in Mexico. Can I just add 2-3 oz (not sure how much so if anybody has that answer please chime in) of it to the keg instead of having to do the whole secondary thing? I would see why not just want to make sure before the possibility of muffing something up

 

[LLBeanJ]

Vanilla extract would be fine added to the keg. Just add maybe one tablespoon at a time and taste, then decide if you need more. Better to sneak up on it so you don't overdo it. I wouldn't think it would take more than an ounce or two.

 

[blaster_54738]

Vanilla extract would be fine added to the keg. Just add maybe one tablespoon at a time and taste, then decide if you need more. Better to sneak up on it so you don't overdo it. I wouldn't think it would take more than an ounce or two.

I was reading through the thread that somebody used 2 ounces and didn't get enough flavor so they were going to try 3 next time...

 

[ParkesburgBrewer]

I'm assuming the expected ABV does not account for the additional alcohol contributed from the Bourbon. It may not be enough to make a difference in a 5 gal batch.

 

[icanbenchurcat]

I'm assuming the expected ABV does not account for the additional alcohol contributed from the Bourbon. It may not be enough to make a difference in a 5 gal batch.

If you add 10 oz whiskey to 5 gallons of beer:

16 cups per gallon, 16 * 5 = 80 cups of beer
10fl oz = 1.25 cups @ 40% abv

1.25 / 81.25 = 0.01538461538 (amount of solution that is whiskey)
40% * 0.01538461538 ~= 0.62% ABV boost

It does make a difference, but not a crazy amount.

 

[wyowolf]

Just curious if you could use an irish ale yeast for this? I have a irish red that is ready to bottle and could drop this right on top of the yeast cake?

 

[SFGiantsFan925]

Just made this today. Came in a little short at 1.072 and didn't have time to add sugar. Very time crunched brew day. Smelled AMAZING during the boil and the samples. Pitched a huge starter and cant wait to see how this turns out. Should be ready by Xmas.

 

[LLBeanJ]

Just curious if you could use an irish ale yeast for this? I have a irish red that is ready to bottle and could drop this right on top of the yeast cake?

Sure, Irish ale would be fine for this recipe. I think I'd pull out about 8 oz of the slurry from your Irish red and just pitch that, though, as dumping another batch directly on the entire yeast cake would be over pitching by quite a bit.

 

[wyowolf]

thats pretty much what i did, i poured almost all the slurry into a sanitized mason jar and kept in the fridge... will slowly warm it up and dump it in the wort... thanks

 

[orangemen5]

What water profile is everyone going with in bru n water.

 

[orangemen5]

Decided to go with black malty profile. Entered in all my numbers. Mash ph came in at 5.0 according to bru n water. Did anyone else get a real low mash ph with this much crystal and roast malts? I don't have any pickling lime to raise the ph. Was thinking of adding the roasted grains at the end of the mash to keep the ph in range. Anyone have thoughts on this.

 

[jgroesbeck]

Decided to go with black malty profile. Entered in all my numbers. Mash ph came in at 5.0 according to bru n water. Did anyone else get a real low mash ph with this much crystal and roast malts? I don't have any pickling lime to raise the ph. Was thinking of adding the roasted grains at the end of the mash to keep the ph in range. Anyone have thoughts on this.

I ended up going with a malty profile as well. I added Chalk and baking soda to 90% RO and 10% tap water. I added a bit of gypsum as well to keep my s04/cl ratio where I wanted it. Doing this gave me the water profile I wanted and gave me a projected pH of 5.4.

 

[wyowolf]

I just checked and after ten days I have went from 1.072 to 1.020. Is that where everyone is wound up?

Also the color seems more caramel like than I would have expected...seems to have a very slight soury taste?

 

[LLBeanJ]

I just checked and after ten days I have went from 1.072 to 1.020. Is that where everyone is wound up?

Also the color seems more caramel like than I would have expected...seems to have a very slight soury taste?


View attachment 158030

Looks "yeasty" to me. Put the sample in the fridge for a few hours and see if the yeast drops and the beer turns darker. I suspect it may drop a few more points yet.

 

[Beeru]

Hello

I just racked a batch of this into a secondary, onto some vanilla beans, but there are a couple issues that I'm hoping someone can help me with.

Firstly, I followed the recipe for mash and sparge water, but I ended with just under 5 gallons of wort. Is it okay to just add some (boiled and then cooled) water, or will that ruin the taste?

Second, I had it in the primary for four days, and there was a very large yeast cake on the bottom, so I went ahead and racked it. But now I don't see any signs of activity, and I fear the yeast is dead. How do I tell for certain if it is, and what can be done about it?
(Sorry if they are rookie questions, but hey, I'm a rookie. This is my 6th batch so far).

Thanks

 

[MrNickVT]

How many gravity readings did you take? Also why only 4 days in primary?

 

[Beeru]

Hmm. Didn't take gravity readings. Never do. So far so good, but perhaps I should start. I typically rack after 4-7 days. I thought that was typical? Is it not? It looked ready, with such a large yeast cake and not much visible activity (but I guess that's what the SG is for).

 

[jhenderson27]

If you already racked off yeast, you won't have any activity as there is not a viable amount of yeast to perform. Being this is higher than a normal abv, the remaining yeast will mostly die. What's your gravity at?

 

[Beeru]

My SG is at 1.020 right now.

 

[Beeru]

I've just been reading on these forums that some say racking the beer is completely unnecessary. I don't want to rehash that debate, but would this beer be a candidate for that technique?

 

[MrNickVT]

I've just been reading on these forums that some say racking the beer is completely unnecessary. I don't want to rehash that debate, but would this beer be a candidate for that technique?

It's not necessary. But I usually do it to clear up a brew such as an ipa. I leave brews in primary for at the minimum 7 days. But again taking gravity reading will help to know when bottle/transfer to secondary.

 

[Beeru]

yeah, I did a second reading, and it's around 1.020. That doesn't really tell me if it's still active though, does it? It just confirms that it had been active while in the primary.

Can I pitch more yeast? Will that have adverse effects?

Edit: Just found some great info on this site, re: when to rack. I think I was just lacked patience. Just too eager.

 

[boondocksaint]

I was planning on brewing this recipe this weekend as a BIAB. With a 90 min boil, I will need to make sure I've got 7+ Gal in the kettle for the boil to get to 5.5 Gal post boil. I've only got a 10 Gal kettle. Will the 17.5 lb grain bill fit with enough water to get it done? (I was planning on 1lb choc malt)

 

[MrNickVT]

yeah, I did a second reading, and it's around 1.020. That doesn't really tell me if it's still active though, does it? It just confirms that it had been active while in the primary. Can I pitch more yeast? Will that have adverse effects? Edit: Just found some great info on this site, re: when to rack. I think I was just lacked patience. Just too eager.

Look up in the forums about stuck fermentation and re-pitching yeast. It's more then just pitching is a packet of yeast. Guessing you didn't plug your numbers into a program? Just for an idea of what your target OG and FG were aimed for? That might be something to shoot for next time?

 

[jhenderson27]

Honestly 1.020 isn't bad, I went back through my notes and mine finished at 1.019 and was delicious. Let it age for a bit, it really helps mellow it all out.

 

[MrNickVT]

Honestly 1.020 isn't bad, I went back through my notes and mine finished at 1.019 and was delicious. Let it age for a bit, it really helps mellow it all out.

Yeah, I guess I was thinking more about the comment about how his grav looked yeasty

 

[Beeru]

Thanks for all the replies. The beer looks, smells, and already tastes amazing.