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

[kosmokramer]

I used 1056 and added a pack of 05 because i didnt have time to make a starter. I messed up on mine and added an extra pound of dme into a mini mash versiin and ended. Og with an extra og about 1.1. Checked yesterday and it got down to about 1.024. I used vanilla extract and let it sit on medium char american oak cubes. Tasted the hydrometer sample yesteeday and it was amazing. Cant wait till its carbed

 

[bcrderrick]

So I brewed this about a month ago and used crown royal black instead of makers. It tastes great but doesn't have a thick mouth feel like I was hoping for. Any suggestions for the next time I brew it to get a thicker mouth feel?

Thanks

 

[jdd12364]

I made this recipe on 11/3 hit all my numbers , made a vanilla extract with 6 oz. of Makers Mark & 2 oz.'s of oak cubes on 11/19 , racked to keg today 11/22 @ 30 psi room temp 68*, added the vanilla beans & oak cubes to keg in a hop bag , looking to leave hop bag in keg for a week .

Just wondering thoughts on time to leave vanilla & oak in keg ?

 

[kosmokramer]

I left about 2to ounces of cubes for about 3to weeks and it is good... just keep tasting it till u gett it where u like it

 

[jtkratzer]

Giving this a shot as a partial mash, HBS subbed 3 lbs of DME for 9 lbs of 2-row. That seems low for the amount of DME. Shouldn't it be closer to 5.5 lbs of DME?

 

[Riseabovebb]

I plan on brewing this on Friday or Saturday (first all grain beer!) and using the BIAB method. I've previously brewed 2 extract kits.

I have an 11 gallon kettle and was considering doing a no-sparge method. After reading about BIAB, would I be correct in assuming I would need to increase the grain bill if I chose not to sparge? If so, I suppose I will sparge since I already bought all the ingredients (I have an extra 5.5 gallon kettle for sparging).

If I understand the recipe from the first page, I will mash in my grains for 75 minutes. The strike temperature is 161.4. After adding the grains it should reduce to around 150 degrees and steep for 75 minutes, correct? Do I have to raise the temperate to do a mash out? If so, what temperature?

How long do you sparge for? I understand I will bring 3.6 gallons of water up to 168 degrees and then drop my bag of grain in the water some amount of time. Then I take this and add it to the main kettle and begin my boil.

Any help? Sorry for so many questions!

 

[jtkratzer]

Should I get more DME or more 2-row to get the target OG?

 

[Lil' Sparky]

I'm not an extract brewer, but Beersmith converts 9 lbs of 2-row (65% eff) to 5 lbs of DME, so I think you definitely need more fermentables. I'd recommend more 2-row, but it depends on if you have the capacity to mash that much.

If you don't have a brewing program, I highly recommend it. It'll help out a lot when you're trying to figure out estimated OG based on a recipe and your typical efficiency, not to mention water amounts, IBUs, color, etc.

 

[Lil' Sparky]

I plan on brewing this on Friday or Saturday (first all grain beer!) and using the BIAB method. I've previously brewed 2 extract kits.

I have an 11 gallon kettle and was considering doing a no-sparge method. After reading about BIAB, would I be correct in assuming I would need to increase the grain bill if I chose not to sparge? If so, I suppose I will sparge since I already bought all the ingredients (I have an extra 5.5 gallon kettle for sparging).

If I understand the recipe from the first page, I will mash in my grains for 75 minutes. The strike temperature is 161.4. After adding the grains it should reduce to around 150 degrees and steep for 75 minutes, correct? Do I have to raise the temperate to do a mash out? If so, what temperature?

How long do you sparge for? I understand I will bring 3.6 gallons of water up to 168 degrees and then drop my bag of grain in the water some amount of time. Then I take this and add it to the main kettle and begin my boil.

Any help? Sorry for so many questions!

Sounds like you have things about right, although I've never sparged by moving grains in a bag from one pot to another. I think your OG would definitely be low if you did a no-sparge. What is your typically efficiency mashing with that technique? I wouldn't worry about doing a mashout, it'll just make things more complicated - save it for another time.

 

[Lil' Sparky]

So I brewed this about a month ago and used crown royal black instead of makers. It tastes great but doesn't have a thick mouth feel like I was hoping for. Any suggestions for the next time I brew it to get a thicker mouth feel?

Thanks

raise your mash temp 2 degrees

 

[Riseabovebb]

Sounds like you have things about right, although I've never sparged by moving grains in a bag from one pot to another. I think your OG would definitely be low if you did a no-sparge. What is your typically efficiency mashing with that technique? I wouldn't worry about doing a mashout, it'll just make things more complicated - save it for another time.

I haven't done the Brew in a Bag method before, this is my first. I've double milled my grain which I've read should help with my efficiency. I've decided to do the no-sparge method as shown in the BIAB sticky. I'll let you know how it turns out!

A few last minute items from the homebrew store and I should be all set to brew this weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

[jtkratzer]

I'm not an extract brewer, but Beersmith converts 9 lbs of 2-row (65% eff) to 5 lbs of DME, so I think you definitely need more fermentables. I'd recommend more 2-row, but it depends on if you have the capacity to mash that much.

If you don't have a brewing program, I highly recommend it. It'll help out a lot when you're trying to figure out estimated OG based on a recipe and your typical efficiency, not to mention water amounts, IBUs, color, etc.

Software is on my Christmas list. I have a Brew Magic system I'm converting to electric HERMS. I'm going to attempt a partial mash on this with a mash in a bag concept using my bottling bucket and a 0* sleeping bag as my MLT. Then I can sparge into the Brew Magic BK and boil with my propane burner. I'll see if I can get my hands on a few pounds of two row. 5.5 lbs of 2-row and 3 lbs of plain light DME with the other grains (1.25 lbs of chocolate malt) give me an estimated OG of 1.084 on Beer Calculus. Sound right?

 

[jtkratzer]

Here's my dilemma – my boil kettle from the Brew Magic system is going to the welder for the work to convert it over to electric. I won't have it to brew this weekend.

I'm thinking I can make this work as a partial mash as originally intended, but I'm looking for recommendations to hold off on this until I can brew it all grain.

The recipe I have now is as posted on the first page with the following changes:
5 lbs 13 oz Plain Light DME
2 lbs of 2-row
1.25 lbs of chocolate malt

Everything else is the same. Accordinng to Beer Calculus, the DME is 40% of my grain bill. Is my math right that this is a 5.5 gallon batch, and if I'm using 40% DME, then the grain bill should be calculated for mash/sparge/etc based on 60% of the 5.5 gallon batch? 60% of a 5.5 gallon batch is 3.3 gallons. If I use 3.3 as my batch size for calculating water volumes, I can fit that in my 7 gallon brew pot (2.73 gal mash, 2.9 gal sparge, 5.64 total water with less going into the kettle due to grain absorption, etc).

5 point something gallons of wort from the grain going into the brew pot, boil according to schedule for 45 minutes, add DME for the last 15 minutes for hop utilization, etc, chill, top off to 5.5 gallons, aerate, pitch yeast.

Sound RIGHT, or should I wait and do this as an all grain recipe since this takes enough time to age/mature that I won't drink it until next Thanksgiving/Christmas anyway?

 

[kosmokramer]

Its funny this thread has so many more posts than the actual thread that denny participates in.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/denny-conns-bourbon-vanilla-imperial-porter-144612/

i think the second to last page denny himself gives the partial mash recipe. He also suggest drinking it about the month and a half mark!. I brewed it and accidentally threw in an extra pound of dme and ended up about 11% abv. it is 2 months old right now and on tap. I really like it. I will probably bottle some just to taste how it ages but as he states there is no need to wait that long to drink it

 

[jigidyjim]

Just opened mine after 3 weeks in the bottle. Pretty yummy!

 

[CidahMastah]

Wanted to comment on the bourbon choice. I wanted to try my favorite bourbon with the brew and see if it was a better fit than Jim Beam Black. I suspected that it wouldn't be because Jim Beam is more straight forward than my favorite bourbon (Eagle Rare 10 Yr old). Price difference is a few bucks, but it did give me the chance to buy two bottles of bourbon vs. one

Turns out I was right and my wife even commented (hers was a blind taste test) that there was too much flavor with the eagle rare and it didn't meld together as well.

I did my taste comparison by pouring some untreated DBVP into a glass and some bourbon into two shot glasses. I went back and forth between the bourbon and the beer and let my taste buds tell me which melded better. I didn't make a mix of the bourbons and brew because IMO the brew isn't ready and needed one more day of vanilla and some aging before trying to find the right bourbon to DBVP ratio.

Just thought I would let people know my results.

 

[theveganbrewer]

I am finally brewing this tonight. Had it on my to do list for over a month. How much bourbon for 5 gallons again? I think I have 10 ounces prepared.

 

[CidahMastah]

I am finally brewing this tonight. Had it on my to do list for over a month. How much bourbon for 5 gallons again? I think I have 10 ounces prepared.

Denny was saying 10ml per pint (16oz). But to use that as a reference and add some in and taste until you get there. The bourbon is not supposed to overtake the brew though. you are going for nuance.

 

[jdd12364]

The recipe call for 12 oz. I used 6 oz. & wish I would have used 4 oz. , I also used Makers Mark .

 

[theveganbrewer]

Thanks for the info on the bourbon. 10oz seemed like a lot, especially for an 8.7% beer. I'll add slowly and check it along the way. I had a very nice brew night and hit all my marks. Came in at 1.089. Grains smelled so good they woke my wife up and she came out to investigate. Thought I was baking.

 

[CidahMastah]

Has anybody served this on nitro?

 

[CidahMastah]

Just a quick follow up. 7 weeks in and I think the brew is in a sweet spot (did jim beam black and denny's recc. dosage). So for me, grain to glass fro this one is 7 weeks.

The brew has a nice body to it and by far I really like this beer at a warmer temperature, like 50-54F, YMMV.

Enjoy!

 

[lemmiwinks]

Thinking about brewing this soon as a PM.
Also think I'm gonna throw some cold pressed coffee into the secondary with the vanilla beans. Try and make it ala Victory at Sea from Ballast Point which is one of my favorite all time porters.

 

[HitTheTwit]

Thinking about brewing this soon as a PM.
Also think I'm gonna throw some cold pressed coffee into the secondary with the vanilla beans. Try and make it ala Victory at Sea from Ballast Point which is one of my favorite all time porters.

Make sure to taste it first. This was our plan as well, but it had an incredible roastiness without any coffee additions. Almost everyone asked if we had put coffee in the brew.

 

[lemmiwinks]

Make sure to taste it first. This was our plan as well, but it had an incredible roastiness without any coffee additions. Almost everyone asked if we had put coffee in the brew.

Thanks for the tip.
Was probably going to add at bottling so I'll be sure to steal a sip or six prior to throwing any in.

 

[daringleada]

I've had a batch of this in secondary on the vanilla beans for a couple of weeks, and I'm getting ready to bottle, probably with some Buffalo Trace--money's a little tight for Maker's, and I really like BT as far as budget bourbons go. Question, though: should I use the normal amount of priming sugar with this (4oz/5gal), or should I cut it back some to account for the bourbon? Or will the bourbon not have any effect on carbonation? I've never used liquor in my homebrew before; wasn't sure what to expect.

Sweet Jeebus! Did you use Bufalo Trace? That is some expensive and tasty bourbon to use as a flavoring agent!

 

[lemmiwinks]

Brewed this last night as a BIAB partial mash.
My intended recipe was:
5 lbs. light DME
1.5 lbs. Munich DME
1.5 lbs. 2-Row
1.0 lbs. brown malt
1.0 lbs Caramel 120
.75 lbs chocolate malt
.5 lbs caramel 45

Went to LHBS and he didn't have Munich DME so went with 2.5 lbs. Munich grain. Also subbed 1.0 amber malt for the brown cause he doesnt carry that. Was able to get the correct hops. Not realizing it at the LHBS this amounted to 7.25 lbs of grain for my very first PM with a 4 gallon and 5 gallon kettles. Mashed in 2.5 gallons at 150 for 60 minutes and had a second pot at 160 that I did the tea bag method on with the grains. Ended up with a 4 gallon boil that dropped down to about 3.75 after 60 minutes. Siphoned to primary and topped off to 5 gallons. OG was 1.082 and I pitched 1.5 packets of re-hydrated US-05. Airlock was already bubbling when I woke up this AM. Have about 4 oz of Makers Mark that I'm gonna soak the vanilla beans overnight before racking to secondary on top of the vanilla, bourbon and I'm thinking 2oz of cold pressed coffee depending on the taste.

 

[theveganbrewer]

This has been on gas for 3 weeks, the chocolate never mellowed out. It may be how it's supposed to taste and I just don't care for this style. Maybe I used a different kind of chocolate malt?

 

[CidahMastah]

This has been on gas for 3 weeks, the chocolate never mellowed out. It may be how it's supposed to taste and I just don't care for this style. Maybe I used a different kind of chocolate malt?

I think something is going on outside the recipe. My brew doesn't taste anything like carbonated chocolate

 

[CidahMastah]

one more note - 10ml per 16oz has been working really well for me. At first all I got was bourbon, but then as a couple weeks set in I really preferred the bourbon at that level vs. the straight up brew itself. I mean I love bourbon in general, but IMO Denny has perfected the amount. I love chewing on this brew.