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

[StainlessBrewing]

Keg is almost gone and it hasn't even been two months since brew day. Definitely need to make more asap!

 

[kodyind]

I can't remember, probably about 2 weeks. The 2nd time I made it I used pure vanilla extract, and I thought it was just as good.

And shhhhh, I've never made a starter.

But big beers like this are good candidates.

how much vanilla extract did you use

 

[StainlessBrewing]

I ended up using 2oz for 5 gallons but might bump it up a little bit next time.

 

[jtkratzer]

Hopefully brewing this next weekend. Got the first of two step starter on the stir plate.

 

[Natarch519]

Just poured a bottle from a batch that has been conditioning for 4 weeks and the beer smells like black olives and doesn't taste very appealing. Anyone have any thing like this happen when they brewed this? I haven't done anything with the rest of the bottles yet. Debating on starting a new batch in a few days.

 

[Haputanlas]

Just poured a bottle from a batch that has been conditioning for 4 weeks and the beer smells like black olives and doesn't taste very appealing. Anyone have any thing like this happen when they brewed this? I haven't done anything with the rest of the bottles yet. Debating on starting a new batch in a few days.

Olives? Does that mean it is kind of salty?

What did you use for water?
Did you add any water additions or ph stabilizer?

 

[Totes]

Hey Crew,
I made a 5 gallon batch of this early November. I bottled, 1/2 without bourbon, the other 2.5 gallon with 8 fl. ounces makers mark. It's been in the bottle for 20 days now at 68f temperature. The non bourbon bottle I sampled (12oz) today was drinkably carbonated ( a touch flat ), and the makers mark version (22oz) had zero carb. Do you think the slightly higher ABV from the bourbon is a factor?
-added 4 oz dextrose to the 5 gal for priming. o.g. was way low @ 1.072, f.g was low as well @ 1.012.
-on the bright side it tastes great! just a touch on the thin side.
Should I just be patient? not even a pssst when opening the bourbon infused.

 

[jtkratzer]

Hey Crew,
I made a 5 gallon batch of this early November. I bottled, 1/2 without bourbon, the other 2.5 gallon with 8 fl. ounces makers mark. It's been in the bottle for 20 days now at 68f temperature. The non bourbon bottle I sampled (12oz) today was drinkably carbonated ( a touch flat ), and the makers mark version (22oz) had zero carb. Do you think the slightly higher ABV from the bourbon is a factor?
-added 4 oz dextrose to the 5 gal for priming. o.g. was way low @ 1.072, f.g was low as well @ 1.012.
-on the bright side it tastes great! just a touch on the thin side.
Should I just be patient? not even a pssst when opening the bourbon infused.

Waiting to hear the responses as in planning to bottle 10 gallons of this at some point after brewing it tomorrow.

 

[ldbf]

This is a pretty common problem, and I don't know what causes it. Some people say it's a slow fermentation, but I made this batch six months ago and have cracked open bottles once every two weeks to zero carbonation.

 

[jtkratzer]

Alright. Brew day on this beast. Reading over the notes/recipe one more time before starting had me surprised at the mash temp of 150. I was expecting a medium bodied beer. Everyone liking the 150 mash temp? That's the same as BM's Centennial Blonde and I'm reading about people feeling like this is filling or you have to chew it. Am I missing something?

 

[jtkratzer]

So 1.33 qts/lbs is about all my Sabco kegs will fit and that's after getting the circulation through the HERMS coil going to dump in the last bit of grain.

Smells like heaven.

 

[Totes]

This is a pretty common problem, and I don't know what causes it. Some people say it's a slow fermentation, but I made this batch six months ago and have cracked open bottles once every two weeks to zero carbonation.

Can you elaborate on that? Are you saying after 6 months there are still some bottles w/o carbonation? I'm perplexed as to why the ones with bourbon are flat and the ones w/o are gtg. This is my first time adding booze at bottling.

 

[jtkratzer]

1.056 preboil gravity on about 13 gallons. Checked one calculator and that seems low. Thoughts? Planning to boil down to about 11 gallons.

This calculator is telling me I'm 10 points off. If so, how much light DME do I need to add?

I'll check the gravity again with about 15-20 minutes left.

 

[jtkratzer]

Just pulled 2.5 qts of wort from under the false bottom. That helps preboil gravity, but not that much. Estimate on the post boil gravity is 1.068. I guess I needed to sparge more, but didn't really have much more room to fit any more wort in the boil kettle.

 

[Totes]

Still thinking of adding DME? I would think 1.068 will still result in a nice brew, I only hit 1.072 and am very satisfied. Where are you at in the boil?

 

[jtkratzer]

Still thinking of adding DME? I would think 1.068 will still result in a nice brew, I only hit 1.072 and am very satisfied. Where are you at in the boil?

Done, pitched yeast, and cleaned up now watching football.

I'm sure it will be fine and I'm alright with a bit lower alcohol level.

I think adding D/LME is going to be the only way for me to brew this beer and hit the 1.078. I suppose I could try 1.25 qts/lbs and add some more 2-row, but I certainly don't have much room for more sparge/preboil volume. I could probably get away with another 1/2-1 gallon. I'd probably need a 90 minute boil and just have to be really careful with the beginning stages of the boil to avoid a boil over.

 

[mantooth]

I have been brewing for over a year now and this is the best beer I have made, maybe best beer ever tasted. Such a smooth tasting beer. I used pure vanilla extract during bottling and Maker Mark bourbon. Also, I used two packets of S-05. The beer has only been bottled for 3 weeks and already this good. Will be making more for sure. Who ever this Denny Conn is, he deserves some respect.

 

[Haputanlas]

I have been brewing for over a year now and this is the best beer I have made, maybe best beer ever tasted. Such a smooth tasting beer. I used pure vanilla extract during bottling and Maker Mark bourbon. Also, I used two packets of S-05. The beer has only been bottled for 3 weeks and already this good. Will be making more for sure. Who ever this Denny Conn is, he deserves some respect.

Absolutely. He's a Homebrewing icon and been brewing forever.

He's also what got me into Batch Sparging and made it easy.

www.dennybrew.com

 

[ldbf]

Can you elaborate on that? Are you saying after 6 months there are still some bottles w/o carbonation? I'm perplexed as to why the ones with bourbon are flat and the ones w/o are gtg. This is my first time adding booze at bottling.

If you read through this thread there are a lot of people who complain about very slow fermentation. Mine hasn't fermented (other than an odd bottle or two), and I'm unsure what to think of it. The bourbon shouldn't have pushed up the alcohol enough to kill the yeast, but I'm not sure what happened... Unfortunately I'm going to have to try this one again

 

[60sd]

I kegged my first batch of this on 12-26-12. I took my first sample (not counting tasting the hydrometer samples) on 12-31-12. It tasted kinda harsh to me. I used two ounces of pure vanilla extract and 12 oz of makers mark in the secondary, and I left it in the secondary for a little over a month. My first taste off the keg had very strong vanilla and booze flavor, and it didn't seem that the flavors had blended well. It was almost like taking a shot of vanilla, bourbon, and porter all at the same time (if that makes any sense). I'm gonna let it age for a while and see if it mellows out a bit. My brother made a bourbon barrel porter that came out the same way, but after six months in the bottle it was outrageously good. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as I have high hopes for this one. BTW, I had a 1.085 OG and a 1.015 FG for an ABV of 9.3%.

If anyone has any suggestions regarding aging in the keg I would love to hear it. Right now my plan is to leave it in the fridge. Should I disconnect the gas, take it out and leave it at room temp, or just leave it alone?

 

[jclark1299]

After a month in primary I am stuck at 1.022. Pitched Nottingham yeast cake from a English Mild at 62 degrees and submersed the primary into a tub of water to keep temps low. Initial fermentation was not as vigorous as I anticipated. After two weeks I checked the gravity and it was 1.022. Thinking the basement was getting too cold I move it upstairs to a 68 degree ambient temp. Two weeks later, still stuck at 1.022. I just stirred the cake in hopes of waking the yeast. Anyone have recommendations of what I can do to drop those last few points? Tastes great btw!

 

[blaster_54738]

tagged for brewing later!!

 

[Wolfbayne]

It might be where it is going to be from the strain of being previously used cake?? The magic of yeast...lol.

Could double pitch?

 

[coy94]

Hello. I’ve been a lurker around here for a while and have learned a lot. I knew I needed to try this beer and, in fact, it is fantastic tasting…..but I have a problem.

I kegged this beer on December 17. I wanted to slowly carbonate this beer at 10-11 psi instead of force carbonating. I was going to open the tap on New Year’s Eve for friends to enjoy. When we did open it up, there wasn’t any carbonation! The keg had pressure on it as it flowed freely but there were only large bubble on the side of the glass. No head at all.

My recipe was slightly different doing an extract with steeping grains. I pitched with a different yeast but the fermentation was very good (I.e. a big mess!). I did use Tahitian vanilla beans (3 as the taste of two was quite weak) and not Madagascar.

I’m asking for help in pinning down my problem. Is it my changes to the recipe, bad seals on the keg, not a full CO2 tank….? I’m really at a loss here and looking for help.

Thanks in advance.

Coy94

 

[lewisbrett]

Coy, doubt it has anything to do with your recipe.

I do an extract with specialty grains on this one with 3 Tahitian Beans and while it took an extra week for the carbonation to come in (bottle conditioned) it still was present.

Seems like a kegging issue though my first experiencing kegging a beer will be this weekend so I would not know what might be the issue.

 

[HawkDriver]

Coy94,
It's a slow leak in the keg. The leak's slow enough that it couldn't build up the pressure to carbonate, but still keeps just enough in straight from the bottle to push it through the tap. Speaking from experience here unfortunately. It's also a sign you might need a CO2 refill shortly.

Sometimes you can take a soap/water solution and put it around the seal on the keg. If you get bubbles, there's your source. Not really much need to do so though- try opening the keg, re-lubricating the gaskets, and getting a good seal on there.

 

[Hanso]

I like to drink Breckenridge Vanilla Porter quite a bit when I can find it. I distinctly remember from the Tap and from the Bottle little to no head retention. Perhaps its a characteristic of this beer?? (also voting for the oils from the beans)

Poor head retention is run into with others as well.

 

[Totes]

Hey Crew,
I made a 5 gallon batch of this early November. I bottled, 1/2 without bourbon, the other 2.5 gallon with 8 fl. ounces makers mark. It's been in the bottle for 20 days now at 68f temperature. The non bourbon bottle I sampled (12oz) today was drinkably carbonated ( a touch flat ), and the makers mark version (22oz) had zero carb. Do you think the slightly higher ABV from the bourbon is a factor?
-added 4 oz dextrose to the 5 gal for priming. o.g. was way low @ 1.072, f.g was low as well @ 1.012.
-on the bright side it tastes great! just a touch on the thin side.
Should I just be patient? not even a pssst when opening the bourbon infused.

Update: Enjoying my first 22 bottle as we speak, finally carbed up. No problems with head retention, bourbon is not too dominant, just barely there. Vanilla is just right. Some very unique 'burnt?' aftertaste notes. slightly thin. All in all a great outcome, thank you everyone!!! Will be brewing this one again soon. cheers

 

[jclark1299]

Has a Breckenridge Vanilla Porter tonight and thought it was too vanilla-ey. I already bought the grain bill and have been wanting to make a pecan porter down the road. Since I am not feeling the Vanilla, I am going to go for it. Researching tells me to roast them several times at 350 and soak the oils up with paper bags between each roast. My question is, would this be a good idea? Additionally how much pecans would I use?

I also plan on adding bourbon to half the bottles, how much per bottle should I add?

Got my hands on some kegs in perfect time to rack this brew. Day 1, very harsh finish. Day 2, harshness seems to be going away. Day 3, Damn good beer. This is the first brew I am totally pleased with. Will be trying this one again and hope to get better OG/FG results. 1.066 - 1.022. Not sure I can tell a difference with the pecans, next batch no pecans.

 

[rpe290]

I have been brewing for over a year now and this is the best beer I have made, maybe best beer ever tasted. Such a smooth tasting beer. I used pure vanilla extract during bottling and Maker Mark bourbon. Also, I used two packets of S-05. The beer has only been bottled for 3 weeks and already this good. Will be making more for sure. Who ever this Denny Conn is, he deserves some respect.

Same here, except I used 2 beans, WLP001 and JB Choice (green bottle) for ingredients, it is just now getting perfect and is awesome.

BTW, for the rest of you wondering about final gravity, I started 1.080 and ended 1.025 and it tastes great, so don't worry about getting under 1.020.

Best beer I have made, and I am normally not a big porter/stout guy at all.

Great Job Denny!