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

[bigmunchez]

Hi folks
I'm brewing this recipe tomorrow but I've just realised my brown malt is from Simpsons and is roughly twice as dark (300 EBC) as the brown malt listed in the recipe. Does anyone have any experience with this particular brand of brown malt in this (or other similar) recipes?
At this stage my plan is to halve the amount of brown malt and sub in something like biscuit/victory to make up the other half.

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions

 

[scottvin]

If I add the makers to the bottling bucket, do I still need to add sugar for carbonation? Thanks!

 

[passedpawn]

I finally got around to kegging my funked-up version of this. Very tasty. Was drinking it tonight, and I'm toasted. Later fermentation with brett B. I've got a brett L version also, kegged and carbed, but I'm not touching that one yet.

 

[StainlessBrewing]

Just kegged another batch.

 

[BrewOClock]

I'm sure its in this 51+ page thread somewhere but can someone tell me what the correct amount of pure vanilla extract is for 5 gallons of this, I have 2 days until racking to secondary and can't get the pure vanilla beans in the meantime. Thanks for whoever helps.

 

[StainlessBrewing]

I'm sure its in this 51+ page thread somewhere but can someone tell me what the correct amount of pure vanilla extract is for 5 gallons of this, I have 2 days until racking to secondary and can't get the pure vanilla beans in the meantime. Thanks for whoever helps.

I used 2oz last time of the stuff in the picture but bumped it up to 3oz this time. I hope that helps.

 

[bbentley40]

So the recipe says add the vanilla beans to the secondary and the Makers at bottling/kegging. But some people added the vanilla beans to the makers for a couple days then poured all that into the secondary. Which is the preferred method? I brewed this Sunday so I will be moving it to the secondary early next week. I forgot to let my boil run longer so I ended up with more wort and missed my OG (got a 1.069).. other than that though I am excited to try this one!

 

[Brewrifle]

I soaked two split and cut beans in whiskey for a week and them dumped it all in the secondary (whiskey barrel actually) for 1 week and then transferred to the keg. The vanilla flavor was amazing, but has since subsided after 2 months.

 

[LLBeanJ]

I soaked the beans in about an ounce or so of the bourbon for a few weeks (was only supposed to be a week, but my brew schedule kept getting pushed out and the beans were already soaking) to sanitize them before adding to secondary. The bulk of the bourbon (I used 8 oz.) was added when I transferred from secondary to the keg.

Edit: No, this isn't what I did. I'm remembering incorrectly. Jeez, it sucks getting old.

It was the oak chips that ended up with an extended soaking in the full 8 oz. of bourbon for about 3 weeks before adding to secondary. I can't remember what I did with the vanilla beans. Might've just added them to the end of the boil. I'll check my notes tonight and update this post... again.

Edit 2: Evidently, I soaked the vanilla beans and the oak chips in 8 oz. of bourbon and dumped the whole mess into the secondary for about a week, then I kegged and let it age for 4 months before tapping. Fortunately, I don't need to refer back to my notes to recall that it turned out to be really nice brew.

 

[jknapp12105]

Nice

 

[BrewOClock]

I soaked the beans in about an ounce or so of the bourbon for a few weeks (was only supposed to be a week, but my brew schedule kept getting pushed out and the beans were already soaking) to sanitize them before adding to secondary. The bulk of the bourbon (I used 8 oz.) was added when I transferred from secondary to the keg.

Edit: No, this isn't what I did. I'm remembering incorrectly. Jeez, it sucks getting old.

It was the oak chips that ended up with an extended soaking in the full 8 oz. of bourbon for about 3 weeks before adding to secondary. I can't remember what I did with the vanilla beans. Might've just added them to the end of the boil. I'll check my notes tonight and update this post... again.

Edit 2: Evidently, I soaked the vanilla beans and the oak chips in 8 oz. of bourbon and dumped the whole mess into the secondary for about a week, then I kegged and let it age for 4 months before tapping. Fortunately, I don't need to refer back to my notes to recall that it turned out to be really nice brew.

These all sound good. My OG ended a little low (1.071) but I used a lot less Bourbon. The vanilla and chocolate flavors still came through strong. Great recipe but I ended up a little cidery cause I went a little too high with my ferment temp.

 

[Hobanon]

Just placed my 5gal (post blow-off) into secondary with 2 vanilla beans split, scraped, and chopped soaked in 2oz Paddleford Creek bourbon for 6 days. I had to leave it in primary for a little longer than I would've liked (5 weeks) due to vacation and work problems, but It smelled great when transferring and I can't wait to take the first sample tomorrow!

 

[dunnright00]

If I can find Brown Malt locally, I'm going to brew this on Thursday.

It was either this, or my RIS that I've made a few times. I asked SWMBO her opinion and she said "This will give you an excuse to buy some bourbon!"

Love that gal.....

 

[rgauthier20420]

I've been looking for a good vanilla porter base recipe, and I've decided on doing this recipe (without the Bourbon). Although we will split part off into 1 gallon jugs to do a couple experiments...maybe bourbon .

I'm planning a 10 gallon batch and wanting it closer to 5%, but I'm restricted to around 23-24 pounds of grain with my mash tun. I'm thinking of just adjusting the base grain a little to bring the ABV down and volume of grain and water needed. Does this seem to be a good approach or should I adjust all of the specialties also? Thanks guys!

 

[mrjaked]

just brewed this recipe last night. had to add a gallon of boiling water to my mash in to bring my temp up but took a gallon off on the back end. should I have any problems w the final gravity. my og was 1.081. I'm relatively new to home brewing just don't want to screw this one up. my thought is that it doesn't really mater how u get the sugar from the grain, but just want to make sure.

 

[LLBeanJ]

It'll be fine.

 

[Haputanlas]

just brewed this recipe last night. had to add a gallon of boiling water to my mash in to bring my temp up but took a gallon off on the back end. should I have any problems w the final gravity. my og was 1.081. I'm relatively new to home brewing just don't want to screw this one up. my thought is that it doesn't really mater how u get the sugar from the grain, but just want to make sure.

Worst case is that you might create a more fermentable wort. However, when mashing cool, you'll have to mash longer to convert the wort into that more fermentable solution. If you added the hot water relatively quickly, you'll likely have no problems.

Even if you did mash at the lower temp, your FG likely won't be affected more than a few points.

I don't typically say it, but RDWHAHB.

 

[mrjaked]

thanks for the reply. I will def relax and have a home brew!

 

[kagythings]

I brewed this last December and have slowly been opening a bottle every two weeks to taste the changes in flavor. At first it was hot with the bourbon alcohol taste and had low carbonation. That was the first few months.
The next few months still had a bit of warmth from the bourbon but was mellower than before, the carb levels were nice even if it seemed a touch low.
I opened a bottle a few nights ago and it instantly overflowed from the bottle, obviously over carbed. I poured it into my glass and let it sit for a while and the flavors were great.
I followed the recipe on here as well as put it into BeerSmith for the proper corn sugar added. I left the bottles in the back of a cupboard at room temp around 70 degrees for a few months before putting a few in the fridge at a time a couple days before drinking. Any ideas why they are so over carbed. I will have to check my notes when I get home but it was a 5gallon batch, 10oz makers mark and around 4oz corn sugar.
I plan to brew this again eventually since it was delicious but wanted to wait for that 9-12 month mark to drink it since a lot of people on this thread said this beer is amazing at that time frame. Any ideas would be helpful as to why it happened to avoid it next time.
Thanks for the great recipe.

 

[mrjaked]

I apologize if this was previously covered in this crazy long thread. has anyone used oak chips in the secondary w this recipe. I've been soaking some in some bourbon for a couple weeks and since they are in the bourbon I thought it might be a nice add. any thoughts.

 

[LLBeanJ]

Yes. I brewed this as a 4 gallon batch and I ended up soaking an ounce of medium toast oak chips in 8 ounces of bourbon for about a month, then dumped it all into secondary for a week before racking the beer to a keg. Vanilla beans were also soaking in an ounce or so of bourbon for several weeks and they were added to secondary as well at the same time as the oak chips. A week in secondary worked well for my batch size, but you may need a bit longer if doing 5 gallons.

 

[coinhall09]

Got a question , I have the porter in primary right now , I would like to fill two one gallon jugs and oak the two with medium toast spirals , soak one with a bourbon and the other with rum . I an on to keg the rest three gallons and bottle the two gallon Oaked . Should I just transfer and put a airlock on while I have the oak in ? And then can I use the carb tabs to carb in the bottles after they are done oaking?

 

[rgauthier20420]

You will definitely want to use an airlock on the two 1 gallon jugs portions. I've used this method to secondary other bree beers that I wanted to add specific flavors to. This way you can just remove and taste to see where your at. You'll get about 6 bottles out of each gallon so I would say using the tablets will make it easiest to carb up each bottle correctly instead of trying to measure out priming sugar portions.

Good luck!

 

[coinhall09]

Thanks !!!

 

[PrivetDriveBrewery]

Apologize if this has already been address somewhere in the 53 pages prior but does anyone have an extract version?

 

[passedpawn]

Apologize if this has already been address somewhere in the 53 pages prior but does anyone have an extract version?

There is a "search this thread" button at the top. Not trying to be a jerk, just pointing it out. Maybe you use the app on the phone and that choice isn't present.

I did the search ("extract version") and came up with these links:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f126/bourbon-vanilla-porter-ag-30185/index13.html#post3396464
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f126/bourbon-vanilla-porter-ag-30185/index12.html#post2763499
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f126/bourbon-vanilla-porter-ag-30185/index9.html#post2144999
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f126/bourbon-vanilla-porter-ag-30185/index8.html#post1896940
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f126/bourbon-vanilla-porter-ag-30185/index5.html#post1587550

 

[PrivetDriveBrewery]

Thanks for the help! Still learning about forums, I've tried searching an entire board before and came up with mixed results but didn't realize there was an option at the time. Appreciate the tip.

 

[Hanso]

This is a common problem across all large threads. There is no master owner usually and the original poster is not always the best to answer all questions. Truly each large thread should have a designated collaborative FAQ or wiki page from experts.

 

[rockhoundfan]

Just added bourbon (Jim Beam Black) tonight. Outstanding taste after adding about 250 mL to the 5 gal batch! One mistake (thought about after I did it) I made was mixing the bourbon without adding CO2 to headspace first. It was not a hard mix at all, but just tilted back and forth a few times. A little foam was on top but hopefully it won't have an impact. I usually try to steer clear of oxidation....

 

[DarkUncle]

Hi guys,

This is my second batch of this awesome brew. However, I hooked the keg up to the gas over 2 weeks ago and it's still not carbonated. Not even a little. I also connected a keg of another brew at the same time and that one is fully carbonated. I don't remember if it took this long the last time I did this porter. Anyone else experience an extremely slow rate of carbonation with this beer? There's definitely gas pressure in there as I've drawn some to taste and also pulled on the vent ring and it gases out. I just disconnected this keg and shook the living hell out of it and reconnected. Will give it another week before I taste test again.