Denny Conn's Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter

[Nemleu]

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it". I get it. So then... Secondary it is! Unless, of course, anyone can verify otherwise.?.?

I can only tell you that I’ve had success making tinctures, and I think that gives one better control over the quantity and quality of the additions. I’ve make Vanilla Bourbon Porter before, but never Denny’s. I made a Chocolate Hazelnut Porter adding a tincture of Hazelnut at bottling that turned out great. My latest tincture was for a Smoked Jalapeno Cream Ale, which took third place at the UP State Fair.

After I finish Denny’s brew I would like to start another identical batch adding the beans to the secondary. That’s probably the only way I will learn, and know if there is a difference.

 

[DrBrewDC]

This bad boy has been bubbling away in the primary for 11 days and I am still getting a bubble out of the airlock every 15 seconds. I understand that this larger grain bill and consequential high OG will take longer that those lesser but what are y'all finding on this one?

 

[Alphonso]

This bad boy has been bubbling away in the primary for 11 days and I am still getting a bubble out of the airlock every 15 seconds. I understand that this larger grain bill and consequential high OG will take longer that those lesser but what are y'all finding on this one?

Fermentation is most likely complete and has been for a few days. What you are probably seeing in the airlock is residual CO2 coming out of solution - offgassing.

Take a gravity reading (or a couple over the course of a few days) with your hydrometer or refractometer to verify that fermentation is complete or still underway.

Get ready for lots of "an airlock is not a good gauge of fermentation activity"

 

[Denny]

11 days is nothing, really....give it another week or so.

 

[DrBrewDC]

Get ready for lots of "an airlock is not a good gauge of fermentation activity"

Yes... Thank you... Well aware. Curious from those with experience regarding this beer (Denny) of a general guideline since I am still using a hydrometer and would like to take as few readings as possible (waste not, want not) ...and I got it. Thanx, Denny.

 

[ashplub]

I did 4 weeks, all in primary.

 

[DrBrewDC]

Ok, great... so, ashplub.... since you did not mention any problems with the vanilla beans "hiding" in the trub and not making an impact, I must presume it works quite nicely this way?

 

[ashplub]

I switched it up a little. I made an extract using a portion of the liquor and the beans. I added that at 2 weeks in primary (beans and all) and then added more liquor to taste at bottling. I soaked the 2 beans for a few months beforehand.

 

[Alphonso]

I switched it up a little. I made an extract using a portion of the liquor and the beans. I added that at 2 weeks in primary (beans and all) and then added more liquor to taste at bottling. I soaked the 2 beans for a few months beforehand.

mmmmm

This is sounding really good. I'm headed to Mexico tomorrow with the fam and I'm thinking I should try to find some good beans. Hard to beat Penzy's though.

And I've found that with a good healthy pitch of yeast it's usually done in about 4-5 days, maybe 6. Then it's just a matter of how long you wanna let it condition.

 

[DrBrewDC]

I switched it up a little. I made an extract using a portion of the liquor and the beans. I added that at 2 weeks in primary (beans and all) and then added more liquor to taste at bottling. I soaked the 2 beans for a few months beforehand.

"Someone" has been convincing me of the benefits of a "tincture", however, I am too far into this one to allow months of soaking the beans. Therefore, secondary it is.

 

[Alphonso]

No need to fret. I've just split the beans, scraped the seeds, and dumped it all into the primary every time I've ever made this. And it is awesome every time.

A well crafted recipe.

 

[flabyboy]

Denny. I am thinking about making this recipe in the near future and was wondering what your thoughts are on adding the dark malts late during mashout or vorlauf. Have you tried this method, or do you add chalk or bicarbonate to keep your mash pH ideal?

 

[Denny]

mmmmm

This is sounding really good. I'm headed to Mexico tomorrow with the fam and I'm thinking I should try to find some good beans. Hard to beat Penzy's though.

And I've found that with a good healthy pitch of yeast it's usually done in about 4-5 days, maybe 6. Then it's just a matter of how long you wanna let it condition.

The best I've ever found are from hawaiianvanilla.com

 

[Nemleu]

My brew day was yesterday and everything went well. Unfortunately my OG came in at 1.070, very poor efficiency. Nice activity in the airlock within 2 hours, and I have a blow off ready if needed.

I hope it turns out okay........

 

[kingconsulting]

I'm thinking about making the partial mash Denny posted of this. I'm somewhat new and have done probably 5 beers. The last two partial.

My question is I love porter and bourbon. Now thinking that last year I tried a Widmer Brrrbon. Had way too much bourbon flavor. Like too rich tasting to me. Swore I would never try a beer like that again but this one sounds soooo good!

Anybody had both to compare? From what I read I'm thinking this is more balanced and I might like it a lot.

Thanks,

Robert

 

[Denny]

Denny. I am thinking about making this recipe in the near future and was wondering what your thoughts are on adding the dark malts late during mashout or vorlauf. Have you tried this method, or do you add chalk or bicarbonate to keep your mash pH ideal?

I use either chalk or pickling lime to adjust the pH. I've never tried the late addition.

 

[Aschecte]

I'm going to be making this recipe over the weekend. Has anyone used wlp001 with success ? My lhbs does not have 1450 nor 1056 an I would have to wait another week to get those from northern brewer.

 

[Aschecte]

Ok so I did brew this over the weekend and it turned out great !!! probably one of the smoothest brew days I have ever had actually which really made this beer a pleasure to brew. the only downside side was milling 17.75 lbs by hand ( my drill broke ). My question is this I followed Denny's recipe not brewmasters warehouse which seemed incorrect. I see in Denny's post that he calculate 73% eff is this brewhouse or mash ? my system runs about a 83-85% mash eff and my OG was 1.075. I did modify minorly by increasing the batch size to 5.5 gallons. I did a pre boil volume of 9 gallons ( I have alot of losses ) and post of 7 gallons. My brewhouse eff is kinda low at 70% as I don't tilt my pot etc to get that last drop out and leave most of the trub behind. Bottom line am I in the ball park with my OG at 1.075 ? Thanks for the input.

 

[Aschecte]

Just tried the hydro sample as I just racked the beer onto the vanilla beans. This tasted so darn awesome it's unbelievable !!!! strong coffee and chocolate taste and thick roasty chocolate nose. I can't wait till this is done, this is a great great recipe.

 

[phoenixs4r]

Fired up the kettle for this one today. Undershot my OG so I boiled a little extra, so I ended up a little high! 1.092. Tastes like chocolate milk. Loving it.

 

[Layne]

Brewed a 10 gal batch last sunday.
OG was 1.083 one week later wer're at 1.036

 

[DrBrewDC]

GRRRRRRRR!!! Perhaps someone can tell me what I have done wrong.... again. Seems the last few times I have made a high gravity beer, I get little to no carbonation in the bottles. It has been two weeks since I bottled this porter and although there is a slight release of CO2 when I remove the cap, the beer is completely flat.

I can only come up with three ideas.... I didn't use enough priming sugar (although I did question everyone on here, used the program that determined how much to use and did just that), I have not waited long enough (wishful but doubtful) or the yeast that I substituted for American Ale yeast (because they were out... oh, and btw... I do not recall what it was) would not handle the high alcohol content.?.?

Any thoughts?

 

[kosmokramer]

GRRRRRRRR!!! Perhaps someone can tell me what I have done wrong.... again. Seems the last few times I have made a high gravity beer, I get little to no carbonation in the bottles. It has been two weeks since I bottled this porter and although there is a slight release of CO2 when I remove the cap, the beer is completely flat.

I can only come up with three ideas.... I didn't use enough priming sugar (although I did question everyone on here, used the program that determined how much to use and did just that), I have not waited long enough (wishful but doubtful) or the yeast that I substituted for American Ale yeast (because they were out... oh, and btw... I do not recall what it was) would not handle the high alcohol content.?.?

Any thoughts?

I would suggest the last of the 3. If you are only having problems with high grav beers you yeast is probably crapped out. Maybe adding some energizer to the bottling bucket would help or fresh yeast. Easiest way would be to carb in a keg and bottle off that however. I will be carbing a 23% beer in a couple weeks, no way to do that in a bottle..lol

 

[DrBrewDC]

I would suggest the last of the 3. If you are only having problems with high grav beers you yeast is probably crapped out. Maybe adding some energizer to the bottling bucket would help or fresh yeast. Easiest way would be to carb in a keg and bottle off that however. I will be carbing a 23% beer in a couple weeks, no way to do that in a bottle..lol

Thank you for your reply. So then this was going to be my next question... Is it possible to /has anyone ever tired to open individual bottles, carefully pour them into a keg and have success with maintaining all of the beer's attributes?

 

[phoenixs4r]

High gravity beers simply take longer to carbonate. 2 weeks isn't enough for a normal gravity beer. If your getting co2 the yeast are fine.

 

[Denny]

High gravity beers simply take longer to carbonate. 2 weeks isn't enough for a normal gravity beer. If your getting co2 the yeast are fine.

Agreed. Nearly any yeast should be able to handle a beer of that gravity.

 

[DrBrewDC]

Agreed. Nearly any yeast should be able to handle a beer of that gravity.

So then, would you find it reasonable that after 2 weeks it would only have the slightest "sss" upon opening the cap and not a hint of carbonation in the beer?

 

[Denny]

So then, would you find it reasonable that after 2 weeks it would only have the slightest "sss" upon opening the cap and not a hint of carbonation in the beer?

It's certainly not unreasonable. I wouldn't freak out for at least another 2 weeks. What temp are the bottles at? How much priming sugar did you use?

 

[arg]

So then, would you find it reasonable that after 2 weeks it would only have the slightest "sss" upon opening the cap and not a hint of carbonation in the beer?

Yes. Leave them for another week or two at least, then leave them in a fridge for ANOTHER week or two.

Cold conditioning will do wonders getting that CO2 into solution.

Also, why drink high gravity beers that have only been bottled for two weeks? Leave them for a month or two, longer if you can.

 

[DrBrewDC]

It's certainly not unreasonable. I wouldn't freak out for at least another 2 weeks. What temp are the bottles at? How much priming sugar did you use?

The bottles have been in the low 60's. Someone on another thread just suggested I bring them up out of the basement and let them sit at 70 or a bit above for another week or two.

Cold conditioning will do wonders getting that CO2 into solution.

Also, why drink high gravity beers that have only been bottled for two weeks? Leave them for a month or two, longer if you can.

Well... that would have to do with my impatience to sample that which has been raved about by everyone. Truth told, this beer is so good, although saddened that it was not carbonated, I would consume every last drop with a smile on my face. ..... not in one sitting of course.