putting stuff in a stout...how would you do it?

[sputnam]

I want to add cocoa nibs, vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks and dried peppers to a stout. I've got the quantities figured out and everything soaking in rum. My question is should I....

1) - put everything loose in the primary (primary has huge yeast cake)

2) - everything in a bag in primary

3) - rack to secondary loose or bagged with C02 blanket

4) - everything in a bag straight to the keg

 

[lumpher]

I don't normally secondary, and for any 1 or 2 of those, I wouldn't. However, adding all those, I think I would secondary and dump all of them in loose.

 

[aprichman]

Personally I would soak the additives in rum, strain the rum, add the rum to the bottling bucket or the keg, and rack everything on top of the rum.

 

[Firewalker11]

Personally I would soak the additives in rum, strain the rum, add the rum to the bottling bucket or the keg, and rack everything on top of the rum.

Same but sub vodka for the rum.

 

[sputnam]

hmmmm, so put the flavor in the rum first and then add only that...i like it.

 

[Firewalker11]

Well preferably you would use a neutral spirit, vodka is a very close cousin of a neutral spirit. Everclear is a true neutral spirit but it can be quite expensive and some states don't sell the 181 proof version. It imparts no flavor into your beer other than whatever you steep in it before adding it to your beer.

 

[kev211]

Same but sub vodka for the rum.

Second this. Big fan of the tincture method. Especially because (if you keg) you can start with 'X' amount of your tincture solution, re-pressurize and repeat until desired flavor is reached. By just plunking them straight in the fermenter you risk A. infection. B. Over or Under flavoring. I prefer vodka, but I have tried whiskey with good results. But I like the neutrality of vodka

 

[VolDoc]

I am almost two weeks into a vanilla coconut porter. What I did was get two vanilla beans, split them. scrape out the insides, and put it into a small mason jar with just enough vodka to cover the whole mess. I let that sit for about a week. At day 10 post brew, I transferred the beer into secondary with the coconut I had toasted put into some sanitized muslin bags, then dumped the homemade vanilla extract in. You could adopt a similar strategy, but for the cinnamon sticks I would just toss those in.

 

[CJ-3]

I prefer to add everything to secondary because once the flavor level I want is reached, it's time to bottle.

The only thing I don't like about option number 4 is it allows the flavors to keep getting stronger while in the keg. If the peppers are too hot, you may get a brew that is awesome at first, then maybe a bit spicy as it sits on the peppers and finally just too darned hot.

 

[m1k3]

I've been messing around with American Oak Cubes soaked in Rum.

I put the oak cubes in a sanitized bag with stainless parts for weight and just dropped it to the bottom of the keg.

The medium toast American Oak cubes have a great vanilla flavor.

You can also just add the rum directly to your beer in a glass. That is how i started out before committing a full keg.

 

[Firewalker11]

Ask 10 home brewers and get 11 answers, I guess. There is no wrong way, there are however, more controllable methods like steeping individually and adding the liquor to taste vs adding them to the beer directly hoping to end with a favorable balance.

 

[Natdavis777]

+1 for the tincture method.

I have been doing a lot of flavored stouts using cocoa nibs, vanilla beans, coffee beans, peanut butter, etc. With the exception of coffee (I coarsely crush the beans and "dry hop" with them) I use vodka in a mason jar with the nibs and/or vanilla beans and add a few ounces at a time until I hit my desired flavor profile.