To tincture or not to tincture

[Abrayton]

so I’ve brewed an imperial oatmeal chocolate milk stout several times and it doesn’t last long. The last time I added raspberry and it was just ok (I don’t think I used enough raspberry)

The next one I want to add cocoa nibs, cinnamon, vanilla beans and habanero or maybe ghost pepper.

I see lots of folks plunking the spices right into the fermented wort and others swear by soaking in vodka or whiskey and adding the tincture.

Just looking for thoughts on the best tried and true method.

Right now I’m leaning toward soaking everything in Makers Mark for a few weeks and dumping into fermenter. Thanks for any feedback!

 

[IslandLizard]

I'd do the tincture. Break those nibs up into small (~1/8") pieces and cut and slice the vanilla beans for better extraction.

Not sure why you want the hot peppers with that, but it's your beer. I'd add the peppers separately to have more control over the amount, or add to only a part of the batch.

The pericarp contains most of the peppers' "vegetable" flavor. The glands (and seeds) have most of the heat. So there's that balance to consider.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Not sure why you want the hot peppers with that

This is an example of why: https://www.stonebrewing.com/beer/special-releases/stone-xocoveza#ageGatePassed

 

[Abrayton]

I’ve used hot peppers successfully several times including my favorite Holy Gost Pepper Porter and Jalapeño Honey Wheat.