Vanilla & Oak Porter

[madbulldog]

I have a 5 gallon batch of beer in the primary fermentor right now. When it is finished I will transfer it to the secondary and add Oak Chips and two fresh Vanilla beans.

How long would you recommend I keep them in there before bottling?

Any other recommendations?

 

[Golddiggie]

I would at least split the vanilla beans, so that you can extract more from them. You might want to start with a single bean too, not two. If you don't get the flavor you're looking for after a couple of weeks, add the second bean. I would advise tasting after a week. I would also do the bean while still on the yeast cake. That way, you only rack one extra time, to get off the vanilla beans and onto the oak chips.

For oak chips, you might want to add those after you get the vanilla into the brew. Depending on the toast level that is. Depending on how much oak you're going to use, will determine how much flavor you'll get, and how fast.

For treating the oak chips before putting into the brew, I simply boiled some water in a tea kettle, and poured enough to cover the chips, in a [sanitized] jar. I then covered the jar and let them cool to room temp before pitching the entire thing into the brew. No point in tossing the oak tea, since that's at least part of what I was looking to get into the brew.

I had a brew sitting on 3/4oz of medium toast chips for 5.5 weeks... I tried it after about two weeks and it wasn't ready (had another brewer taste it too) Figured a month, or more, would be good. Bottled the batch three weeks ago and put two bottles into the fridge today to chill down and try out in a few more days (or over the weekend)...

 

[madbulldog]

So you are saying that I should put one of the vanilla beans in the primary now?

I have 3 ounces of medium toasted oak chips, and was planning on using all of it. Would you recommend not using that much of it?

 

[Golddiggie]

So you are saying that I should put one of the vanilla beans in the primary now?

No, I would wait until fermentation is complete before adding it... Make sure the brew tastes right before adding new elements.

I have 3 ounces of medium toasted oak chips, and was planning on using all of it. Would you recommend not using that much of it?

I would start off with 1oz (or less) initially, You can always add more if you want, or don't want to wait for the flavor to be extracted. If you do the full 3oz you'll have to pay more attention to the flavor contributions and how long the brew is on those elements.

Personally, I'd rather give it more time to extract, or give it time and add more elements later than toss in a bunch at the start only to have it get away from me. It's far easier to add in smaller amounts, building to what you want, then to add in a lot only to have it become too much in a hurry. To get the flavors to mellow out from being too much, takes time... How much depends on the flavor and how much it needs to mellow. If you catch it early, it could be a short amount of time. If you catch it too late (could be a matter of just a few days) then it could take months to age out/mellow...

The chips I picked up (also medium toast) were in a 4oz package... I still have about 2.5oz left (used 3/4oz in two brews)... I also have some oak cubes since I want to use those in some mead. All medium toast, but different countries of origin... That will also make for different flavors...

 

[madbulldog]

Awesome ideas! Let me know how the final product turned out.