London Porter taste keeps changing in secondary

[griffinv]

My bf and I are on our fourth batch of beer, so we're pretty new to brewing.

At the end of May, we brewed a London Porter and added some vanilla to it (about 3 sticks, scored and scraped and soaked in vodka for a week - maybe less than a week). The directions said to leave it in primary for 2 weeks and secondary for 4 weeks. The vanilla was added to secondary when we transferred.

So we've actually had it in secondary for 6 weeks now, because every time we taste test it, the flavor seems to change. At 4 weeks, it seemed way too bitter.. a week later, it seemed like the bitterness was going away, but it wasn't quite where we wanted it. And now at six weeks it seems to be extremely bitter again.

Is this normal? Should we just bottle it and let it condition in the bottle a little?

Appreciate any thoughts or advice!

 

[HBngNOK]

I can only recant the wisdom of others, as I consider myself a new brewer as well. Bottle it, put it away in a dark, quiet, relatively constant temp area and check it in six months, if still not satisfactory wait six more months, repeat.

I have some bourbon barrel porter that is finally becoming drinkable after a year and a half.