Possible tertiary fermentation?

[8dannyB2]

For my next brew I'm looking to do a chocolate vanilla coffee stout. My goal is to have a brew that is very chocolate toward with hints of vanilla and subtle hints of coffee. My original plan is to add bourbon soaked vanilla beans and French oak chips to secondary as well as cold brewed coffee(2oz) and cocoa nibs and letting it all age for at least 4 months. My concern is will aging for that long diminish or intensify any of those flavors more than I want to. Should I think about a third ferrntation and splitting up the additions in the two? If so, in what sequence to optimize the flavors? Also should I worry about the cocoa nibs making te beer more bitter than I'm looking for? Any input is appreciated. Cheers!

 

[eastoak]

pretty complicated goals for that beer with no real way to know what will happen in 4 months. but what i would do is flush an empty fermentor with CO2, transfer the beer then add the flavorings into that vessel with no more transfers. if i was going for 4 months i would add the beans and oak sometime after the 2 month mark and the coffee after the 3rd month. all of these are wild guesses from the outer reaches of my mind since i couldn't really imagine myself doing this in reality but i thought i would give it a shot anyway.

don't skip the CO2 flushes if you are going to be moving this beer around or else you will be wasting your time on an oxidized beer.

 

[8dannyB2]

Thanks east! I never knew about doing a co2 flush. Should I be doing this for all secondary fermentations including shorter ones for only a few weeks?

 

[eastoak]

Thanks east! I never knew about doing a co2 flush. Should I be doing this for all secondary fermentations including shorter ones for only a few weeks?

the issue is not of the amount of time that the beer will be in the fermentor, it has to do with the O2 in an empty fermentor getting mixed into your beer while you are transferring it. if you are transferring 2 or 3 times you certainly want to do it under a blanket of CO2 and not plain air.