Help for a newbie - Adding Bourbon, Vanilla, and Mint to my Porter.

[Silverback23]

Hey Guys,

I'm An American stuck in South Sudan, so my access to supplies is limited. I brought over some DME and made a Porter last Sunday. Here's the deal, I was reading someones recipes online for a Russian Imperial stout, and they added some bourbon soaked vanilla beans, plus the bourbon. It sounded dreamy.

I actually got my hands on some fresh Vanilla beans from Zanzibar, and I want to add them to my porter, plus some mint, and bourbon. The Porter I made was a simple DME recipe.

6lbs of Dark DME Muntons (Crosby & Baker)

1.5 oz of Vanguard hops for 60 minutes

0.5 Vanguard in the last minute for aroma, though I added a little more and think I left for 5 minutes.

Yeast Safale S-04 Dry Ale yeast.

My Question is how do to add the fresh mint I grew, bourbon, and the vanilla beans. It's been going for about week. My plan was to leave it for two more weeks in Primary, let the yeast do their business.

During that same time period soak the vanilla beans and mint in some bourbon about (2weeks). Then dump the bourbon mint, and vanilla int he primary. for a month, then bottle.

Any advice help? I'm a rookie, and love to experiment.

 

[woknblues]

I just brewed a chocolate milk stout that I secondary'ed cacao nibs with. Your method of adding that stuff appears sound to me. If I were you, in regards to the mint, I would add towards the end of the steeping, and remove it before pitching everything into the secondary. Green organic stuff probably doesn't do very well in beer if it isn't dried and cured first, of course. I could be wrong.

 

[Silverback23]

No, The beer is already brewed. I wanted to know if I could add the Vanilla, mint, and bourbon to the porter in the primary, after two weeks of fermenting in the primary.

 

[expatbrew]

Split the vanilla bean, scrape the inside, quarter the left over bean, and soak in a little bourbon for a week or so. Add to your beer. Let it sit for 1 to 2 weeks.

For the bourbon. Pull a small sample of beer(6oz), and add a small measured amount of bourbon. Record. add more slowly until you reach desired taste. Record that amount.
Up scale that account to match the volume of beer you have, and then add bourbon to bottling bucket at time of bottling.

 

[Silverback23]

Thanks Expat brew,

yeah I read that one from Denny Conn's Imperial Porter. I don't want to tinker too much by pulling samples, so I think i'll just add the soaked vanilla bourbon with the vanilla all at the same time. What do you think, I'll add the mint at this time too.

Where are you an expat? I'm an expat too. Thanks again!

 

[woknblues]

I just brewed a chocolate milk stout that I secondary'ed cacao nibs with. Your method of adding that stuff appears sound to me. If I were you, in regards to the mint, I would add towards the end of the steeping, and remove it before pitching everything into the secondary. Green organic stuff probably doesn't do very well in beer if it isn't dried and cured first, of course. I could be wrong.

No, The beer is already brewed. I wanted to know if I could add the Vanilla, mint, and bourbon to the porter in the primary, after two weeks of fermenting in the primary.

No, what I mean is that I would not add mint directly to the beer or wort or anything, but rather, steep it in the alcohol first, then after a couple days, remove the vegetal matter, then pitch it in.

 

[Silverback23]

No, what I mean is that I would not add mint directly to the beer or wort or anything, but rather, steep it in the alcohol first, then after a couple days, remove the vegetal matter, then pitch it in.

ok, thanks for the follow up. So i decided to go with Cognac instead of bourbon for sweetness, my own mint i grew in the back yard, and some nice Vanilla i picked up in Zanzibar on vacation. I will steep it for two weeks. Then throw it in the primary for another three weeks. Let's see what the yeast do in this time frame. My wife swears it will be good, and she's never brewed a beer in her life