Vanilla Bourbon Oatmeal Coffee Stout

[suenodos]

So,

I am going to brew the oatmeal stout partial mash kit ( http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/oatmeal-stout-partial-mash-kit-1.html ) from Northern Brewer. I just don't want to be normal.

I want to just add all the ingredients I've ever wanted in a stout. I want to make this simple oatmeal stout into a vanilla bourbon oatmeal coffee stout. I want to add the following to secondary:

1 unit vanilla bean
8 ounces bourbon
2 ounces coffee beans
Maybe oak chips


Do you think this is a bad idea? How much do you think I should add of the additions? Do you think the beer will turn out bad? Would I have to change the original recipe to compensate for the additions? What are your thoughts? I want to know.

Thanks!

 

[jetmac]

How about cherry wood rather than oak?

 

[elkdog]

IMHO, that's too many extra flavors, and they'll either mask the flavor of the beer or compete with each other.

I'd suggest that the oak and vanilla might be redundant, and that the oak might overpower the vanilla anyway.
If you want to add coffee, I think cold-pressing some is the way to get coffee-ness without the bitterness, but I think bourbon and either oak or vanilla would be nice. Personally, bourbon-vanilla sounds like it would accent a stout nicely. I don't think I'd add the others if I was adding coffee, personally.
I don't do much in the way of adjunct flavorings anymore in my brews, but that's my own taste showing through (when it comes to beer I want 5g of, my tastes are a bit conservative). I've done bourbon-oak in a brown ale and coffee in a stout. Both were good, though I'd start with just 1 oz. of oak, give it a week, and then see how you like it. Oak can get overpowering. You can always add more of it, but you can't take it out, so consider adding it incrementally. You'll also be able to really get a grasp of how oak impacts the flavor that way.
Your stout will have complexity by itself, so aim to use your adjunct flavors to highlight and enhance that complexity. Make a beer that you'd like all by itself, and then judiciously add flavors that complement the beer and each other (if you add more than one).

 

[suenodos]

So honestly, you're probably right. I think I'm just going to skip the oak and the coffee. I think I'm just going to soak the vanilla bean in 4 ounces of bourbon. Then I'll just dump the whole thing into secondary. I hope something as small as those ingredients impacts positively on the beer. I kind of want the bourbon and vanilla to mellow really nicely. Having them just be detachable would be great.

 

[elkdog]

Sounds good. Don't forget that bourbon already has a load of oak flavor, too, and that there are vanillins in that oak, so the vanilla and bourbon will jive nicely. Think of it as Maker's Mark Plus. For the record, some folks use Maker's Mark, Woodford Reserve or other slightly nicer bourbons in their beers. As a bourbon lover, I don't see the point- Evan Williams is a cheaper, good bourbon, and I think it works just fine. The differences between it and the 30 dollar bottles are actually fairly subtle, and would be lost in the wash. Again, just my opinion.

 

[suenodos]

After reading the reviews of a lot of bourbons. I may just skip the vanilla bean altogether because it seems like the bourbon already takes care of the vanilla I'm looking for. Mind you, I am not a bourbon connoisseur. After all of this reduction, I wonder how much bourbon I should actually add now.

 

[elkdog]

After reading the reviews of a lot of bourbons. I may just skip the vanilla bean altogether because it seems like the bourbon already takes care of the vanilla I'm looking for. Mind you, I am not a bourbon connoisseur. After all of this reduction, I wonder how much bourbon I should actually add now.

I wouldn't bother with less than 4 oz., and wouldn't bat an eyelash at adding a pint. Add it in secondary or at bottling/kegging. Add 4 oz., stir, sample. No need to guess when you can dial it in to your taste.
Bourbon doesn't taste that much like vanilla, so if you want a vanilla note, you may want to still steep a bean in a few ounces of bourbon.

 

[michiganbob]

Hm, this sounds like a really nice idea. I've got a Russian Stout in the bucket right now, and you've got me thinking about what to do with it in secondary. If you do end up going this route in the next two weeks, let em know how it goes. =)

 

[sha0056]

there are some good examples of commercial beers that you could try to see if you like certain additions. Founder's Breakfast Stout is absolutely fantastic and is a chocolate coffee oatmeal stout (They also do a bourbon barrel version although I have not tried this).

I have recently brewed the Imperial Stout extract kit from Northern Brewer and added oak, bourbon, and coffee to secondary. has been in bottles for 3 weeks and will wait 2 more months to open the first, but a sample at bottling time was excellent.

bottom line - with homebrewing you can be creative, try different things, and see what you like best!

 

[carnevoodoo]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/denny-conns-bourbon-vanilla-imperial-porter-144612/

This is one of the best beers on the internet. A vanilla bourbon porter is a good time, as long as you balance the flavors. Adding the coffee might be a nice touch, too. A breakfast stout is an oat stout with chocolate and coffee, and with some bourbon that would be nice, too (like Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stout) and can easily be done.