Vanilla Bourbon Porter Recipe

Brewed/Started On: 11/7/09
Bottled: 12/13/09

Yield: 5 gal
OG: 1.062
FG: 1.020

Crush:
12 lbs. American 2 Row Malt (1.8L)
1 lb. Crystal Malt (80L)
10 oz. Belgian Chocolate Malt (350L)

Other Ingredients:
1 oz. Hallertau hops (60 min.)
.5 oz. Hallertau hops (15 min.)
.5 oz. Hallertau hops (5 min.)

Vanilla Bourbon Extract:
French Oak Cubes – Medium Toast (3oz. bag)
5 – Whole Vanilla Beans
1c – Bourbon

Slice the 5 vanilla beans lengthwise, spread open, and cut into quarters.
Place oak cubes into a colander, rinse quickly with cold water, and dump cubes into a mason jar (or other sealable jar of comparable size).
Add all vanilla beans to mason jar.
Pour 1c bourbon into jar, ensuring that both oak cubes and vanilla beans are submerged. Seal jar, and tumble gently to ensure even distribution of oak cubes and vanilla. Let jar rest during period of primary fermentation, tumbling to mix every other day.
Mashing/Brewing/Fermentation
Pour 2 gal boiling water into plastic cooler mash tun (if applicable). Let rest to preheat.
Heat 2.5 gal bottled spring water (or dechlorinated tap water) to 170 F.
Empty water from mash tun.
Pour about .5 gal of 170 F water into mash tun (or enough to bring water level above false bottom)
Gradually add crushed grains, mix thoroughly, add more water, and repeat until all grains and 2.5 gal water is in mash tun.
Stir until mixture is uniform, and no clumps exist. Do so quickly enough to keep from losing too much heat, but avoid agitating/aerating the mixture.
Seal-off cooler and let grains steep at approx. 153 F for 60 min.
Add 1 gal of 175F water to raise temperature to 168F for 15 min. mash-out.
After 90 min, open mash tun valve slightly to release a small amount of sweet wort. Use iodine test to check starch conversion.
After starch conversion is complete, open valve to release ~1 quart of wort. Close valve, and pour the wort back slowly down the inside wall of the mash/lauter tun. Repeat ~3x until liquid runs clean with few grain husks.
Open valve completely, and empty all wort from lauter tun into a large brew pot that's capable of boiling 6 gal of wort without boiling over.
Close valve to begin sparge.
Sparge grains with 3 to 3.5 gal (for a total of 6 gal added since beginning of batch) of 170 F water, emptying runoff into brewpot.
Boil enough water to be added to the brewpot so there's 6 gal total.
Meanwhile, place brewpot on burner, and turn gas on high.
Bring wort to boil, and immediately add 1oz Hallertau hops for bittering.
Boil 45 min., then add .5 oz. Hallertau flavor hops.
Boil for 10 min., then add .5 oz. Hallertau aroma hops. Boil for 5 more minutes, then remove from heat.
Cool rapidly to 80 F using immersion chiller (or other method), and add room temperature water until 5.25 gal total. (May add chilled water to speed-up cool-down.)
Transfer wort into fermentation vessel (pref. 6+ gallon glass carboy) and aerate.
Add one packet of Wyeast 1098 British Ale liquid yeast. Stir yeast into wort to ensure it gets mixed uniformly.
Seal off carboy with airlock and let ferment in dark closet at approx 75 F for 7-10 days. (after which active fermentation should be complete).
Pour vanilla bourbon extract through wire sieve, reserving the extract. Separate oak cubes from vanilla beans, then add all oak cubes to sanitized 5 gal glass carboy for secondary fermentation.
Add half of vanilla beans to the 5 gal carboy.
Transfer beer from primary carboy to secondary 5 gal carboy, seal off with airlock, and let sit in same storage conditions for 2 weeks.
After 2 weeks, use Beer Thief or other method to remove small sample to taste. Add up to all remaining vanilla extract and vanilla beans to taste.
After an additional 2 weeks, it’s time to bottle.
Add 1.25 c amber DME and 1 c pure spring water in saucepan and boil for 3 min.
Pour sugar/water mixture into 5 gal bucket, and transfer beer from secondary fermenter to bucket, stirring very carefully to ensure an even mix (do not aerate).
Bottle, and store in cool, dark closet for 3 weeks prior to drinking.
Beer should keep for at least 6 months.

(This recipe was adapted from James Spencer's "Molasses-Kissed Vanilla Porter" recipe, posted on basicbrewing.com)