Racking Onto Vanilla And Bourbon Chips

[Salt]

Hey all,

Just after some advice please.

I brewed a fairly simple Porter (OG 1.056) on Saturday, which I intend to turn into a Vanilla Bourbon Oak Porter...
I have two Vanilla Pods, and about 60g of Wild Turkey Bourbon Chips Soaking in enough Wild Turkey to cover the Chips.
I plan to let the Beer ferment out and rack to secondary ontop of the adjuncts for flavouring. I dont normally rack (usually just leave in primary) and have never added other things to Beer before other than Dry Hopping.

Question;
Are the Bourbon Chips sterile enough after soaking in Bourbon (101 proof) for 2 weeks? Do I need to sterilize the Vanilla Pods - or are they similar to Dry Hops and sweet to just go straight in? Or should I chop up the Vanilla Pods and add to the jar I have my chips and bourbon in?

Just after some good advice on the process of racking onto stuff (I know how to rack, but more, how would you all do it?) Do I just add the vanilla pods, bourbon and oak chips to the bottom of the secondary and rack on top?

Other recipes I've seen say to add the bourbon at the time of bottling, but I would like to 'age' it for a while with the chips and vanilla pods.

Any suggestions welcome
Thanks!!

 

[Dazza88]

Put the vanilla beans in the bourbon first.

Never used chips, there should b info here. I think u need to be careful with the time they remain in the beer.

Rack onto them, yep.

I have made a vanilla bourbon stout, I think I used a syringe at bottling to do half the batch. It was nice, a bit bourbon and coke like widely.

 

[fraser_john]

I make an american brown ale with 60gm oak chips and 250ml bourbon thrown in at the start of fermentation. Leave for about two weeks and then keg. The chips are soaked for about an hour prior to tossing in the fermenter, never had a problem with infection. 250ml of bourbon produces a very nice flavour that tastes quite sweet in the finished beer. Depending on your porter, it might balance off quite nicely.

 

[Salt]

Put the vanilla beans in the bourbon first.

Never used chips, there should b info here. I think u need to be careful with the time they remain in the beer.

Rack onto them, yep.

I have made a vanilla bourbon stout, I think I used a syringe at bottling to do half the batch. It was nice, a bit bourbon and coke like widely.

Ok will chuck the vanilla into the bourbon to help sterilze...

I plan to periodically taste once racked to ensure the taste is to my liking...although I read that its best to make it on the slightly stronger side in terms of flavour as it will mellow with age in the bottle.

I dont want Bourbon and Coke, so hopefully with the amounts Im using its not too Bourbon-ey...

Cheers

 

[Dazza88]

Search the us sites for recipes to judge a good amount of bourbon to use.

 

[Logman]

Just curious about if you are just using a Vanilla Bean in a keg, anything need to be done with that? I've got a Stout conditioning atm and just scraped it and chucked the lot in :unsure: