I recently was tricked into buying an Anheuser Busch Winter?s Bourbon Cask Ale. It was after I checked out that the checker pointed out it was an AB product. Doh!

I was subtly surprised that it was as good as it turned out. While I was pleased with the flavors offered I still think the flavors were too subtle and should have been stronger. On my third glass I offered a sip to my SWMBO wife. She promptly refused when I told her what it was. A little nudge and she tried it. The eyes popped open and she exclaimed Wow! I like it. Tonight I got home and she found my other stash and was on her second one. Her friend had been over earlier and she liked it too. So I was asked "Can you make something like this?"

Well sometime back some eBay idiot was posting Denny's Bourbon Vanilla Porter recipe while trying to sell vanilla beans. I didn't capture the recipe..... I know the AB product is not a Porter but .... what the heck.

Denny if you don't mind may I get you latest rendition please?



From AB's website:
For those who appreciate a smooth, robust brew with rich aromas, this seasonal offering is brewed with dark roasted carapils, caramel and two-row barley malts and imported Hallertau and Alsace hops. It is then aged on bourbon oak casks and whole Madagascar vanilla beans.

I was at a local high end market chain and they had a huge display of micro winter beers and on the end corner (I am sure they payed big bucks for) they had their beer and I almost got sucked in, but being the big skeptic that I am I started searching the 6 pack holder for a clue. I eventually found the AB name on the bottom. I least give them credit to them for printing it. We have a local brewery, Portland/Pyramid that produces lines of beer and you can not tell who brewed it and the same with Trader Joes, but they give you obvious hints on the bottles or descriptions.

I've made an oaked, bourbon, vanilla stout - very nice combo.

I've also made a vanilla cream ale that was a hit with SWMBO and her friends. Used pure vanilla extract for simplicity, but next time I'll probably do the real vanilla bean thing (which I did on the stout).

I've got a vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg mead (metheglin) in the secondary now - been aging for a few months - can't wait to taste that one when I bottle it.

FWIW, I bought 10 organic Madagascar vanilla beans from some vendor on e-Bay. Very satisfied with the product (great price too) and will likely order from them again.

DC's Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 6.00 Wort Size (Gal): 6.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 19.75
Anticipated OG: 1.084 Plato: 20.24
Anticipated SRM: 40.1
Anticipated IBU: 46.1
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70 %
Wort Boil Time: 75 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
65.8 13.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) Great Britain 1.038 3
7.6 1.50 lbs. Brown Malt Great Britain 1.032 70
12.7 2.50 lbs. Munich Malt Germany 1.037 8
5.1 1.00 lbs. Crystal 105L Great Britain 1.033 105
2.5 0.50 lbs. Crystal 40L America 1.034 40
6.3 1.25 lbs. Chocolate Malt America 1.029 350

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.00 oz. Magnum Whole 14.00 44.6 60 min.
0.50 oz. Goldings - E.K. Whole 4.75 1.5 10 min.

Extras

Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.00 Tsp Irish Moss Fining 15 Min.(boil)

Yeast
-----
WYeast 1056 Amercan Ale/Chico

Notes
-----

After primary, slit open 2 vanilla beans. Scrape the insides, chop the pods
into quarters, add to secondary fermenter, rack beer onto vanilla. Taste p
eriodically for the correct balance. I left the beer in secondary for 11 da
ys. Rack to bottling bucket and add 10 ml. per pint of Jim Beam Black Bourb
on (or to your taste). Bottle, enjoy!

TimO: is this a revised version of the recipe? It has a slightly different grain bill than the one Denny posted here: http://www.tastybrew.com/forum/thread/17139

Might be revised, but not by me......I got this one from the NB site months ago. It has his notes in it but I never messed with it and its been on my computer here at work since.

This is a good way for error propagation to start, eh?

I've not made it yet but have heard the guys and gals here rave about it.

TimO

I believe Denny has said the 0.5 lb chocolate malt was a mistake and it really should be 1.25 lb chocolate malt.

Sounds right Mike, there was a big thread on this in NB and Denny had said it was updated.

I take it the extra 2lbs of Pale Malt is also an update then.
Thanks for the heads up. I was working out the sparge schedule for it and saw the different grain totals and got confused.

I think the base grain difference may be due to the different efficiencies listed in the recipe.

This is the recipe as brewed for this year's batch...

#264 Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 17.75
Anticipated OG: 1.086 Plato: 20.58
Anticipated SRM: 45.4
Anticipated IBU: 31.8
Brewhouse Efficiency: 73 %
Wort Boil Time: 70 Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts
----------------

Evaporation Rate: 1.50 Gallons Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 6.75 Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.063 SG 15.52 Plato


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
62.0 11.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
8.5 1.50 lbs. Brown Malt Great Britain 1.032 70
2.8 0.50 lbs. Crystal 40L America 1.034 40
14.1 2.50 lbs. Munich Malt (Durst) Germany 1.037 10
5.6 1.00 lbs. Crystal 120L America 1.033 120
7.0 1.25 lbs. Chocolate Malt America 1.029 350

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.65 oz. Magnum-Domestic Whole 15.00 29.2 60 min.
0.40 oz. Goldings - E.K. Whole 6.00 2.6 10 min.


Extras

Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.00 Unit(s)Whirlfloc Fining 15 Min.(boil)


Yeast
-----

DCL Yeast US-56 Fermentis American Ale


Mash Schedule
-------------

Mash Name:

Total Grain Lbs: 17.75
Total Water Qts: 23.00 - Before Additional Infusions
Total Water Gal: 5.75 - Before Additional Infusions

Tun Thermal Mass: 0.13
Grain Temp: 65.00 F


Step Rest Start Stop Heat Infuse Infuse Infuse
Step Name Time Time Temp Temp Type Temp Amount Ratio
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sacc 0 60 155 155 Infuse 172 23.00 1.30


Total Water Qts: 23.00 - After Additional Infusions
Total Water Gal: 5.75 - After Additional Infusions
Total Mash Volume Gal: 7.17 - After Additional Infusions

All temperature measurements are degrees Fahrenheit.
All infusion amounts are in Quarts.
All infusion ratios are Quarts/Lbs.

Thanks Denny, I've just renamed the other one as a variation. I've also copy pasted to a clipboard your version as the original reference and I'll go back tonight and update my databse. Sorry for error propagation. I'm sure both are tasty, but when somebody asks for the 'original' then I'd like to think thats what I have to give.

TimO

Thanks Denny, The 4 others I found on different boards were all different than the one above..... I wish Rob would install the Brewthology DataBase.... (hint hint)

Can anyone give me some suggestions on water volumes for this recipe?

The 'general' rule of 1.25 quarts per lb of grain and then 1/2 gallon per lb for sparge ends up with around 14 gallons of water, which is likely to end up with over 10 gallons after boil. What amounts are being used to end up with a 5.75 gallon batch as the recipe states?

This will depend on your system, but I believe with around 18 pounds of grain you will have just under 2.5 gallons, roughly, absorbed by the grains. You are looking for approximately 4.5 gallons to mash and 4.5 gallons to sparge. You will need to brew this once or twice to get the numbers right with your setup.

TimO

This is the process I use based on the fact that you are trying to get equal amounts from the two runnings.

So first figure out how much you figure will evaporate during the boil (in my case 2.25 gallons) and add that to the total you want to go to the fermenter (5.75).
5.75 + 2.25 = 8 gallons

Now we want equal amounts from both runnings and since by the second runnings no more absorption should take place you can expect to get everything out you put in.
8 / 2 = 4 gallons

For the first runnings we expect it to absorb a significant amount of water so we can add that here. I use 0.1 gallons per pound of grain but you may wish to adjust that based on your experience.
(17.75 lbs * 0.1) + 4 gallons = 5.775 gallon

So now we have to work with that 5.775 gallons considering water to grain ratio, absorption, and mash temperature. I use Tastybrew's infusion calculator ( http://tastybrew.com/calculators/infusion.html ). Using this calculator all you can really tweak is your grain to water ratio. I work with that until that calculator tells me to use the same amount of water as calculated for the first runnings ; in this case 5.775 Gallons or 23.1 quarts. If you have to use a higher than desired ratio that you simply set the lower ratio and make up the difference with boiling water[1] right before you mash out. From discussions on this board it seems like the range of acceptable ratio is large (.75 to 1.4) so anything in 1.0 - 1.3 range is acceptable.
Grain Temp = 65
Desired Mash Temp = 155
Total Grain Weight= 17.75
Ratio = 1.3
equal 5.775 gallons @ 168.8 ?F. You might add a degree or two if you don't preheat your tun.

So there you have it. If you want a lower ratio simply make up the difference in infusion amount by adding boiling water right before mash out.

So the breakdown:
17.75lbs of grain using 1.3 grain to water ratio.
5.775 Gallons (21.3 quarts) at 168.8 ?F
-1.775 Gallons to absorption
4 Gallons from first runnings
+ 4 Gallons at 170 ?F from second runnings
8 gallons for boil

Bryan


[1] as long as the amount of boiling water won't jump your temp beyond 170 or whatever it takes to extract tannins.