Scott Bridge Vanilla-Hazelnut Porter

Adapted from a Founders Porter clone recipe found on Homebrew Talk: https://homebrewtalk.com/threads/any-founders-porter-clone-recipes-or-info.160119/post-2063514

• Reduced Chocolate Malt from 1.25 to 1 lb
  
  
• Swapped out 6 oz Crystal Malt (120L) for 6 oz English Dark Crystal Malt (80L)
  
  
• MISTAKE: Munich Malt is a base malt, so I should not have steeped it as a specialty grain, at least not a whole pound of it. I'll see how the beer comes out with it steeped, but next time I will use 6 lbs of Gold LME and 2 lbs of Munich LME, without steeping any Munich Malt (OR do a partial mash, but I don't have the equipment for that yet). I might also reduce the amount of Carapils since there is a small amount of that in Briess Gold LME.
  
  Brewing, Finishing, and Packaging Notes:
  
  Brewed: Sunday, November 22nd, 2025
  
• OG: 1.057
  
  Tested (first sample): Friday, December 5th, 2025
  
  
• FG: 1.013 or 1.014 (75% attenuation; 5.64% ABV)
  
• Raised temperature of primary fermnenter to 70 degrees
  
  Tested (second sample): Sunday, December 7th, 2025
  
• FG: 1.012 (78% attenuation; 5.91% ABV)
  
  Bottled (without hazelnut or vanilla additions): Sunday, December 7th, 2025
  
• 11 12-ounce bottles with fizzy drops
  
  Hazelnut Addition: Sunday, December 7th, 2025
  
• Roasted 13 ounces of raw hazelnuts for 25 minutes at 325 degrees
  
• Blanched roasted hazelnuts in 190 degree water for 5 minutes, then transferred to bowl of ice water and rubbed off the skins as much as possible
  
• Added hazelnuts to “Depth Charge” stainless steel mesh filter infuser and dropped into primary fermenter
  
  Tested (third sample) on Sunday, December 14th, 2025 (7 days of hazelnut infusion)
  
• Hazelnut aroma and flavor was subtle but present
  
• I considered leaving them in for a few more days, but I want to see how the subtler nuttiness works with the vanilla addition
  
  Prepared Vanilla Tincture: Sunday, December 14th, 2025
  
• Mixed 3.5 teaspoons of vanilla bean paste into 3 teaspoons (1 tbsp) of bourbon and placed in refrigerator
  
• Planning to add vanilla tincture when kegging
  
  Added Vanilla-Bourbon Tincture and Kegged: Wednesday, December 17th, 2025
  
• Added entire tincture (3.5 tsp mixed in 1 tbsp of bourbon)
  
• Racked into keg and set CO2 to 20 psi
  
  Tasting Notes:
  
• Body is a bit lighter than I expected, I wonder if it would be worth using more Carapils next time. This could also be attributed to steeping the Munich malt instead of mashing.
  
• Vanilla flavor is present while not being too dominant, which I was concerned about. I would also be willing to add 1 more teaspoon of vanilla bean paste, but I assume any more would be too much and even 1 more teaspoon might produce more vanilla flavor than I like.
  
• Hazelnut is subtle and mostly shows on the finish; Next time, I will let the hazelnuts rest in the fermenter for at least 10 days.
  
• Overall, I'm very happy with this beer. It would be interesting to try this again with a more stout-like grain bill or with smaller adjustments that give it a fuller body.
  
  Pre-Brew Notes:
  
• Will add detail for the hazelnut and vanilla additions for secondary after more research.
  
• I plan to add ~6-12 ounces of roasted, chopped hazelnuts for up to a week after primary fermentation is completed.
  
• I plan to add 1-2 tablespoons of vanilla bean paste mixed into vodka or bourbon after removing the hazelnuts.