dotknott

Recipes 

With dextrose being the recommendation for priming, i was wondering what thoughts you guys had on using "vanilla sugar" as a priming sugar as it is nothing more than dextrose and vanilla extract.

I'm thinking of making a vanilla porter, and I was wondering how much of an impact that would make on the final product being added that late in the game..

I have other options too, like beans.. whole, ground, or chopped, but I thought it might be an interesting option but I'm not exactly sure if it is a good one.

BigEd

Recipes 

It's not going to hurt anything but I think you should get all your flavors into the beer before priming. The amount of priming sugar per bottle is small enough that any flavorings will probably have a minimal impact. I would key in on just using the priming for carbonation and try to get that to the level you want.

dotknott

Recipes 

I'm not planning to get all my flavor from the vanilla sugar..

Okay.. better way to ask the question perhaps.. how much flavor/aroma does priming with brown sugar impart vs dextrose.

in theory, the vanilla sugar would do the same, just with a different flavor. (vanilla vs molasses)

BigEd

Recipes 

I understand you weren't, I was trying to explain that the amount of priming sugar is so small that it's flavor contribution is also small. IMO trying to get flavor out of the priming addition is more trouble than it's worth and substituting honey or brown sugar or some other fermentable is more likely to negatively impact your desired level of carbonation than do anything else. Using vanilla sugar won't change the amount of priming sugar but it is unlikely to add significant flavor so as I said earlier that substitution isn't going to do any harm.