Weird question: Does vanilla kill yeast?

Several months ago, my girlfriend (who is a chef) proposed we add vanilla to the priming solution before bottling. That beer never carbonated, we assumed we had bad yeast.

A couple of weeks ago, we brewed a Pale Ale and tried to add some vanilla again, but this time, we added 3 vanilla seeds during the last 10 minutes of the boil. The beer has been bottled for 10 days and hasn't carbonated one bit.

These are the only two times I have brewed beer and failed to get any carbonation. We oxygenated the beer and pitched the yeast at an adequate temperature. FG levels were normal before bottling.

Is vanilla cursed? haha

The extracts and pastes and stuff contain preservatives that kill yeast but usualy vanilla pods are fine ive added vanilla pods a lot before brewing.

True, and this batch did ferment, as the FG was close to the expected value. It's been two weeks since I bottled and there is still no carbonation. The beer tastes fine but is undrinkable with no gas.
Should I give up? Should I uncap, add drops of a new priming solution and recap? Any suggestions?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

kef300 said:

True, and this batch did ferment, as the FG was close to the expected value. It's been two weeks since I bottled and there is still no carbonation. The beer tastes fine but is undrinkable with no gas.
Should I give up? Should I uncap, add drops of a new priming solution and recap? Any suggestions?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Click to expand...

Wait. Two weeks isn't enough carb time even at 70*F. Give it another week. If the storage temps are cooler than 70*F, you'll have to give it longer still.

Vanilla is regularly added to secondary in loads of beers with no effect on later carbonation, so why would anything change by adding it at bottling time? No, something else is going on.

were these higher gravity beers? I know my first beer took over a month to carbonate up. The second one has been in the bottle for over a month now and it wasn't carbonated last friday. The room I have been keeping the bottles in has been a little on the cool side....about 66-68*.

With the first one after 3 weeks I turned each bottle over and put them back in the rack...the following week there was carbonation.