Need help adding vanilla to a cream ale

I will be getting the cream ale kit from northernbrewer today, and had a question about maybe adding a little bit of vanilla to the taste. This will only be my 3rd batch so I'm still very new to the process (still waiting for my first batch to bottle condition ). I do use a 5 gallon secondary for all my beers, so I could add something then.
What would be the easiest way to get just a hint of vanilla taste to this batch? All suggestions are appreciated. Here is what the kit contains:

Specialty Grains
0.75 lbs. Gambrinus Honey Malt
0.25 lbs. Dingemans Biscuit

Fermentables
6 lbs. Alexander's Pale

Boil Additions
1 oz. Mt. Hood (60 min)
1 oz. Willamette (1 min)

Yeast
Wyeast #1338 European Ale Yeast. From Wissenschaftliche in Munich. Full-bodied complex strain finishing very malty. Produces a dense, rocky head during fermentation. Flocculation: high. Apparent attenuation: 67-71%. Optimum temperature: 62-72.

I've done a couple of vanilla batches now--and honestly I won't use vanilla beans again. To my taste, it leaves a bitter astringency I don't like at all.

I'll use vanilla extract from now on. Unfortunately it is an experiment to what your tastes are. I'd start with a tablspoon or so in the secondary, so you can taste it along the way. If it needs more, add it and bottle thereafter.

ORRELSE, were you adding those beans to the secondary or in another part of the process? I've added them to the secondary without noticing any astringency, but it may be a matter of personal taste or even the vanilla beans themselves. OTOH, I've only added them to dark beers with other flavors so that could have masked any astringency that may have shown up in a lighter style.

One time I soaked the beans in vodka and added that to secondary. Another time I just added cut up (and sliced straight down the middle) to secondary. Both times I got that same unwanted twang. I can't describe it other than being "harsh".

I hadn't noticed anything like that other than in my oak barrel stout which definitely had tannin type astringency I associate with the oak based on my limited wine drinking. My attempt at the chocolate jitters is in the secondary now with a bean (which I got from that ebay seller, the bourbon type) which I hope to keg between Christmas and NY, so I'll see then. I've been steaming the whole bean for 5-10 minutes, splitting it with a sanitized knife, and then prying it open slightly to expose the seeds.

I'd start with one vanilla bean added to the secondary, split down the middle, but leave it in the secondary to mellow and mature (longer than 7-10 days). ORRELSE may be right about astringency though, having only used vanilla in porters or darker.

Come to think of it...I'm not necessarily sure a cream ale would have enough of it's own distinct body and flavor to support even vanilla suggestions. Thoughts anybody?

I've read recommendations of scraping out the inside of the bean before adding it to secondary.

I'm actually about to brew the exact same thing, a vanilla cream ale. A local brewer here makes one that is really nice. I think they use extract, though. Probably due to the cost of adding enough vanilla beans at such a large scale.

I have had great results with vanilla extract. 3 oz to the bottling bucket for a 5 gal batch of vanilla cream ale. No sanitation concerns due to the alcohol content of the extract and no off flavors for me. I have done this recipe many times due to its popularity.

That does seem a bit easier, and probably cheaper. I might just do that. Vanilla beans just seem so much more authentic

would there be any benifit to adding the extract earlier?..say in the primary?...

The last time I added extract to a primary I got some really wierd tastes. Since then I have added to the secondary and have not had them back to haunt me. Tomorrow I will be brewing a vanilla porter in which I will be adding 1 whole vanilla bean to the secondary. I will let you know if I get some strange flavors.

Vanilla Porter is what I am planning to brew next...do you have a recipe you are willing to share?

Sure, it is a extract recipe with specialty grains. 5 gal recipe

.63lb Chocolate Malt
.75Lb UK Dark Crystal Malt
.50Lb Flakd Barely
6.6lb Pale Mart Extract Syrup
.33oz Galena (60min)
1oz Cascade (30min)
1oz Tettnang (10 min)
1tsp Irish Moss
1stp Gypsum
Wyeast 1098 British Ale

OG - Recipe calculator ~1.050
FG - 1.014-1.010

Ferment at 68F-72F - 7 days

I have not made this recipe yet. I will let you know how it turns out if it is before you brew. My LHBS recommended this to me.

I recently bottled a vanilla cream ale that turned out fabulous. I ended up adding about 2.5 oz of vanilla extract @ bottling (stirred it in w the priming sugar) ... what I did, was add a couple drops to a pint and then sample it. I thought it came off as overwhelming, so I decided that, rather than risk overdoing it, I would keep the vanilla as a 'secondary flavor' of the beer. Since the recipe called for 3 oz, I added about 2.5... and I'll probably repeat the recipe soon


also, I think some extracts are better than others - make sure you get one that says 'pure vanilla extract' on it, maybe a little more expensive than the other ones. Just to be on the safe side, na'mean?

adrphij said:

Vanilla Porter is what I am planning to brew next...do you have a recipe you are willing to share?

Click to expand...

Well, I just kegged the vanilla porter last night and taped it today with force carb this morning. All in all I am very pleased with the bear. My wife does like it also. I had always thought that I would like a sweet vanilla aftertaste in a porter. Now that I am drinking this beer, well I think that I could do without it. Good beer, but sweets are not for a porter...MHO.