vanilla beans in the keg?

I have an empty keg and wanted to put my vanilla porter in it. however, I havent yet added the vanilla to the secondary.

Anyone see any problem with just tossing the vanilla into the keg in a muslin bag (sanitized) and going on about kegging as normal? I assume by the time the carbonation is right, the vanilla flavor will be nicely distributed.

You should also sanitize the vanilla beans somehow(let them sit in vodka for some time?), because I think they can contain some bacteria if you want to throw them in to the secondary.
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I would make a vodka extract and add it prior to bottling - u can add it, taste it, and add it again until you'll find just the right spot.Just make sure you don't over do it, happened to me when adding spices to a stout, drinkable but not the best.

+1 to the above...I did the exact same thing. I used the cheapest vodka that I could find.

alright, beans are cut up in a mason jar in the fridge bathing in Bowmans. Im gonna let them sit for 3 days and then dump it all in the keg with the beans in a muslin bag.

How many beans??

I put one bean in a 5 gallon batch of oatmeal stout and it was MORE than enough bean, probably too much I think. Will only do half a bean next time.

What's the FG of the beer? I've used 2 in a chocolate stout to balance the cocoa nibs. Sliced long ways, soaked in vodka.

Maybe sanitize a marble or two and throw it in the muslin bag too, to keep things sitting on the bottom of the keg.

My only concern with going right onto the keg is that you don't have a way to control the flavor, your first beers will be 5 gallons on the vanilla for say a week. But by the time you pull the last beer (depending on how much/often you drink) it could be one gallon on vanilla for 3 weeks.

bacchusmj said:

Anyone see any problem with just tossing the vanilla into the keg in a muslin bag (sanitized) and going on about kegging as normal?

Click to expand...

nope works fine, i just did that with a milk stout. tossed in the chopped bean plus oak & bourbon it was soaking in

+1 to 1 bean being enough

I was thinking of soaking a vanilla bean in some spiced rum for a few days to sanitize and then throwing the whole bit into my keg which will be used as a secondary and then tap that after a couple of weeks...thoughts?