vanilla question

I am going to brew a new stout recipie and i wanted to know if its ok that the vanilla extract i am using has sodium benzoate. ive looked into its purpose as its a preservative but is it ok for the fermentation stage?



Ps i know this is unrelated with brewing but right now ive got an optical migrane today anyone know how i can get rid of it? It really sucks having it.

Yes, Vanilla Extract is 40% alcohol. I have used it many times and have found the best time to add it to your beer is right before bottling/kegging. When I have put it in before fermenting it tends to drop to the bottom and not get mixed in.

I use 5 tablespoons per 5 gallons.

TD

I've always/only used pure vanilla extract from the farmers market and added it in teh secondary. Worked well. YMMV

I just brewed the AG vanilla caramel cream ale from the recipe section here. It calls for 8 oz which seems like an awful lot for a 5 gal batch, but it sounds like a lot of people have brewed it. Anyway, I returned the first bottles of imitation vanilla extract, because of preservatives, and got some without. In Ed's apfelwein thread he talks about preservatives being harmful to yeast, so I follow that guideline. Better safe than sorry.

I know this sounds weird but when I used to get migraines, if I loaded up on caffeine it would really help. This never made sense to me but somehow the caffeine, which constricts blood vessels, would make the pain go away.

Nurmey said:

I know this sounds weird but when I used to get migraines, if I loaded up on caffeine it would really help. This never made sense to me but somehow the caffeine, which constricts blood vessels, would make the pain go away.

Click to expand...

The expanded blood vessels cause pressure against nerves... resulting in headache. Constricted blood vessels relieve the pressure.

-OCD

awesome! thanks for all the help everybody. I kinda caved and copped out on waiting for any suggestions so i took like 3 kinds of pain killers. so i can see properly now but ive got a mild headache.

so all is well now. i finished the brew for today and now im just relaxing with my a canadian red ale that has finished conditioning now. If your a driller youll understand the name of it. i called it Bailer Breaker, long story....