vanilla steeping

i just a bought a vanilla porter kit from my local homebrew shop. The instructions tell you do go about the normal steps and all then but the before the transfer to secondary is says to steep 2 vanilla beans at 170 for 20 minutes, do i only need to add the water to the secondary or the just the vanilla beans or both? if so how much water should i add?

thanks in advance

Hmmm, I've never steeped in hot water, but have had excellent results soaking the inner seed and exterior in bourbon (or other spirit) for a week or so and then adding the entire thing to secondary.

wonderbread23 said:

Hmmm, I've never steeped in hot water, but have had excellent results soaking the inner seed and exterior in bourbon (or other spirit) for a week or so and then adding the entire thing to secondary.

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That's the way I do it, but i usually leave the vainilla and the bourbon together for a month.

how much bourbon and how do you keep it sanitary?

I assure you the bourbon is pretty sanitary

Most of the flavor compounds your after in a vanilla bean are alcohol soluble. This why pure vanilla extract has alcohol in it. I just posted this in another thread, here's what I put into my Vanilla Bourbon Baltic Porter


Racked to secondary onto 16 oz of burbon
8oz's of wild turkey
8oz of knob creek
Bourbon had 2 vanilla beans, split and halved soaking in it for aprroximately 2 weeks. and 1 oz of oak CUBES for 1.5 weeks.
2.5 weeks primary
1.5 weeks secondary
3.5 weeks in the bottle to carb.

And Yeah at the ABV level of bourbon nothing is living in it.