vanilla porter

I have a porter in my primary that I'm about ready to rack to the secondary either tonight or tomorrow. My question is will it turn out ok if I add vanilla extract to it at the time I rack it to the secondary. Also how much vanilla should I put it i don't want it to be to strong of a vanilla flavor.

Machine said:

I have a porter in my primary that I'm about ready to rack to the secondary either tonight or tomorrow. My question is will it turn out ok if I add vanilla extract to it at the time I rack it to the secondary. Also how much vanilla should I put it i don't want it to be to strong of a vanilla flavor.

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I brewed a spiced porter back in Feb that called for a vanilla bean to be put in the secondary and 2 tsp almond extract. Vanilla beans are kind of expensive and I could have put in 2 without it getting too strong. It was the almond extract that threatened to mess it up. However now 3 1/2 months after bottling it has smoothed out and turned out to be very drinkable.
As to the vanilla; I split the bean and scraped the seeds out and put it all into the secondary along with the almond extract. If I do it again, I'll use 2 beans and 1/2 to 1 tsp almond extract.

Don't know if you racked already, but using vanilla bean can be done cheaply. I personally have ordered from here with very good results.

Vanilla Porter.....sounds tasty! Think I might have to try that next.

Jason

Must be that time of year! I made a porter and then read on the site about adding vanilla. To get some of both, last weekend I bottled 1.5 gals of the porter and then added 1 fl oz of pure vanilla extract to the remaining 3.5gals. I intended to bottle the rest the next day...but did not. Just now tasted it from the secondary and it only has a very small hint of vanilla...the bittering comes thru. Since I'm wanting more, I just added another ounze of vanilla extract and should bottle it tomorrow. I think people usually say 1-2 oz of extract per 5gal, but tastes vary. Don't know if any of this helps.

I've only used beans and add them in the secondary. Probably two for a darker beer like a porter. I got mine on e-bay pretty cheap as my wife also makes flan.

I haven't used extract, but I don't see much advantage to adding it to the secondary other than it may 'meld' a little better. Extract is kind of powerful, so my course of action would be to add it to taste in the bottling bucket as opposed to the secondary.

Machine,

I just bottled my vanilla porter a few days ago. Trying to save some $$ I used vanilla extract instead of a vanilla bean. I added 1 oz during the last hop addition in the last few minutes of the boil. I tasted the beer right before I bottled and could detect a subtle vanilla flavor, but not quite what I was looking for. I added another 0.75 oz of vanilla extract before bottling. I'm going to give it 3 weeks in the bottle before trying it. From what I have read, vanilla beans give a smoother flavor but extract is easier to work with. Since it's mostly alcohol there isn't as much concern about sanitation.

Darren

I used two vanilla beans when I transferred into secondary. I left it in secondary for about a month, and the vanilla character completely dissapeared. It took all the roasty goodness from my porter too. It was a nice beer after it aged, albeit a little weird. Somewhat like Sam Adams black lager.

I recommend adding the vanilla beans no more than a week before bottling. That's when it smelled the best.