Vanilla in a milk chocolate oatmeal stout

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TheDrunkChef

TheDrunkChef

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I have both beans and REAL extract that I get from the restaurant I work at, and I am considering the idea of adding a touch of vanilla flavor to my Milk Chocolate Oatmeal Stout which I will be brewing in an hour or so. I am using 8 oz of cocoa powder for the chocolate and would like that to be the prominent flavor. but considering vanilla is a factor in making chocolate I think they would compliment each other well in my beer. How would you add the vanilla, boil it for 5 or 10 minutes? add it to the primary or secondary? and which would you use, the beans or extract? and how much would be required to get just a subtle vanilla flavor and aroma? I also will be using 8 oz of lactose to give it a true Milk Chocolate flavor.
 
Not sure on the beans- haven't done it, so I don't want to venture an uninformed guess.

Add the extract to secondary, a little at a time, until it tastes like you want it to. How much you need will depend on your extract, but start fairly conservatively, as you can't remove it if you add too much.
 
Vanilla is a nice compliment to a chocolate stout, but a little does go a long way. I've only ever used beans because I've tasted beer with extract in it, and I like the flavor of the vanilla beans more. You would add them at secondary time (I leave everything in primary and just add them). Cut, scrape, add, and then after a few days taste. When it gets to where you want it, rack to bottling bucket or keg.
 
I added a single bean to the secondary of my double chocolate stout. It was just enough to even out the bitterness and make it less harsh, but not enough that you actually taste any vanilla. Came out perfect if you ask me.
 
just so i know, what would boiling them for a short period of time do? I know from cooking that heat tends to really bring out the flavor and aroma of vanilla beans, but my thinking is that sitting in fermentation might cancel that out.
 
I scraped a bean and put it in the boil at about 5 min when I made my chocolate stout. Vanilla really brings out the chocolate flavor, so you won't so much taste the vanilla as just have a richer chocolate sweetness. I loved that beer and it won mutiple awards.
 
TheDrunkChef said:
just so i know, what would boiling them for a short period of time do? I know from cooking that heat tends to really bring out the flavor and aroma of vanilla beans, but my thinking is that sitting in fermentation might cancel that out.
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Why would you boil it? If you're worried about sanitation, add it to vodka and then dump it in.
 
Tonedef131 said:
Because heat extracts the flavors...why wouldn't you boil it?
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Touche. :)

You get a lot of flavor out of the secondary method, and I think it allows for more control than if you add it at boil. If you add too much, you're stuck with it. If you rack onto it, you can taste until it has absorbed enough flavor to your liking.
 
carnevoodoo said:
Why would you boil it? If you're worried about sanitation, add it to vodka and then dump it in.
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Sanitation is the least of my concerns when it comes to adding to secondary, Tonedef131 has a good point, why not boil it. My concern was that it might just be a waste of the bean, however if others have had good experiences with adding them to the boil with the cocoa than I think it would really help in "melding" the flavors together.
 
ChshreCat said:
I added a single bean to the secondary of my double chocolate stout. It was just enough to even out the bitterness and make it less harsh, but not enough that you actually taste any vanilla. Came out perfect if you ask me.
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Same, but mine was 2 beans and 16oz coco.

Could not taste vanilla but felt it gave a great balance.
 
Add some strawberries also and call it a Neapolitan stout.......actually that sounds good, i think i'm going to have to do that......like right now! :)
 
Christian said:
Add some strawberries also and call it a Neapolitan stout.......actually that sounds good, i think i'm going to have to do that......like right now! :)
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Yeah, but to really make it Neapolitan you need to make a chocolate stout, a strawberry wheat and a vanilla cream ale. Then pour them like a three-layered black & tan. :D
 
I just ended up adding 2 vanilla beans to the boil in the last 5 minutes, split it and scraped the seeds to maximize flavor. I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
carnevoodoo said:
You get a lot of flavor out of the secondary method, and I think it allows for more control than if you add it at boil. If you add too much, you're stuck with it. If you rack onto it, you can taste until it has absorbed enough flavor to your liking.
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Exactly why I like added the beans in the secondary or the extract at packaging....you have more control over how much vanilla winds up in the final flavor profile.
 
hmmmm.. i'm very interested to see how adding the beans in the boil impacts the flavor. I did a vanilla bourbon porter a few months back and added 3 vanilla beans soaked in 2 cups Makers Mark to the secondary for 10 days. Haven't tried one yet, as i'm letting this one bottle condition until the late fall (or colder weather, which ever hits GA first).

Seeing has Vanilla beans aren't super cheap, it would be great to be able to get more flavor out of one or 2 beans.
 
Im doing a vanilla bourbon porter right now also. I soaked two beans (split & scrapped) in a half pint of Knob creek and added to Secondary. I am bottling it this weekend and cant wait to try it.
 
I'm about to brew a Coffee Stout and a Bourbon Porter and planning to add some Madagascar Vanilla beans to both. I'd be interested to hear back from TheDrunkChef, brewt00l, BA_from_GA, and SevenFields (and anyone else) about their experiences and recommendations on how many beans to use in these brews.

I want to Stout to have noticeable, but not dominating hints of vanilla, and I want the vanilla in the porter to be pretty subtle. I'm thinking maybe 3 beans in the stout and 2 in the porter. Plan A is to soak them in a few ounces of vodka for the stout and the 16-20 oz of Maker's Mark that will be going into the Porter. But I'm open to other suggestions and interested to hear about the results if anyone tried boiling the beans with the wort.
 
Sorry to bump an old thread, but I have a double chocolate stout in my primary right now. I'm considering adding a little vanilla to bring out the chocolate flavor and can't find a better thread to answer my question: how much extract should I add to enhance the chocolate, without adding so much you can taste the vanilla?

Like I said, I'd be using vanilla extract (the real stuff). I was planning on just doing a long primary with no secondary, but I'm willing to rack to secondary and leave it there for a while, if you think it'll be better that way than simply adding the vanilla at bottling.

I've seen 1-2 beans around this and other sites, and I've also seen that 1 bean can be anywhere from 1-2 tsps of extract, since there's obviously no exact conversion. Since the combination of those numbers gives me anywhere from 1-4 (or 6 tsp for a few recipes I saw) teaspoons of vanilla extract, I'm looking for anyone who has specific experience. Thanks.
 
bds3 said:
Sorry to bump an old thread, but I have a double chocolate stout in my primary right now. I'm considering adding a little vanilla to bring out the chocolate flavor and can't find a better thread to answer my question: how much extract should I add to enhance the chocolate, without adding so much you can taste the vanilla?

Like I said, I'd be using vanilla extract (the real stuff). I was planning on just doing a long primary with no secondary, but I'm willing to rack to secondary and leave it there for a while, if you think it'll be better that way than simply adding the vanilla at bottling.

I've seen 1-2 beans around this and other sites, and I've also seen that 1 bean can be anywhere from 1-2 tsps of extract, since there's obviously no exact conversion. Since the combination of those numbers gives me anywhere from 1-4 (or 6 tsp for a few recipes I saw) teaspoons of vanilla extract, I'm looking for anyone who has specific experience. Thanks.
Click to expand...

The best way is to measure out some beer (weighing it will be more accurate than measuring volume if, like most homebrewers, you have a fractional gram scale but no accurate lab glassware) and use a micro-pipette to add a bit at a time, then scale up.

You can experiment with the whole keg but if you screw up, you screw it all up. Start with 1/4 or 1/2 tsp and go in very small increments.
 
I do have a scale, but I could just as easily grab some syringes or lab glassware from work. The micropipette, on the other hand, I do not have.
 
I just made a vanilla cream brown porter and added one ounce of real vanilla into the last 15 min of the boil... Smelled amazing and tasted great in the og sample. I'm not sure if it was enough to discern in the final beer but well see!
 

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