Vanilla bean sanitation?

[rockdemon]

Im thinking of adding a vanilla bean to a imperial stout thats in primary right now. Its supposed to be in secondary for a month and I have two questions:

1- is it ok to have it during the whole one month period or should i add it during the last week of secondary(one week before bottling). I just want a hint of vanilla for complexity, not a vanilla beer.

2- Some people say -just split it and add to the carboy. Some people say to soak it in a week in bourbon or vodka. Since im abit afraid of polluting my beer im thinking of the soaking way. Should i just split it open and put it in a cup of jim beam for a week and then
A-add just the bean or
B-pour the bean and the bourbon into the beer(given that the vanilla flavor has been sucked out of the bean and into the bourbon during the soaking)

 

[ddrrseio]

i like doing 1 bean/2gal beer. i find that this is a mild but noticeable contribution. this has been with good, fresh vanilla beans, so YMMV with others. i have also allowed as many as two weeks contact, but i have not tasted it throughout to determine when to rack the beer,

it won't take much liquor to sanitize the bean and you definitely do not want to discard the booze that has taken up so much of the flavor. alcohol also will help dissolve the flavor better than beer alone. split it, soak it, add it all.

 

[rockdemon]

i like doing 1 bean/2gal beer. i find that this is a mild but noticeable contribution. this has been with good, fresh vanilla beans, so YMMV with others. i have also allowed as many as two weeks contact, but i have not tasted it throughout to determine when to rack the beer,

it won't take much liquor to sanitize the bean and you definitely do not want to discard the booze that has taken up so much of the flavor. alcohol also will help dissolve the flavor better than beer alone. split it, soak it, add it all.

thanks, so i should just cover the bean in bourbon? Use as little as possible aslong as it covers the bean. Ill split the bean open and also chop it in half so it can be added to the bottom of a glass. Then cover the glass in plastic foil.
its a 3 gallon batch of og 1090 stout. Ill take 1 bean and soak it for a week and pour it to the carboy with 2 weeks left. sounds good?

 

[ddrrseio]

should be good!