I while ago I started a blue moon clone, 1 gallon, and on a whim I added a split and scraped vanilla bean to the fermenter after two weeks, then let it go another week. When I bottled it the vanilla was very prominent, both smell and taste. To the point that I was thinking I would have to tone it down for the next batch.
It was two weeks in the bottle last night so I sampled one after chilling in the fridge. While it was great, the vanilla was completely gone. Nothing on the nose or the tongue. How is that possible? Could the yeast be converting the vanilla into alcohol? I wouldn't think this is possible as it's not a sugar is it?
Overall the beer was a little on the dry side but I attributed that to not hitting my mash temp right and for the most part being around 148 instead of 154 that was the target. As the beer warmed up I was able to detect just a very slight hint of vanilla smell, but I don't think it was enough for you to really detect if you didn't know it was there.
any ideas? should I just add more vanilla next time? I would have thought one bean in a gallon would be plenty since most recipes I see call for 2 beans in 5 gallons.
It was two weeks in the bottle last night so I sampled one after chilling in the fridge. While it was great, the vanilla was completely gone. Nothing on the nose or the tongue. How is that possible? Could the yeast be converting the vanilla into alcohol? I wouldn't think this is possible as it's not a sugar is it?
Overall the beer was a little on the dry side but I attributed that to not hitting my mash temp right and for the most part being around 148 instead of 154 that was the target. As the beer warmed up I was able to detect just a very slight hint of vanilla smell, but I don't think it was enough for you to really detect if you didn't know it was there.
any ideas? should I just add more vanilla next time? I would have thought one bean in a gallon would be plenty since most recipes I see call for 2 beans in 5 gallons.