Vanilla in Secondary

[jro16]

I sliced open the beans and scraped out the vanilla granuals from inside, then diced up the outer sheaths. Mixed it all together with a splash of vodka to sanatize/bring out the flavor in the vanilla. The mixture is sitting in the fridge until this weekend when I rack it.

I'm thinking of dry hopping too.

Does anyone have any experience with vanilla beans, am I gonna get any flavor from this?

 

[Lou]

i searched for vanilla and found this.....
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=6804&highlight=vanilla

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

There have been a # of vanilla bean discussions. I usually steam mine for a few minutes and then split and add them. They will certainly enhance the flavors of certain beers.

 

[jro16]

Yes - these posts seem to support my plan.

However, little twist. I was going to dry hop as well, so I thought I would put the hops in with the vanilla bean mixture (mostly to sanitize). I knew I would get a sludge out of it, but I figured it would be an interesting mix.

Believe it or not, I have an intense aroma, but I am having second thoughts about adding it. Can anyone think of any reason I shouldn't.

I figure it will do the same in the secondary anyway.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

The only reason I can think not to do it is that I can't imagine vanilla and dry-hoppiness being a flavor combination I'd go for, but that's just a personal opinion. Technically it shouldn't matter. The vanilla bean won't result in any sludge at all...the hops will if you use pellets, but they will settle and you can rack off the top of them.

 

[BeanPot Brewery]

I assume you're talking about a stout or a porter...I added a bean to a Choc. Oatmeal stout last year. I split it, scraped out the yum-yums inside and added it to the secondary (5 gal batch) for about two weeks.
It added a hint of flavor, but I'm not sure I would have noticed had I not known it was in there.
Next time I would add maybe a bean-and-a-half for three or four weeks and see how that goes. Problem is vanilla beans are getting expensive, so I'm nbot sure if it's worth it. I wonder if anyone has tried vanilla extract or even putting the bean in with the priming sugar for a few weeks...I know the wife makes great vanilla sugar by burying a bean in the sugar jar.