I don't think I need a secondary for this...

[HolyKrausenBatman]

Hello All,

Not trying to start controversy here, but I do have a specific question regarding the use of a secondary. I have been prescribing to the idea that one does not need a secondary unless one is dry hopping, adding fruit, etc. It has worked well for me and that's the way I would like to proceed. That being said, I'd like to add some alcohol based vanilla extract to my porter after I've hit my TG. Plan on pulling sample and taking a gravity reading tonight. If I've hit my mark, I'd like to add the extract, but with so little extract being added, I don't see the need to transfer to a secondary. We're 10 days in the primary, OG = 1.055, so not a huge beer. Plan is to wait 2-3 more weeks before bottling if all is going well. Can anyone think of a reason I'm not seeing to transfer?

 

[unionrdr]

You could just add the vanilla extract to the priming solution that you'll in turn add to the bottling bucket. I did this with dextrose & "trulemon" crystalized juice in 2C boiled & cooled water to prime my wife's summer shandy clone. It worked quite well,in fact.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

You could just add the vanilla extract to the priming solution that you'll in turn add to the bottling bucket. I did this with dextrose & "trulemon" crystalized juice in 2C boiled & cooled water to prime my wife's summer shandy clone. It worked quite well,in fact.

that's exactly what i was thinking. if you're just adding vanilla extract and don't need to age it on the vanilla (like you would with vanilla soaked oak for example), just add it at bottling time. if you're looking to age it a bit with the vanilla before bottling, i'd recommend racking to secondary after 2-3 weeks, adding the vanilla and bulk aging it for a bit. either way will work fine, and there's really no need to age a beer if you're just adding vanilla extract.

 

[HolyKrausenBatman]

Ahhh, with the priming solution! That's a very good idea. I think I'll try that on this go around. Thanks for the advice guys.

 

[unionrdr]

Your welcome! I did it that way,cause I didn't want any fermentation to weaken the flavor in any way. So putting it in the priming solution seems to maintain the quality of flavor desired. But even this method gets better with experience.