I've used vanilla quite a few times, as I'm sure a lot of you have as well. I'm always disappointed with my vanilla though. It never came through very potent. It was noticeable, but I want more than noticeable, I want nice, in your face, vanilla (at least, for the brew I got coming up anyway).
My typically process has been to buy good, high quality beans (always from Beanilla). I slice them and scrape out all the caviar, cut the pod into roughly 1/2" pieces, and put a little bit of vodka in a jar. The guideline that I've always heard was "...use enough vodka to cover the bean/caviar." This was probably 2-3 oz total, regardless of how many beans there were. I would let this sit for 2-3 weeks or so.
I'm wanting to make a vanilla bomb imperial stout, so I started doing some "research" on making vanilla extract. And by research, I really just mean reading through Beanilla's website. They're a huge vanilla supplier so hopefully they know what they're talking about. They discuss the ratio of alcohol/bean as being a critical part of making extract. They say 8oz of alcohol per 5 beans, which is about 1.6oz of alcohol per bean. They also state to let that go for 8 weeks.
So I'm giving it a go. I'm making extract with 8 madagascar beans and 4 tahitian beans. I'm at about a week so far and I have high hopes. This stuff is pretty potent so far and it's darker than I have ever gotten it. Think I might have figured out my problem with vanilla!
Anyway, the point of this post is nothing more than information for future newbies looking to make homemade vanilla extract for beers. We'll see how the final product comes through but I think I'll be sticking to the 1.6oz/vodka per bean in the future!
My typically process has been to buy good, high quality beans (always from Beanilla). I slice them and scrape out all the caviar, cut the pod into roughly 1/2" pieces, and put a little bit of vodka in a jar. The guideline that I've always heard was "...use enough vodka to cover the bean/caviar." This was probably 2-3 oz total, regardless of how many beans there were. I would let this sit for 2-3 weeks or so.
I'm wanting to make a vanilla bomb imperial stout, so I started doing some "research" on making vanilla extract. And by research, I really just mean reading through Beanilla's website. They're a huge vanilla supplier so hopefully they know what they're talking about. They discuss the ratio of alcohol/bean as being a critical part of making extract. They say 8oz of alcohol per 5 beans, which is about 1.6oz of alcohol per bean. They also state to let that go for 8 weeks.
So I'm giving it a go. I'm making extract with 8 madagascar beans and 4 tahitian beans. I'm at about a week so far and I have high hopes. This stuff is pretty potent so far and it's darker than I have ever gotten it. Think I might have figured out my problem with vanilla!
Anyway, the point of this post is nothing more than information for future newbies looking to make homemade vanilla extract for beers. We'll see how the final product comes through but I think I'll be sticking to the 1.6oz/vodka per bean in the future!
