Question About Vanilla Bean vs Vanilla Extract

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TrekMedic

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I'm looking at converting 7 lbs of raw honey into two gallons of mead: 1 gallon of Show Mead and 1 gallon of Methiglin.

The methiglin recipes I see all call for vanilla bean, which is prohibitively expensive for me, so I'm considering vanilla extract. I have a source at a local farmers market making "pure" extract (bean and grain alcohol ONLY).

1 - Any thoughts on the taste of the end product?

2 - Is there a conversion rate of bean to extract? I clearly don't want to overwhelm the mead with vanilla flavoring.

Thanks in advance for any advice!
 
If you're going to use vanilla extract, make sure it's the real thing and not the artificial stuff.
 
I did some research and most people are quoting 1 tsp = 1" of vanilla bean or 1 tbsp = 1 whole bean.
 
I did some research and most people are quoting 1 tsp = 1" of vanilla bean or 1 tbsp = 1 whole bean.

The amount of vanilla flavor extracted depends both on how long its given as well as the alcohol content, as well as other htings such as how it is prepared, its species, seeds-in vs out.

I'm not really sure without trying to control for many factors how meaningful conversions between inches of vanilla bean and tsp of extract can be.

Really should go by your own taste buds when using extract, starting small and working your way up.
 
I'm planning on adding 1/2 tsp when I pitch the yeast, then adjusting after I rack it.
 
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