Vanilla bean usage

[Tidwellc]

Brewing a vanilla stout soon, and I was going to put the beans and some oak chips into the secondary after soaking them in Maker's for a few days. My question is: how long should I leave them in secondary, and more importantly, how many beans should I use??

I've looked at several different recipes involving vanilla beans and it seems to be different every time. Some people say they used 3 or 4 and it was pretty good, others say they used one and it was almost too much. I've never brewed with them before so I'm really not sure how much flavor they will impart.

 

[jaysbrewing]

Maybe it depends on the type of bean that you use, but I have used 3-4 beans and it turns out pretty tasty after I leave it in the secondary for about 3 weeks. When I've done that its great.

I just slice the bean down the center, steam it real quick and then carry on. I would be more careful about the oak chips then vanilla beans. One once off for chips and your beer will taste like mulch.

 

[Tidwellc]

Maybe it depends on the type of bean that you use, but I have used 3-4 beans and it turns out pretty tasty after I leave it in the secondary for about 3 weeks. When I've done that its great.

I just slice the bean down the center, steam it real quick and then carry on. I would be more careful about the oak chips then vanilla beans. One once off for chips and your beer will taste like mulch.

Cool, sounds like 3 or 4 should be fine then. I bought a 4oz bag of chips from my LHBS, and he told me to use the whole bag.. Do you think that would be too much? They're "light toast" american oak chips, if that makes any difference.