Vanilla Beans in the Bottle?

[ao125]

I have a batch of stout that I recently brewed and bottled in 750's.

I was thinking about popping the top on a couple, and putting a vanilla bean (or two?) in, that I'd had soaking in whiskey for about a week.

Thoughts?

 

[daksin]

A bean in a bottle is going to be huge, I doubt you'll be able to taste teh beer. I use two beans in 5 gallons and that gives what I consider to be an over-the-top vanilla flavor/aroma. I do that because it does fade quite quickly and leaves plenty in the finished beer. That works out to ABOUT 2 inches of bean per gallon, which if you break that down further, it's more like an fifth to a quarter of an inch of bean per 750mL bottle.

 

[ao125]

Oh wow... okay. Thanks.

If 1/5th of a bean will service one 750ML, I'm going to need to figure out what to do with the other 15 beans, LOL.
I got a pretty decent deal online, where I found 16 Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla beans for $13.

I guess I could always buy some White Oak from Bruery and make up a couple bottles of pseudo-White Chocolate.

 

[daksin]

Oh wow... okay. Thanks.

If 1/5th of a bean will service one 750ML, I'm going to need to figure out what to do with the other 15 beans, LOL.
I got a pretty decent deal online, where I found 16 Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla beans for $13.

I guess I could always buy some White Oak from Bruery and make up a couple bottles of pseudo-White Chocolate.

Not a fifth of a bean (that would be like, an inch of bean), a fifth of an INCH of bean. If you vacuum seal the rest and freeze them you should be fine. Do a big chocolate stout with 2 vanilla beans. Should be tasty. Make some vanilla ice cream to float in your big chocolate stout. Then make some vanilla sugar to serve with fancy drinks, and then infuse a bottle of vodka with a bean, and then make creme brulee. Lots of uses for good beans.

 

[jasham]

A bean in a bottle is going to be huge, I doubt you'll be able to taste teh beer. I use two beans in 5 gallons and that gives what I consider to be an over-the-top vanilla flavor/aroma. I do that because it does fade quite quickly and leaves plenty in the finished beer. That works out to ABOUT 2 inches of bean per gallon, which if you break that down further, it's more like an fifth to a quarter of an inch of bean per 750mL bottle.

I was wondering if I could put two beans into a red ale that's been in secondary for 2 months. I'm ready to keg it and how long will it take to get the flavour out?

 

[daksin]

I was wondering if I could put two beans into a red ale that's been in secondary for 2 months. I'm ready to keg it and how long will it take to get the flavour out?

I do 2 beans in my chocolate stout. I soak them in vodka (split and scraped) and add the vodka and the 2 beans to the beer. Usually takes about a week to get to vanilla bomb status, which is where I like it because the vanilla fades rather quickly. Definitely check every day as you would with oak chips.