treydobass
Member
New guy here, from just outside Atlanta. When you split vanilla beans to add to a secondary (oatmeal stout), do I add all the seeds 'n stuff, too?
VANILLA BEANS?! Oh, and hello (noob)!
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New guy here, from just outside Atlanta. When you split vanilla beans to add to a secondary (oatmeal stout), do I add all the seeds 'n stuff, too?
I don't split them just toss them in.
Bruegger
Member
i've only used them once in beer and i split them. Was way to strong. i had them in the secondary for 8 weeks.
sheeshomatic
Well-Known Member
Yes you do. Well, if you want. The pods have an incredible amount of vanilla in them as do the seeds. You can just split them and not scrape. Depends on the flavor level you're going for. Welcome, PS.
I've never used them, but your post made me decide that I want to try it, perhaps in my next beer.
I checked a few other threads, and it seems the general consensus is that you want to split them, scrape the seeds out, and then toss the whole lot in. There is some variety as to whether you should add them to the kettle at flameout (least common), primary or secondary. It appears that the most common approach is to toss them in the primary at or near the end of fermentation, or the secondary.
Some sage advice also is to taste the beer every few days so as not to allow the vanilla to overwhelm the beer.
I checked a few other threads, and it seems the general consensus is that you want to split them, scrape the seeds out, and then toss the whole lot in. There is some variety as to whether you should add them to the kettle at flameout (least common), primary or secondary. It appears that the most common approach is to toss them in the primary at or near the end of fermentation, or the secondary.
Some sage advice also is to taste the beer every few days so as not to allow the vanilla to overwhelm the beer.
Tyrone said:
+1
During primary I put the beans (split but including all parts) into a mason jar with bourbon or whiskey and let it soak. Swirl occasionally. Then when I rack to secondary at the two week mark, I toss the vanilla infused spirits into the beer, leaving behind the beans. It keeps the little bits out of the beer.
treydobass
Member
Well, I added my priming sugar (like an idiot) for the first time to my secondary fermenter right after that post. Split, scraped, and soaked the bean (1 bean) in 2 ounces of good bourbon for 2 days, poured it into the then bubbling again secondary, then racked into bucket and bottled 18 days later. Smells awesome, I think I'm good, we'll see....
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