Vanilla Beans

[1Brotherbill]

How much fermentalble material is in a vanilla bean? I put one vanilla bean in the secondary of one of my batches and I noticed today that the yeasties are going crazy on the vanilla bean parts.

 

[TheRabidKumquat]

It could be that the yeast are just attaching themselves onto it

 

[Bush_84]

Anybody know the bean to gal of mead ratio? (sorry this doesn't answer the OP question, but I thought it related enough to ask)

 

[TheRabidKumquat]

Would depend on how much vanilla presence you'd want. I usually see recipes calling for 1 or 2 beans. How much exposure time will also affect the flavor extraction.

 

[Tusch]

Do one or two beans split and scraped per gallon and than taste it as it goes. When it reaches a level you like rack off the beans. Keep in mind that the vanilla will mellow and blend even more than many other spices so you may want to "over-vanilla" and let it age out.

 

[TobaVanilla]

Average yeast content in vanilla beans is about 10, cfu/gr, depending on the type of curing process, yeast content can vary from one to another. When vanilla beans are processed using a natural fermentation, sun curing, wrapped in a plastic bag and dried out in the sun, it will result a low yeast content. Some vanilla beans processor have a different way of fermenting the beans. To know more of how vanilla beans processed from the very beginningn please visit our website: www.tobavanilla.com or our blog: http://tobavanillabeans.blogspot.com/ should you have further questions, please feel free to email me: [email protected]