Vanilla Guinness

[akdmax]

Has anyone tried to brew a vanilla Guinness? Any ideas how to impart some vanilla flavor into a stout to not overwhelm it?

 

[felixsth]

soak vanilla beans in a little vodka for some time and add that to secondary fermentation, not sure about the quantity of vanilla beans, I think 1 bean is enough for 5 gallons if you dont want to overwhelm it.

 

[NJstout]

i brewed a dry stout that i added some vanilla extract to (at kegging), came out good

 

[luke2080]

You could add vanilla beans to the boil. (Cut them open, use the inside pieces/seeds/whatevertheyare of the bean)

I've used 2 in a cream ale, came out nice. Used 3 and the vanilla taste was stronger - but I didn't think it was too overwhelming. We wanted the taste. This was for a 5 gallon batch.

For a stout I'd think you would need more - but try adding 3 vanilla beans to the boil, see where that takes you.

 

[MaltnHops]

I wouldn't reccommend boiling the beans, personally. During primary fermentation, the CO2 from the yeast is going to push a lot of the vanilla aroma out of the beer. Wait until primary is done and then add the vodka soaked beans for another week or strain the vodka from the beans and add the liquid at bottling/kegging.

If you're using beans, cut them lengthwise, and scrape out the inner goodness and add enough vodka to cover it all. Anymore than 8oz. of hard liquor in 5 gallons of beer can be quite overwhelming, so less is more. I would use 2-3 beans for what you're attempting.