Vanilla in beer

[Gary_Oak]

Now I know that vanilla goes well with the dry malty flavors of porters and stouts and generally I don't like to let people in on my thought process because they either 1. Think I'm crazy or 2. Steal my ideas but anyway. I was watching tv last night and having a vanilla sugar cookie and washed it down with a Stella Artois and I was amazed by how well the two flavors went with each other and then it occurred to me that light lagers like porters and stouts are generally dry, have little hop flavor and have a clean malty flavor in most cases so I was wondering has anyone heard of a vanilla lager before? I was thinking maybe a tablespoon per gallon might be a good ratio, any thoughts

 

[McGarnigle]

Porter and stouts aren't necessarily dry, and the vanilla'ed ones are usually sweet, I think.

Vanilla may make a beer seem sweet just because of the association we have with it. Maybe you'd need something to balance out the vanilla. Biscuit malt? Go for a nutty flavor? I don't know.

It has been tried before. Hopefully you'd have better results (don't use fake vanilla!).

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/bricktown-vanilla-lager/19943/

 

[Gary_Oak]

Yeah I was thinking maybe honey malt or Carmel Vienna

 

[Kiichi]

I could see something like a dry vanilla cookie beer brewed with lager yeast, biscuit malt, and vanilla working in great way if the balance is done right, which should be rather hard to do though.

Pretty much just basemalt, biscuit, and vanilla in my mind.

 

[Gary_Oak]

I'll probably go with Munich malt extract (I'm still partial mash sadly) but that should give me the right amount of maltyness and if I'd probably go with an English style level of carbonation so than you can really taste all the flavors

 

[Gary_Oak]

Brain Blast I bet flaked oats would give it a fantastic texture as long as I don't over do it

 

[mrdail87]

A little vanilla goes a long way, especially without a good bit of sweetness.Vanilla by itself isn't a great flavor.

I'd try putting a single vanilla bean in for a week one it's done fermenting. The county of origin makes a difference too. I've used Madagascar vanilla beans with a milk stout and had good results.

 

[Gary_Oak]

Where you get them from?

 

[Gary_Oak]

In a lager I'd want the flavor to be more prominent you think one would be enough?

 

[nettekdl]

I get all my beans from https://www.beanilla.com and have nothing but great things to say, good selection and prices not to mention very fresh product

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

Yup, use fresh vanilla beans. 2 for a subtle flavor, 3 for more pronounced.

Cut the ends off the beans, scrape out the seeds, chop the body into 1 inch pieces and then soak everything in bourbon or vodka for a few weeks before adding to the keg or bottling bucket.

 

[ChelisHubby]

Twice I have tried to get a good vanilla flavor once from split and scraped beans soaked in vodka and the other time just a expensive extract alcohol based. Neither attempt worked well for me. once in a cream ale once in a porter. Best of luck to ya.!

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

Neither attempt worked well for me.

Hmm. How many beans did you use? Were they fresh (soft and aromatic) or dry? How long did you soak them?

 

[mrdail87]

In a lager I'd want the flavor to be more prominent you think one would be enough?

Sorry, when I first read this thread I thought you were aiming for a dry lager. I was worried about overdoing it if it didn't have a enough of a malty backbone.

As stated above 2-3 should give good results. As for where to get them, I just got mine from the local Kroger.

I think this would be great with a vienna lager.

 

[ChelisHubby]

Hmm. How many beans did you use? Were they fresh (soft and aromatic) or dry? How long did you soak them?

4 beans off of more beers shelf soaked for 10 days. I threw the beans and vodka in the carboy about day 5 of fermentation.

 

[Vandulus]

I made a brown ale with pecan extract and vanilla beans (2 for last 15 minutes of boil) that turned out fantastic. I aimed for 40-60 Lovibond as I didn't want to get into the chocolatey range. The pecan and vanilla flavors worked really well together and with the maltiness reminded me of a pecan sandie cookie.