I’m wanting to add vanilla to a stout. I have a good Mexican vanilla extract “la vencedora” brand.
Thinking out adding to boil the last 15 minutes. Does this sound like a good technique? Any help or advise will be appreciated. Thanks
I would not recommend extract. Real vanilla beans are a much better alternative. You add them to the secondary. Usually one bean per 5 gallons for about 7-11 days.
The Mexican extract has worked great for me. Don’t boil it though. Wait until the day you boil or keg the beer. Add 1 teaspoon at a time, stir it in well and taste the beer. You probably won’t need more than about 2 or 3 teaspoons per 5 gallons to pick up a hint of it. More than that might have an overpowering taste. But just add a little at a time at the last second. Don’t boil it or you’ll lose a lot of the good aromatics during fermentation.
Beans would do very well… most say the whole beans are the way to go. Having said that, I’ve used extract on a sweet stout and it came out wonderful. Add it as Dymalto explained, 1tsp at a time until you get the desired taste. Add it to the bottling bucket, taste test…bottle (or keg) and enjoy. As long as it tastes good to you…go for it.
Namaste…DrG
Just kegged the Urca Vanilla Porter. Did a “Vanilla Dry Hop” in the keg, and turned out great. Soaked the beans in Whiskey for a while, dumped the whiskey in the keg, beans in a muslin bag, and dangled in the keg with some floss. Wife went cu-cu for Coco Puffs over the stuff. Would work if done in the carboy/bucket as well.
