I’ve read about putting vanilla in porter and stout. Have any of you guy put a little vanilla in a nut brown ale? Seems like it should be good but I would like to hear from someone who’s tried it before I commit five gallons to what could be a mistake.
why don’t you make the recipe, then dose a few bottles @ bottling? Or, if kegging, split into two batches?
Either way, I would recommend pulling about 8oz of the finished, uncarbed beer, splitting into 4 2oz samples, then dosing each one with increasing amounts of vanilla.
Eat a cracker and drink water between sampling each one, then scale it up to however much you need for the total amount you are ‘vanilla’ing’?
Sounds like you already talked yourself into it. 
Here’s what I do with my Vanilla Belgian Wheat Beer.
Once the beer is finished fermenting and ready for the secondary, I make sure that I can bottle or keg at a moments notice. I rack over to the secondary and then put in a 2 inch piece of Madagascar Vanilla Bean that has been sliced open. I taste a small sample of the beer every day. When the vanilla starts to hit just past where I like it, I package it. Once it sits on carbonation for a week or 2 the vanilla seems to mellow a bit.
To me, the Vanilla adds a pillowy, fluffy mouth feel to the finished beer. It’s very luxurious, especially when it’s subtle, but still noticeable.
Hey guys, thanks for the good ideas. One more question, do I need to prepare the vanilla pod in some way to make sure it doesn’t carry any contaminants or wild yeast into the fermenter? I read about putting it in vodka or bourbon for a week. Any other recommendations?
Cut the bean length wise. Scrap the meat out. Add everything to the beer. No prep is needed.
