NB was great about my little accident and is replacing the broken hydrometer for me with my next order, so I went ahead and bought my next brew the Milk Chocolate Stout. My question is I read that using vodka for the nibs helps pull the chocolate flavor, but if I use a flavored vodka say vanilla would that flavor also be infused or would it be too subtle and pointless? If not should I just look into vanilla extract, or actual vanilla? and when to add it?
I’m drinking NB’s St Paul Porter right now and I racked to a secondary vessel after fermentation on top of two vanilla beans that had been split, scraped and chopped and soaked in plain vodka for a couple of weeks. Dumped vodka and all (about 4 oz.) in secondary. Let that sit and get happy for about 2 weeks, then bottled. Flavor was spot on and the vanilla hasn’t faded, even after a couple of months.
This was a five gallon batch.
I’ve done the same thing with cacao nibs very successfully too.
Cheers,
Ron
Thanks for that. Still wondering if anyone has tried a flavored vodka, rum, bourbon, etc to provide flavor in the secondary, and if so how much it takes to give it some notes.
