Add Vanilla Beans to Beer
Brewing beer at home tends to be a highly experimental hobby. Home brewers do not have any customers to please, so unlike commercial brewers they can freely experiment with unusual or costly ingredients. One such ingredient that can be employed successfully is vanilla bean, which can impart a warm and full mouthfeel to beer as well as a spicy-sweet flavor.
Instructions
1. Wash and sanitize the knife, cutting board, jar and lid with the home brewing sanitizer. Follow the instructions on the sanitizer for the maximum effectiveness to ensure that no unwanted microorganisms from your kitchen are introduced into the brewing beer. Thoroughly wash the outside of the vanilla bean to remove any dirt or debris, but do not use the sanitizer on it as it may soak into the bean.
2. Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and chop it into small pieces. The more of the interior of the vanilla bean is exposed, the more vanilla flavor will be released into the beer. For even more , after you cut the bean in half use the tip of your knife to scrape out the pulp and seeds, then chop both the pulp and the shell up into small pieces.
3. Place all the pieces of the vanilla bean into the jar. Add enough vodka to the jar to completely immerse all of the pieces, then seal the jar and shake it.
4. Leave the jar to sit in a cool and covered place for a day. Shake it up periodically through the day. This will essentially create a very fresh and pure vanilla extract, as the alcohol in the vodka absorbs the vanilla flavoring compounds from the bean. It is possible to add the bean pieces directly to the wort without soaking them in vodka, but the vanilla flavor will be significantly diminished as the beer will not have sufficient alcohol content to absorb much of the flavor from the bean.
5. Add the entire contents of the jar to the wort, taking care to avoid splashing as you add them so as not to introduce more oxygen than is necessary into it, which can affect the flavor of the finished beer. Let everything sit undisturbed in the secondary fermenter for two weeks before bottling or kegging the finished beer to get as much of the vanilla flavor out of the bean pieces as possible.
Tags: vanilla bean, vanilla flavor, bean half, bean pieces, Beans Beer