Vanilla beans to boil

So the problems have is that I want to add two vanilla beans to the porter I'm making but I won't have an available secondary to use so I won't be able to put the vanilla beans in that way, can anyone chime in on the best way to add vanilla beans to the boil?

Just use extract. Throwing beans in the boil would be complete waste

i was wanting to add vanilla beans as well and i was told to add them in at the boil due to the fact that spice is full of wild yeast and bacteria. So killing off all them in the boil is a must. unless you soak them in pure alcohol and sanitize them that way, then you can add the beans and the now vanilla flavored alcohol to your batch and not worry about contamination. maybe a burben would be a nice alcohol to use...

best way to add vanilla beans to the boil?
use cheese cloth or grain bag...

hope that helps ya
happy brewing~

yes if they go into the boil the flavour will just burn off in the boil and wont work ... but you can soak the beans in alcohol first to sanitize, then steep them 160 deg in clean pre boiled water then add that to your wart after your boil that way you will keep all those vanilla oils and flavors alive.

I wouldn't even add it to wort. The large amount of CO2 that's driven out of the beer while fermenting will carry a lot of vanilla aroma with it. It's like leaving a bottle of vanilla extract uncovered, but worse.

If you can't use a bean, get some good extract. It's just as good, there's just a step that's already been done for you.

http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices-by-category/vanilla

Powtownbrew said:

i was wanting to add vanilla beans as well and i was told to add them in at the boil due to the fact that spice is full of wild yeast and bacteria. So killing off all them in the boil is a must. unless you soak them in pure alcohol and sanitize them that way, then you can add the beans and the now vanilla flavored alcohol to your batch and not worry about contamination. maybe a burben would be a nice alcohol to use...

best way to add vanilla beans to the boil?
use cheese cloth or grain bag...

hope that helps ya
happy brewing~

Click to expand...

So when did you add the vanilla bean to the boil, 10 min left? How did it turn out?

Primary after fermentation IS SECONDARY.

The vessel is immaterial. "Secondary" refers to a beer sitting without any real fermentation going on.

Don't boil if it is supposed to be in secondary.

cheezydemon3 said:

Primary after fermentation IS SECONDARY.

The vessel is immaterial. "Secondary" refers to a beer sitting without any real fermentation going on.

Don't boil if it is supposed to be in secondary.

Click to expand...

Ive read that different methods are possible and I will only be able to add to boil so any opinions on how to do it would be great!

I think one of the reasons you typically want to add the vanilla post-fermentation is because the yeast will reduce the vanillin to vanillyl alcohol, which will change the flavor profile (for better or worse, you'll have to decide).

I add 3 sliced bourbon vanilla beans into a muslin mesh bag. I have done this three times to my all grain Porter batches. I boil the mesh bag then cool it, add the vanilla beans, dump them in secondary for seven days and keg. Always turns out delicious.