Adding coffee/artificial vanilla to a Russian Imperial Stout

By artificial vanilla and vanilla flavoring, do you mean imitation vanilla extract, or just vanilla extract in general? The imitation stuff tastes like crap, don't do it. But dosing the beer at bottling with a high-quality pure vanilla extract is a lot easier than mucking about with beans. So far as boosting alcohol, add a couple more pounds of DME. Don't forget a proper pitch of yeast.

 

^This

I would just like to add that you can make vanilla extract yourself. Just grab 3 vanilla beans, split and scrape out seeds, add everything to 1 cup of vodka/rum/bourbon, wait 4 weeks...and done. You'll not be using that much in the beer, but now you've got a bunch of high quality vanilla extract to use for various brews/dishes.

I typically leave the vanilla beans in for a couple months before removing them.

 

I want to add an organic vanilla extract to a crème ale, How much should be added to the bottles on bottling day? Would it be just as easy to add to the secondary ?

 

I add extracts to taste in my bottling bucket prior to adding priming sugars.

 

^ What they said on adding scraped vanilla beans to some sort of bourbon or whiskey. Let that sit in a jar for a while. You could also add coffee beans to that mixture as well if you want to extract some coffee flavor. Just be sure to strain it out before adding to your beer. I would not, however, 'hot brew' your coffee. It can contribute a burnt coffee flavor to your beer. If anything, just cold steep your coffee, and add that mixture at bottling time. That's the best method I've found for infusing coffee into stouts.

 

Yeah...cold steep overnight in a french press in the fridge for the coffee, go with a medium roast to avoid astringent bitterness. I use vanilla beans from Beanilla.com and have never been disappointed. For a big stout, I usually just throw the chopped up 2-3 beans, and the 4 oz of rum I've soaked them in for a month or so, right into the secondary. I havent noticed a huge vanilla flavor from this method, but its there alright. I usually add vanilla in combo with cacao nibs most of the time as well..helps bring out the chocolate flavors and round them out.

 

https://www.beanilla.com/organic-vanilla-beans

These are great organic beans to make extract from...and here are some links for how to make extract. Most homebrewers chop the beans up as well, before adding the spirit. And their recipe for extract is actually about a double batch of what I use for a 5 gallon batch.

https://www.beanilla.com/blog/how-to-use-vanilla-beans
https://www.beanilla.com/blog/homemade-vanilla-extract