Does anyone have any experience using Cypress Spirals? Interested in using them in a brett beer to impart some vanilla flavor. I boiled them quickly to extract any harsh tannins and they definitely smelled like cake batter/vanilla. I just wanted to make sure you actually GOT that flavor in the end result, and not something off-putting.
I considered that but would love to achieve a more subtle vanilla character without actually using vanilla i.e. american oak/cypress. The beer I'm attempting to make is pineapple/citrus forward using only brett and hops to coax out those aromas and flavors.
Not to belabor the point too much, but I'm still not clear on your goal. If you want just subtle vanilla, use a little bit of vanilla. I don't think you'll be able to get just vanilla from wood. If you want wood character (hopefully including subtle vanilla), use wood.
