I'm brewing my first beer today. It's a honey porter that I want to add vanilla bean to. It's a small batch, one gallon. I was wanting to know how much I should add to the batch.
That all depends on how much vanilla you want. There are going to be varying opinions on this. If you are using actual bean...many people use 3 vanilla beans split and soaked in vodka or bourbon for a few days to a week, per 5 gallon batch. For a 1 gallon batch I should think that 1/2 Tbs should get you noticeable vanilla flavor and aroma...and a Tbs would mean you'd need to call it a Honey Vanilla Porter.
When would you add the bean? I'm thinking I'll use 1/2 a bean but should I add it to the boil, or dry hop with it? Thanks for the help btw
make an extract from the 1/2 bean soaked in vodka/bourbon for a week or 2. then add it to your secondary, since it's only a gallon you might not want to let it sit in there for too long. vanilla flavor can take over pretty quickly
I use three beans for a 5 gal batch. My recommendations are to get the beans soaking in bourbon as my preference or vodka A-SAP! I like to soak for 2 or 3 weeks and then add to the secondary to taste, which is often for a couple weeks. For soaking split the beans, scope out the guts, cut the shell and add to Ball jar with alky of choose. Follow sanitary practices for jar and lid, although the alky should keep you covered.
When I've used vanilla I added it to secondary, and let it sit for a week. I would not add it to the boil. I should not that my 1/2 Tbs or Tbs recommendation was for vanilla extract. It would probably be much easier to go this route. I make my own vanilla extract from bean...but it takes several weeks.
Ive made several beers infused with vanilla bean using additions in both the boil and the secondary. However, new brewers really shouldn't be messing around with secondary steps since they are more likely to contaminate their brew. My suggestion to new brewers, is to experiment with new flavors during the boil, if it doesn't have as much flavor as you wanted you can always add more in the secondary. I make a really good Vanilla Cream Stout, adding the vanilla bean in the last 30mins of the boil. I use 2 large beans for a 5gl or 1/2 medium bean for a 1gl. The beer hits its peak 5 weeks after being bottled.
Dude, I'm gonna be real with you. It's your first beer and it's only 1gal. Save yourself some trouble and add 1tsp of high quality store bought extract at bottling, which may still be too much, but it'll give you an easy baseline to work with once you move up to 5gal batches.
I made an extract (vodka and 2 mexican vanilla beans) for a 5 gal batch of breakfast porter. Sat in secondary for 10 days and I only got a hint of it. Hope that helps to gauge against.
