vanilla bean

[Dean]

okay, so I have one ...how do I sanitize the sucker before I throw it in the carboy for a week? Do I need to cut it open or anything or just throw it in as is?

[Dave Savoie]

You want to take a shot of vodka put it in a shot glass slice the vanilla bean so that you can get at the middle and with your knife

[youtube:1woxlw1s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKVLEqyCtsc&feature=fvst[/youtube:1woxlw1s]

Scrape the stuff inside into the shot glass let sit for an hour or so then add to your fermenter I would advise once primary fermentation has completed

[Dean]

ooooh me likey redheads  :oops:

do I need to scoop it all out or do you think I could slice it open, soak it in vodka overnight then throw the whole thing in the carboy? This is for my brown ale, btw - trying to make a nut brown ale with this bean and a little hazlenut extract in the bottle priming solution similar to what I did for the chocolate in my stout (which you may or may not have tried whilst you were still sober)

EDIT: I'm confident primary is done ...pitched a week ago and it's nottingham yeast which according to Whitelabs is done in 4 days anyway

[Dave Savoie]

I would google how much to use as Vanilla bean is super potent

scrape it all out and stick the left over in some sugar and youll get Vanilla infised sugar good for coffee and such

[Dean]

dammit this isn't as simple as I was hoping ....was hoping someone would say "pop the airlock and drop it in"  LOL

[Dave Savoie]

you could drop it in but ....... i dont know if tgere is any tannins in the husk

[Gil Breau]

I just cut a bean width wise and slice it in half to make 4 parts, then throw it in, no issues.

[Dean]

just back from some reading on HBT ...general consensus is what Gil just said ...split it down the middle then chop it into smaller pieces. Some soak it in vodka to extract a bit more flavour, not to sanitize as there's already a decent alcohol content by this point

so i'm off to chop up my expensive bean ...thanks guys

[sdixon]

I used whole vanilla beans in my Farmhouse Stout. My batch was 5bbl and I used 10 vanilla beans. A little goes a long way! Next time I plan to use less vanilla beans.

Here is what I did:
1. Slice beans lengthwise
2. Cut into small pieces (2mm)
3. Soak in Scotch overnight
4. Put pieces in fine mesh bag and soak bag in Scotch as well
5. Dump Scotch into fermenter (apx 2oz in 5bbl) just because :-)
6. Hang bag in middle of beer for 2 weeks (secondary)

Hope this helps.