How much vanilla essence?

The Green Man

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So, the Chocoffee Oatmeal Stout is into its second week of fermentation and the yeasties are munching their way down to target-ish FG.
I've read a lot about vanilla essence bringing out the chocolate flavour in brews (and baking too by all accounts). But, for a 20 litre batch roughly how much vanilla essence? I am utterly clueless. What amounts work for you guys?
I will be adding 250g of coffee beans and perhaps the same amount of ground coffee for the last 12hrs prior to bottling. I have read beans for aroma and ground for flavour.
Open to all advice: the good, the bad and the ugly...though the less of the latter the better:D
 
So, the Chocoffee Oatmeal Stout is into its second week of fermentation and the yeasties are munching their way down to target-ish FG.
I've read a lot about vanilla essence bringing out the chocolate flavour in brews (and baking too by all accounts). But, for a 20 litre batch roughly how much vanilla essence? I am utterly clueless. What amounts work for you guys?
I will be adding 250g of coffee beans and perhaps the same amount of ground coffee for the last 12hrs prior to bottling. I have read beans for aroma and ground for flavour.
Open to all advice: the good, the bad and the ugly...though the less of the latter the better:D
I'd do a measured amount of beer and then add vanilla extract to taste find what hits the money for you then scale that up to your packaging volume.
 
@Trialben is spot on if you really want to dial it in.

I've also taken to doing 2 drops of pure vanilla extract from a syringe into each bottle prior to capping. Seems to be a good middle ground for my taste.

Doing the drops allows me the freedom on the fly to have some of the bottles with alot of vanilla (3 or 4 drops), some with a little vanilla (1 or 2 drops) and some with no vanilla at all to have a control variable.
 
Cheers guys. Like the idea of varying it per bottle. Seems like a good idea to nail down the amount. Or, I suppose you could scale it up to put the amount into the fermentor.
Appreciate the input, as always fellas.
 
I used 3% in a 20lt batch of stout and it was a little bit too much initially but mellowed into the most amazing beer. I would probably start at 2% if I did it again.

One thing I would say is that there's vanilla and then there's vanilla. I used Madagascan extract that was heartbreakingly expensive. Vanilla essence is a different beast entirely and very variable, if I was using that I would definitely test before committing.
 
I have used vanilla many times. 1 teaspoon in 20 litres will give an extremely subtle enhancement. 2 teaspoons will begin to be noticed by some tasters but others will not notice it. 3 teaspoons would be obvious. Anything more than that begins to taste overpowering with an inky bitterness. Personally I would aim for maybe 2 teaspoons or even 1.5.
 
I used 3% in a 20lt batch of stout and it was a little bit too much initially but mellowed into the most amazing beer. I would probably start at 2% if I did it again.

One thing I would say is that there's vanilla and then there's vanilla. I used Madagascan extract that was heartbreakingly expensive. Vanilla essence is a different beast entirely and very variable, if I was using that I would definitely test before committing.

Thanks for the reply. I have added about 1.5% of a cheap supermarket vanilla essence that contained 10% vanilla extract so I'm reasonably sure that it will be about right. Will be taking another sample tomorrow as it has a stuck fermentation issue to add into the mixer. This one is involving a lot of learning.
 
I have used vanilla many times. 1 teaspoon in 20 litres will give an extremely subtle enhancement. 2 teaspoons will begin to be noticed by some tasters but others will not notice it. 3 teaspoons would be obvious. Anything more than that begins to taste overpowering with an inky bitterness. Personally I would aim for maybe 2 teaspoons or even 1.5.

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, before reading this I added roughly double the amount that was too much for your brew. So, I am hoping that my essence is not as strong as the one you used. Mine was only 10% extract (just an inexpensive supermarket one).
This brewing business involves a great deal of flying by the seat of your pants I have found.:D Fingers crossed that it works out.
Will be tasting a sample tomorrow so will let you know my impressions then.
 
Took a sample earlier for a gravity reading and had a taste. Barely detectable vanilla. So 35ml of supermarket vanilla essence (10% vanilla extract) barely leaves an impression. However, I haven't stirred the wort, though it has had a swirl.
I am doubting I will end up with too much vanilla. I have to emphasise that this was a cheap supermarket product though.
I will update this post after I add the coffee bean and ground coffee addition and bottle condition.
 

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