Oatmeal stout

[Ozwald]

I used about three whole vanilla beans added to the fermentor for a pumpkin ale. I boiled them in 1/2 cup of water in a really small saucepan for about 5-10 minutes, chilled it and added the vanilla and water to the fermentor 24 hours before bottling. It added a hint of vanilla to an amber pumpkin ale (Papazian's grain bill and JZ spices) and had no infection. If I were to do this to a stout if either add the vanilla a few days earlier or just use more vanilla bean. Probably the latter.

I use highproof vodka for vanilla. It extracts the flavor better than boiling water. The oils just don't like to be pulled out with water. With wood it's more about sanitizing them because the beer is going to leach into it, with vanilla it really helps to pull the oils out into solution first. Give it a try, those beans can get expensive... and the cheaper beans usually don't work as well - IIRC, vanilla is a lot like cinnamon in the fact that there's 'real' varieties & look-a-like substitutions (or maybe it was just less potent subspecies). Don't cheap out on them for your beer or if you make ice cream; the cheap ones are good for just about everything else though.

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

When I use vanilla (split and seeds scraped out), or other spices, I will soak it in vodka during primary, then add at kegging. For oak, I microwave them in water for a minute or so, and add all of that to secondary.

Alternatively, you can soak the vanilla in bourbon and get an even more awesome flavor!

[numsquat]

I use Everclear for these things. Here in Iowa we only have the 151 but it works fine though I pick up the 190 when I often visit Kansas and use it normally. Have used high proof bourbon as Dirk said and it does add a little different profile. Also have used shine (not mine but easy access) or a 1 min soak in Starsan if I don't have any of the above. Have never had an infection with any of the above.

[mobrewer]

I used about three whole vanilla beans added to the fermentor for a pumpkin ale. I boiled them in 1/2 cup of water in a really small saucepan for about 5-10 minutes, chilled it and added the vanilla and water to the fermentor 24 hours before bottling. It added a hint of vanilla to an amber pumpkin ale (Papazian's grain bill and JZ spices) and had no infection. If I were to do this to a stout if either add the vanilla a few days earlier or just use more vanilla bean. Probably the latter.

I use highproof vodka for vanilla. It extracts the flavor better than boiling water. The oils just don't like to be pulled out with water. With wood it's more about sanitizing them because the beer is going to leach into it, with vanilla it really helps to pull the oils out into solution first. Give it a try, those beans can get expensive... and the cheaper beans usually don't work as well - IIRC, vanilla is a lot like cinnamon in the fact that there's 'real' varieties & look-a-like substitutions (or maybe it was just less potent subspecies). Don't cheap out on them for your beer or if you make ice cream; the cheap ones are good for just about everything else though.

I had a nice vanilla flavor when boiling with water but using alcohol die a make sense ad a better solvent. I guess it wouldn't take much either. Just enough to submerse the bean pods?

[Ozwald]

I used about three whole vanilla beans added to the fermentor for a pumpkin ale. I boiled them in 1/2 cup of water in a really small saucepan for about 5-10 minutes, chilled it and added the vanilla and water to the fermentor 24 hours before bottling. It added a hint of vanilla to an amber pumpkin ale (Papazian's grain bill and JZ spices) and had no infection. If I were to do this to a stout if either add the vanilla a few days earlier or just use more vanilla bean. Probably the latter.

I use highproof vodka for vanilla. It extracts the flavor better than boiling water. The oils just don't like to be pulled out with water. With wood it's more about sanitizing them because the beer is going to leach into it, with vanilla it really helps to pull the oils out into solution first. Give it a try, those beans can get expensive... and the cheaper beans usually don't work as well - IIRC, vanilla is a lot like cinnamon in the fact that there's 'real' varieties & look-a-like substitutions (or maybe it was just less potent subspecies). Don't cheap out on them for your beer or if you make ice cream; the cheap ones are good for just about everything else though.

I had a nice vanilla flavor when boiling with water but using alcohol die a make sense ad a better solvent. I guess it wouldn't take much either. Just enough to submerse the bean pods?

Yup. You can use more if you're going for the booze flavor, like bourbon, but vodka/everclear is supposed to be neutral flavored so no sense using more than you need to. Besides splitting them to expose the inside (which you should always be doing with vanilla pods), you can always cut them into 2 or 3 pieces to get them to lay in your bowl better, which will also help lowering the volume of spirits needed.

[buckeyebrewer]

I also use just a little bit of water, about 8 oz, boil 5 to 8 min. I also do that with cacao nibs.