Vanilla beans - how to use?

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I think that it is possible that there are some substances in the vanilla beans that are water soluble. The everclear has very little water, so less of those compounds are extracted. I don't understand most of the study that you attached, but I did notice that methods 2a and 2b used different concentrations of ethanol. The lower concentration extracted a little more vanillin and a lot more glucovanillin.

The big question is taste. What would be the result if you added the same quantity of each extract to some filtered water? Which tastes better?

That makes sense. I'll let you know in a few months which is stronger and which tastes best.
 
So @joeswine, at what stage do you add vanilla extract to your wine?


This is interesting. I read so many sites that said the same as you about Everclear vs vodka. That the higher proof would be faster and stronger. This seems logical.

But one site that disagreed pointed to a serious study that said something like 24% more vanillain was extracted when using 80 proof vs 190 proof alcohol. I went to the study and that was one of their conclusions. I admit to not being able to understand most of this study, but that was part of their conclusion.

So, I started this experiment. The pint jar on the left is 1oz (about 11 beans) of beans and 8oz Everclear 190. The jar on the right is .8oz beans (that's all I had left) plus 4oz Everclear 190 and 4 oz distilled water. This pic was shot about 24 hrs after the soak began with both jars shook up a bit. The jars were started about 5 minutes apart.

At this stage, the jar with diluted alcohol and 20% less bean is noticeably darker. That was a surprise.View attachment 68137

I'm using the type B beans which are supposed to be best for extracting but they are drier. I went by the instructions for extracting that came with the beans.
View attachment 68138



I like the sound of that sugar method. One more experiment to try.
Would be interesting to try just water and if the color and/or flavor is more water soluble.
 

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