Vanilla Extract is Brewing

Making vanilla extract is one of those things I knew nothing about but jumped right in and ordered all kinds of beans. One thing I learned is that for single fold extract, I need 1 oz. of beans to 8 oz. of alcohol. For double fold, I need 2 oz. of beans for 8 oz. of alcohol. The beans are too talk for a pint jar so I have to fold the beans in half in order to keep them totally submerged in the alcohol. Some of the beans, I had ordered only one ounce. Initially, I had planned to use quart jars but, for quart jars, I needed at least 2 ounces of beans, preferably 3 or 4 ounces but . . that’s something I didn’t know when I ordered the beans.

The beans have to brew for at least 12 months, preferably 24 months so if it’s going to sit that long, I’d prefer to get a quart of vanilla instead of a pint but I didn’t have enough bean so . . I used some pints.

The photo below shows four pints and two quarts but I actually ended up with another quart and a big bottle.

The jars shown above are as follows:

Starting at the left end:

• Comoros beans (3 oz.) in spiced rum (16 oz.)
• Hawaii beans (3 oz.) in Absolut Vodka (16 oz.)
• Ua Pou beans (2 oz.) in Fireball (8 oz.)
• Ecuador beans (2 oz.) in Very Old Barton bourbon (8 oz.)
• Cook Island beans (1 oz.) in light rum (8 oz.)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo Beans (1 oz. in 1792 bourbon (8 oz.)

While Vince was gathering up alcohol for me to use, he found a bottle that had beans in it.

He came inside with that bottle and said “This isn’t the first time you’ve tried this!” Yes, dear! I know but that’s maybe one ounce of beans in about 3 cups of alcohol and I’m not sure it isn’t something like 190 proof. Those beans have been in that alcohol for at least 6 years.

Yesterday another order of beans arrived. It’s 8 oz. of Papua New Guinea beans. Why did I order 8 oz. of some and 1 oz. of some? Because I don’t have a clue what I’m doing! From now on, I’ll order 4 oz. of beans and put them in 16 oz. of alcohol for a quart of double fold vanilla extract.

I placed 4 ounces of the Papua New Guinea beans in the bottle of mystery alcohol so that means there are now 5 oz. of beans in 3 cups of alcohol so I’m hoping even if it is a very high proof, it will turn out ok.

I placed the other 4 ounces of beans in a quart jar with 16 oz. of dark rum. I had wanted to use rye whiskey but it was 120 proof and I don’t know that I want to use that for extract.

I still have 5 oz. of Uganda Beans that have yet to arrive. I think I’m not going to order any more beans for a while.