THE VANILLA EXPERIMENT IS UNDERWAY!

[rmd]

So, about that vanilla experiment. I got a package of 8 different kinds of beans (different geographic sources, etc), and pulled a bunch of beans from each group. For each kind, I scraped out the beany pulpy goodness and added a bit of chopped up bean husk and put each in a separate bottle, labelled A through H. It ended up being 8 beans from each batch, with around 6g of bean meat and 4-5g of bean husk in each bottle. Then I filled the bottles with vodka (smirnoff, 40% alcohol, which is over the minimum of 35% alcohol required by the FDA. I gather that lower than that you just get vanilla flavored booze rather than a proper extract.)

A close-up on one of the bottles:


And all of the bottles, filled with vodka, capped, and each in a ziplock bag in case of leakage:


I put the bottles in a box - partly so they'd be dark, partly so I would only have one thing to remember to shake up - and sealed it up. So now, we wait. Occasionally shaking.

Comments

[muffyjo]

Clearly today was a day to initiate taste testing! Those look beautiful.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Are those plastic bottles? You do realize that putting vodka in plastic will cause it to leech crap into the stuff inside it. It could take on a chemical smell or taste. Switching it to glass jars would probably be a good idea.

We had this issue making liqueurs, the plastic smell after just a few days and the taste after a month of steeping made it undrinkable.

I suggest half pint or pint size glass canning jars. Most grocery stores still have them, a case of 12 with lids will run you less than $10. You don't have to heat seal them because nothing will grow in vodka, and you can be sure they wont leak.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Huh? They're 4oz. glass bottles.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Oh okay, the lids make them look like plastic squirt type bottles.
I'll be interested to hear about the outcome of your experiment.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

nope, glass -- american science and surplus had a good price on small glass bottles, so i went with that. the caps are plastic, but they've got a normal sort of paper-ish liner-thing in between the top of the bottle and the cap itself.

my current plan is that before baitcon I'll pull them out of isolation and maybe make some test batches of cookies or something to check that all is well.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't give it that long.
Whenever we do liqueurs, which is basically the same thing, steeping something in vodka to get a flavor, after about a month things start to go bitter and oxidize. I would check them often, even if it means just sticking a finger in, tasting it then sealing it back up.

[flit.livejournal.com]

I haven't had any trouble with my vanilla extract going bitter, even after years of steeping. It's extracted in rum which might mask some bitterness, but it tastes fine even straight. Possibly vanilla beans don't have much inherent bitterness? I would not try this with something like lemon zest or elderberries.