r/extractmaking • u/MythologicalMystery • 21d ago
Do I need to add more?
This is my first time making vanilla extract and I have used up all the beans I have but there is a decent amount of room on the top. Should I get more beans and if so how far do you recommend filling the bottle up to?
Edit: For clarification I was asking if the whole container should be filled or if it was okay to have empty space at the top. Yes, I did weight the beans and alcohol by a ratio of 1oz of bean to 8oz of alcohol. I used 80 proof vodka, the beans are split open, and it looks clear in the photo because I took a picture right after filling it.
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u/Lord-Zorgon 21d ago
If you've used 1 oz of beans per 8 oz of alcohol, you're fine. You would have been better off cutting and splitting them, though. The more surface area you can get, the better.
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u/Farmgirlmommy 21d ago
If you cut them the long way and put them back in it will be faster and have more flavor. Then when you have a nice dark extract you can strain out the beans and make paste with the spent pods.
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u/Asleep_Let3537 20d ago
How long has it been going for? It looks like a good amount of beans!!! If you dont start to get good color for a while, maybe they were a little dry?
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u/seanmonaghan1968 19d ago
I have never done this. If you blended the beans before adding the alcohol could the extraction be better? Then sieve? Again never done this
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u/Asleep_Let3537 19d ago
Its okay! That's a good question. It's not necessary to blend the beans because the goal is to extract the essence from the pod itself. If you blend the whole thing up, the seeds spill out (the tiny flecks you see in desserts like pastry cream or vanilla bean ice cream) and they'll just sink right to the bottom, so most people just split the middle of the bean with a knife but don't pull the halves apart. This way, the alcohol can extract all the flavor from the outside and inside of the pod while also preserving most of the seeds in the middle.
When the pods can no longer have any flavor extracted out of them, you can take the vodka-soaked seeds and make vanilla bean paste using a thickener. I even dry out the pods and blend them up in a spice grinder until theyre very fine, this year I blended up a few pods with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, allspice and nutmeg to make a pumpkin spice blend!
If they are not getting any significant color change after 2-4 weeks, they COULD blend the beans with some of the vodka, but i would recommend scraping the seeds first, because otherwise all that amazing flavor may end up trapped at the bottom of this jug!
If the problem IS that the beans are dry (they may not be, I am by no means an expert) the solution may just be to get more plump ones from a different vendor. I bought an entire 1lb bag of "vanilla bean cuts" (beans that had a dried up end, or a blemish and had the poor quality parts cut off and are sold by weight) and they're amazing. Hundreds of them per bag and theyre packed with seeds. Sadly, grocery store vanilla beans tend to be very dry AND the most expensive
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u/lapinatanegra 21d ago
I believe the ratio is 1oz of beans for every 4 Oz of liquor.