Author Topic: Homemade Vanilla Extract (Read 6626 times)

s2srea · « **Reply #15 on:** January 12, 2012, 12:09:55 PM »

Quote from: Paige

Quote from: Man of the West
Effectively forever, as long as you store the bottle closed and out of the light. Otherwise the flavor and aroma will start to go flat after a few years, but you ought to have used it all up by then anyway. There is no possibility of spoilage with 80 proof spirits.

Oh, I never knew! I'm not a big drinker myself so thank you for clarifying! :) I'm sure it would fly off my shelf! :)

So I wonder what this says about MoW?....

wisconsheepgirl · « **Reply #16 on:** January 12, 2012, 07:27:37 PM »

Quote from: Paige

Very interesting! Thank you for sharing and it sounds easy enough. I like the idea of giving it as gifts. :) Do you happen to know how long this would last?

Hi Paige. My sisters gift was 16 oz. bottle, and it lasted me 2 years. As it aged it got better...more syrupy if that makes since. Because the major component of the ingredient is alcohol I would say it would last forever, properly stored and that is in a dark place, easily in your pantry. Hopefully that answered your question.

Paige · « **Reply #17 on:** January 13, 2012, 10:16:27 AM »

Quote from: wisconsheepgirl

Hi Paige. My sisters gift was 16 oz. bottle, and it lasted me 2 years. As it aged it got better...more syrupy if that makes since. Because the major component of the ingredient is alcohol I would say it would last forever, properly stored and that is in a dark place, easily in your pantry. Hopefully that answered your question.

Thanks for clearing it up! :) Sounds great! Maybe I will make them early in the year and give them as gifts through the year. :)

s2srea · « **Reply #18 on:** January 13, 2012, 11:51:29 AM »

Quote from: momofmany

You shouldn't use cheap vodka, especially with making something like vanilla. You don't need to go all out and buy a bottle of Grey Goose but , Smirnoff, Stolychnaya or some other rot gut vodka isn't going to get you the results you would want. Get a mid grade vodka, good vanilla beans and the project will work out well. Last time I did it I used some beans from Costco someone gave me and some Absolut and I was happy with the vanilla and I am a bit of a baking snob.

So I got my beans yesterday, and I have a mostly full bottle of Seagram's vodka in my cabinet. Should I buy something better, or will Seagram's do the trick you think? FWIW- what's got me thinking about getting something better is when I heard that Stolychnaya was an lesser option to Grey Goose. What I have doesn't come in a plastic bottle or anything, but its probably not up there with Stoly in terms of quality (popularity?) I would say (much less anything like Grey Goose or Belvedere).

Paige · « **Reply #19 on:** January 13, 2012, 03:00:04 PM »

I heard somewhere that running the vodka through a water filter (like a Brita) will improve the quality. No sense wasting the bottle that you bought if you have a water filter system, right? If you are worried about the alcohol staying with the system it might be less expensive to replace the filter than to buy a whole new bottle of vodka?

wisconsheepgirl · « **Reply #20 on:** May 23, 2012, 10:26:20 AM »

Thanks for the response guys. I have my batch ready to rock 'n roll. Those of you that got the vanilla beans and made your own, curious how it all panned out for you.