[Marielle]

I find that a lot of the common instructions out there are not right in the timing. I've been making my own extract going on 2+ years now and I've found what works for me is:

12 beans minimum per 750ml bottle of vodka.
- minimum of six months brewing. I find this is the minimum and most instructions tell you to let it sit for weeks or two months. Nope, six months and you'll notice a huge difference
- remember commerical vanilla extract usually has glycerine or corn syrup in it and will be slightly sweet from the bottle. To taste your vanilla extract put a drop in a bit of milk, then taste.

I also split then chop my beans into 1" sections. I know it's classier and prettier to present a whole bean in the extract but I favor flavor over pretty any day LOL. Have you heard of vanilla bean crush? I've considered making a vanilla bean heavy crush type extract too although my current extract has plenty of flavor and the beans throughout. I also refill bottles as they empty out to eek even more vanilla flavor and let that sit while I work on the next bottle. I've found great prices for vanilla beans on this site:

http://www.vanillaproductsusa.com/servlet/StoreFront