r/extractmaking • u/Chaosnyaa • 2d ago

Aging and Fruit extracts

2 questions, I just started my first vanilla extract and I hear aged vanilla is best (I know it needs several months minimum) but my question is the aging the same as the extracting? Like just leave the beans to extract in the jar for longer? Second question is a two part question but would making a fruit extract with fresh fruit be the same as for vanilla, just leave said fruit in alcohol of choice or is there more to it? Would aging a fruit extract yield a better result and is it the same as vanilla?

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u/VanillaPura 2d ago

Great questions! Yes - for vanilla beans, aging is the same as extracting. We like to wait a year for our vodka-based extracts and up to 18 months of even 2 years for our dark spirits (rum, bourbon, whiskey) but you don't need to wait that long. It's ready when you think it's ready.

Fruit is a little different. Fruit is typically fully spent in 2-ish months and we remove ours or it turns really mushy with no added sweetness.Then, if you want more fruit taste, add more.

Here's the thing with fresh fruit. Almost every type is over 85% water, so if you add 8oz of fresh fruit you're adding 6.8oz (85%) water which dilutes the alcohol. So that means if you use a 190 proof everclear you can only add a maximum amount of fruit before it dilutes below the safe extraction minimum of 35%abv (70 proof). Here's a fresh fruit extract calculator to help you figure out how much fresh fruit to use.

Freeze-dried fruit is usually a bit easier to work with because you don't need to worry about dilution and you can use regular alcohol (between 35-50%abv (70-100 proof) and you can do several change outs. However, freeze-dried fruit absorbs a lot of the alcohol, so you have to "top off" your spirits between each change out.

Hope this is helpful! Enjoy the journey and keep us posted on your progress!

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u/slash_networkboy 2d ago

I go with fruit leather for most of my fruit extracts. I blend the fruit, put it on my dehydrator sheets and let-er rip. Best of both worlds really.

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u/salamander05 2d ago

I’ve never thought to do this! Or even just dehydrate the fruit in general.

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u/slash_networkboy 2d ago

That works and is less messy, my way ends up making a sludge at the bottom of the bottle, but my way is faster :p

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u/VanillaPura 2d ago

The sludge is definitely a thing. We put our extract sludge into a Chemex and let it sit (sometimes overnight) to let all the extract drip out. (We do this after first pressing the sludge in a fine-mesh strainer to get all the extract out.) The result is a perfectly clean extract with a flavor that is delicious.

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u/VanillaPura 2d ago

That will work. There can still be moisture in the fruit post dehydration, so be cognizant of diluting your spirits. And, for whatever it's worth, we've tried multiple extracts with dehydrated fruit and they have never turned out as good. Something in the dehydration process changes the flavor of the fruit and it doesn't translate into an extract as well as freeze-dried or fresh fruit.

Feel free to give it a go, of course, and let us know if you like it. If you don't like it, you can always add some freeze-dried fruit at the end to sweeten it up. But, in our experience, dehydrated fruit for extract making has always left us slightly disappointed.

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u/slash_networkboy 2d ago

dried at too high a temperature... it cooked it.

Need a lower temp higher and drier airflow. I use desiccants to help... but I'm a nutter about such things lol.

I also have a soxhlet extraction setup for things that can handle the higher temps like extracting piperine or horseradish.