You're not totally wrong by any means, Elizabeth, as long as you like the flavor your homemade vanilla extract imparts. The alcohol acts as a preservative so you don't need to worry about the beans going bad. What I'd worry about is a lack of flavor coming from the beans over time. If you have high-quality beans, you can certainly use them more than once to make extract. However, if you notice that your extract is turning quite light in color despite resting for many months, you might want to add a fresh bean to your mix to pump up the flavor. You can try mixing 1 teaspoon of extract in 2/3 cup (6 oz, 170g) whole milk to see how strong the taste is — if you don't detect much flavor, it's time to invest in new beans. Good luck! Kye@KAF

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