Sorry but I'm going to hijack slightly here, but might be knowledgeable to you too Ken
I've been frustrated with my results from vanilla extract...even high quality extract, so I'm leaning towards beans in the future. I've read this thread and many like it and know strategies of using beans. Most use 2-4 beans in s batch. Ken just bought 4 pods for $11 or $12. He's obviously not going to use them all in this batch. How long can you hang onto beans before they go bad? Also, how do you store them?
I have a food saver vacuume sealer. I put my extra beans in and seal them up store them at room temp for up to a year. Best gift for a home brewer! Buy bulk hops and vacuum seal them!
In my most recent batch of vanilla milk stout aged on coco nibs and coffee. I used 3 whole Tahitian beans sliced down the middle then cut into 1" chunks in secondary for one week at 35 F. The vanilla and coco go in at the same time then the coffee last and only for 12-24 hours.
Vanilla comes directly from a family friend that has a vanilla farm. Extremely high quality. 3 beans are needed to balance out all the other flavors going on in this beer.