Hazelnut Disappointment

Fate is not without a sense of irony...  I just dialed in my brown ale recipe, to which I added Olive Nation Pure Hazelnut Extract to make a wonderfully tasty Hazelnut Brown Ale.  Two batches ago, I emptied out my extract, so I ordered more, only to find out that they've changed their process for making extracts.  Apparently, the critical ingredient that made it yummy was propylene glycol and as there is some apparent anti-freeze shortage in the world, I can't get it anymore.  My latest batch resulted in a great brown ale, ruined by an extract that tastes like cheap vodka stored in a tin box.  It is probably going to get pitched.

So my question:  If I was to make an extract at home, I'd toast hazelnuts, soak them in vodka add some vanilla bean and other stuff.  What I'm wondering is how many hazelnuts do you think it would take to toast and add to secondary to draw the same kind of effect?  I'm sure that alcohol content is an important factor (vodka vs. beer) in extraction of the oils.  Do you think that achieving the same type of extraction is possible in a 6.7% alcohol solution?  Has anyone tried anything like this?

I've done a chocolate pecan porter (using toasted pecans in the mash) and the flavor came out very nice.  I'm not sure hazelnuts in the mash would have the same effect, but I'm open to just about anything.  An empty hazelnut brown keg is a pretty sure way to get my wife to hire a Russian mobster to take me out, so I'm a little bit desperate.

Thoughts?

I have not done my own extract, however I have added just nuts to the secondary and had awesome results. I did a honey pecan porter and used 2lbs of pecans in the secondary and the pecan flavor was very noticable, almost too much. I had them on a baking pan cooking sheet thing and had the oven at 350, put them in there for 30 mins at a time then put into paper bag to absorb some of the oils, and did this 4 times. I actually was going to use hazelnuts but went with the pecans instead.

Hope it turns out well.