Cashew Nuts - A Porter Style?

[enoch1973]

Hi guys,
I had this crazy idea to do a porter or something with choclate grain in it but also adding Cashew nuts to it. Anyone done this before? Just wondering what the general concensus would be. I am leaning toward mashing with the cashew nuts but I'm wondering if that will stuff with the mash. I also considered adding the ground nuts to the last 15 minutes of the boil or so.

 

[amiddler]

Would you actually extract any of the cashew flavour from it by boiling it? Trial boiling a few in a cup of water for 10mins then cool and taste. If there is no flavour there or it tastes awful then don't put it in your beer, if it taste good let us know how it goes in the porter.

Drew

 

[enoch1973]

Thanks Drew. That's a really good idea. I was thinking that if I could get some of that nice Cashew charactisic into a darker beer it may taste ok. I'll see how it goes. Might boil with a bit of dry malt in there to see what happens.

Would you actually extract any of the cashew flavour from it by boiling it? Trial boiling a few in a cup of water for 10mins then cool and taste. If there is no flavour there or it tastes awful then don't put it in your beer, if it taste good let us know how it goes in the porter.

Drew

 

[[email protected]]

I have added macademia nuts to a brown ale ala Holgate Nut Brown Ale.

Coarse chopped, browned in the oven, left overnight, and added to directly to the mash. Didn't affect head retention or clarity. 100g in 23L batch gave a sutble background note from the nuts.

I would suggest doing the same for your recipe. You may need to up the quantity to get the perception of flavour. Definitely roast them to accentuate the flavours and dry them out.

I wouldn't add to the boil as I think this will definitely affect head retention etc.

Another thing I have done is made my own hazelnut extraction. Roasted hazelnuts added to a cup of vodka and let infuse for two weeks. filter using a paper coffee filter and dose to taste.
This could work for roast cashews as well and has the advantage of being able to ajust the final beer to taste.

 

[enoch1973]

Cool. I actually like the idea of roasting them. It kind of makes sense.
I'll try that I think. Might experiment with maybe 200g of Cashews though.
See how it goes.

I have added macademia nuts to a brown ale ala Holgate Nut Brown Ale.

Coarse chopped, browned in the oven, left overnight, and added to directly to the mash. Didn't affect head retention or clarity. 100g in 23L batch gave a sutble background note from the nuts.

I would suggest doing the same for your recipe. You may need to up the quantity to get the perception of flavour. Definitely roast them to accentuate the flavours and dry them out.

I wouldn't add to the boil as I think this will definitely affect head retention etc.

Another thing I have done is made my own hazelnut extraction. Roasted hazelnuts added to a cup of vodka and let infuse for two weeks. filter using a paper coffee filter and dose to taste.
This could work for roast cashews as well and has the advantage of being able to ajust the final beer to taste.

 

[mika]

Nuts contain oil don't they ? I would have thought that would have been the biggest issue, perhaps roasting sorts that out by burning/reducing the oil content.
Mr Malty's famous Choc Hazelnut Porter is done with extract flavouring I thought ?
Some people have associated a nutty flavour to different blends of darker crystal, which could be another avenue to persue. Never got it myself though, but then it's not often I sit around thinking 'This beer is pretty damn good, but to really set it off, it needs more nuts !"

 

[[email protected]]

Cool. I actually like the idea of roasting them. It kind of makes sense.
I'll try that I think. Might experiment with maybe 200g of Cashews though.
See how it goes.

PR

Definitely roast them. To me this enhances the flavour that most people associate with the particular nut and gets rid of some of the oils. Why not also do the infusion at the same time as this may bring out a different character to the nut and add to taste at the end?