Nut Ale?

[peas_and_corn]

Hey all,

My friend suggested that I try to make an AG nut ale. So... what do I need to know about this style?- flavour, examples I can pick up at my Dan Murphy's, tips etc? Also, does anyone have a recipe they can share with me?

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Airgead]

Hey all,

My friend suggested that I try to make an AG nut ale. So... what do I need to know about this style?- flavour, examples I can pick up at my Dan Murphy's, tips etc? Also, does anyone have a recipe they can share with me?

Cheers,
Dave

The yanks seem pretty keen on things like choc haslenut porters. Was that the kind of thing you had in mind? If so then I think there is a recipe floating round from Jamil Zanichef(sp?) who has apparently won heaps of awards with it. From memory it was a regular porter with haslenut essence added at bottling.

Cheers
Dave

 

[newguy]

As for an example, Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale would fit the bill, but I don't think it actually contains nuts. Biscuit malt, on the order of 10-15%, would give a distinctive nuttiness to the beer. I added pecans to a porter last year - 448g for the entire boil (10 gal batch). I actually "first wort hopped" them. I could detect pecans, but the level was very low. If I did this recipe again, I'd increase the OG to 1.055-60 or so and increase the nuts to about 1kg for 10 gal. A basic brown porter or brown ale should be a good base for this beer.

I didn't have a problem with the oils from the nuts destroying the beer's head, but I did have a problem with astringency. The woody bits amongst the nut itself are very astringent and some obviously made their way into the kettle.

 

[drsmurto]

G'day Dave

Yet to try your contribution for the case swap - a brown ale IIRC? I am not sure of too many nut ales but i would have thought a northern english brown ale is what you are thinking about - see here.

English mild ale or pale ale malt base with caramel malts. May also have small amounts darker malts (e.g., chocolate) to provide color and the nutty character.

Drank my fair share of Newcastle Brown Ale during my stint in Durham. Pity i couldnt understand a word of those geordies.....

Cheers
DrSmurto

 

[peas_and_corn]

Airgead- Well, my friend was somewhat vague on the particularities, he just said that I should "try making a nut ale". A choc hazelnut porter sounds like an interesting beer to make, I must admit. I'll have a search for it

newguy- so if I understand you right, for your batch you made a brown ale and had pecans in the boil? How much did that amount of pecans cost you, and where did you get them? Hmm, sounds interesting. So maybe getting my brown ale and changing the biscuit malt to 15% would be a bonus on top of the nuts?

DrSmurto- yep, my contribution was a brown ale. Hmm, like I said earlier, he wasn't too liberal with the information, so I'm feeling my way around here, but I don't think he was meaning a brown ale. Cheers for the link anyway

 

[tangent]

Might be easier to prime with Frangelico

 

[newguy]

newguy- so if I understand you right, for your batch you made a brown ale and had pecans in the boil? How much did that amount of pecans cost you, and where did you get them? Hmm, sounds interesting. So maybe getting my brown ale and changing the biscuit malt to 15% would be a bonus on top of the nuts?

Yes, a brown ale with pecans in the boil. I don't remember the exact amount that the pecans cost, but I think it was $10-15. I made this beer just before xmas last year and I couldn't find shelled pecans anywhere. All the grocery stores were sold out. I ended up buying pecans in the shell and shelling them all myself. It was a massive pain in the ass and my wife & daughters kept stealing them too, but it was the only way to get pecans at the time. I chopped them really fine before adding them to the wort.

Here's my recipe:

88% 2 row
9% caramel 60
2% chocolate malt
1% carafa

Single addition of hops for 20 IBU (90 minutes). This batch was disappointing because I aimed way too low gravity-wise. My OG was 1.046 and like I said earlier, an OG around 1.056-60 would have been far better while keeping the IBU level the same. If you drop the 2 row to 73% and add 15% biscuit malt, it would make the beer much more lively & complex. All things considered, this was a disappointing beer, but I did learn how it should be done next time.

One last thing, if you enter this beer in a competition or swap it with friends be sure to affix some sort of warning that the beer contains nuts. It's not that much of a problem with my generation, but there sure are a lot of kids with nut allergies now. You don't want to accidentally give someone a severe allergic reaction!

Edit: I just realized that I didn't answer your question as to where I got the pecans. Almost all grocery stores around here carry them in the shell and shelled for baking. The bags of shelled pecans are expensive as hell, but unshelled they're only somewhat ridiculously priced.

 

[peas_and_corn]

Hmm, I might give a wholesaler that is down here called Gagais bros a go for the pecans. Hmm, I'll keep all that in mind

 

[tangent]

remember that nuts contain oils (not great for beer) which is probably why Jamil used essence.....

 

[newguy]

remember that nuts contain oils (not great for beer) which is probably why Jamil used essence.....

The pecans I used didn't affect the head in the slightest. I recently did a coconut curry beer and the oil slick on the pot of coconut "water" had me really worried. The coconut beer is fine as well - thick long lasting head. [I stewed shredded coconut with a small amount of water, then removed the coconut and added the very oily water to the keg.]

I keg, but I fill a few bottles from the keg. Since the keg draws beer from the bottom, whatever oils are present float on top of the beer and don't make it to the bottle or to the glass. I imagine that the same would be true for brewers who only bottle - whether they siphon from the bottling bucket or draw from a tap, the oil is still left on top of the beer. You only need to be worried once the level gets very low.

 

[Fatgodzilla]

The pecans I used didn't affect the head in the slightest. I recently did a coconut curry beer and the oil slick on the pot of coconut "water" had me really worried. The coconut beer is fine as well - thick long lasting head. [I stewed shredded coconut with a small amount of water, then removed the coconut and added the very oily water to the keg.]

I keg, but I fill a few bottles from the keg. Since the keg draws beer from the bottom, whatever oils are present float on top of the beer and don't make it to the bottle or to the glass. I imagine that the same would be true for brewers who only bottle - whether they siphon from the bottling bucket or draw from a tap, the oil is still left on top of the beer. You only need to be worried once the level gets very low.

Newguy, your starting to scare me. Coconut Curry beer. I guess that's one of the problems you get when snowed in for so long :lol: Time you came out from the cold and into a warmer climate. I'll have a fire ready to thaw you out.

Good point on the floating oils. Clears up the most worrying thought I had about the oil residue.

 

[Weizguy]

Do you think that your friend meant "Nut Brown Ale"?

If you want to try a (green) pistachio Helles, click this link to BYO magazine recipes.

Beerz
Les

 

[choppadoo]

i recall drinking an italian (i think) amber lager brewed with hazelnuts in it. cant for the life of me remember what it was called, but a very nice drop in a pretty bottle. caramel malts and hazelnuts are a pretty good pairing, methinks.

cheers

 

[peas_and_corn]

Hmm, I'll take all that on board, with all the advice here and two potential recipes, I'll see if I can throw something together! When I do that Ill post it here, and if it works to the recipe DB.

 

[newguy]

Newguy, your starting to scare me. Coconut Curry beer.

I scare a lot of people. An explanation for this beer: I came up with the name, Heatsikher, first. I thought Sikh instead of seek was funny (still do). Then I thought that curry = Indian, but I decided to add coconut to take the edge off of the curry. Thus my Heatsikher was born. It was actually extremely popular at my club meeting last week. The coconut is assertive, but with a very gentle afterburn/heating long into the finish.

I guess that's one of the problems you get when snowed in for so long :lol: Time you came out from the cold and into a warmer climate. I'll have a fire ready to thaw you out.

:lol: Other than freezing my hands in the unheated garage for the last month, I actually like the cold. -20C to -30C is quite nice; -40C is kind of a bitch. The coldest I can remember (and have experienced) is -58C, well into the -70's with the windchill. That was during a blizzard 19 years ago next month. And yes, it was unusual! :lol: Actually, the next time I brew I am planning to take a bunch of pictures and post them here for everyone to see what it's like to brew here outside in the winter.

 

[peas_and_corn]

OK, here's a draft recipe-

5kg Pale Malt
1kg Biscuit Malt
250g Crystal 55
100g Wheat Malt
100g Chocolate Malt

500g hazelnuts
500g Pecans
500g Pistachios

30g Chinook @ 60
30g Progress @ 30
40g Czech Saaz @ 15

I'm not sure about the mix of nuts, especially the pistachios- what do you think?

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Stuster]

I guess we need a bit more info, Dave. What size batch is this for? OG? IBUs? What are you hoping this beer will turn out like?

One thing that really stands out for me are the hops. Looks like far too much to me and they'll mask any flavours you might get from those nuts. It's also a bit of a mix of hop types, US, UK, Czech. I'd say stick with one bittering addition, and (if you really want) maybe a small later addition. The grain bill looks ok, though that's a lot of biscuit malt. :huh: That much wheat malt won't do much so you could just drop that IMO.

 

[crozdog]

Hey all,

My friend suggested that I try to make an AG nut ale. So... what do I need to know about this style?- flavour, examples I can pick up at my Dan Murphy's, tips etc? Also, does anyone have a recipe they can share with me?

Cheers,
Dave

P&K,
BJCP Style 11C Northern English Brown Ale is often called Nut ale, eg Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale. from the BJCP guidelines:
Aroma: light sweet malt aroma with toffee, nutty and or caramel notes.
Flavour: Gentle to moderate malt sweetness with a nutty light caramelly character.

recipes here, here and here

Beers
crozdog

 

[newguy]

OK, here's a draft recipe-

5kg Pale Malt
1kg Biscuit Malt
250g Crystal 55
100g Wheat Malt
100g Chocolate Malt

500g hazelnuts
500g Pecans
500g Pistachios

30g Chinook @ 60
30g Progress @ 30
40g Czech Saaz @ 15

I'm not sure about the mix of nuts, especially the pistachios- what do you think?

Cheers,
Dave

I agree with Stuster - make this beer simple with no or very small late hop additions to allow the nut character to come through. I also agree with getting rid of the wheat - at that low level, it really won't do much if anything. The other thing I have to ask regards the pistachios. Are they salted?

 

[peas_and_corn]

oops, sorry guys, it's supposed to be a 44L batch.

I haven't bought anything yet, but I'd go for unsalted pistachios- they will all go into the boil, I'd say. I'll probably take the wheat malt out, and about the hops... maybe cancel all but the last addition?