Adding nuts to beer

[Ó Flannagáin]

Anyone ever done this? I guess one way is to just use extract, but what if I wanted to add some home toasted almonds or pecans or something. I believe nuts have oils, so I dunno if this is even possible without killing your head. What do you'll think?

[DrunkenSatyr]

MMmmmm Hazelnut porter....

[MrMarbleHead]

From all accounts that i have heard, yes it will have an effect on your head retention due to the oils. I did just have a conversation about this with a friend on Sat, and i had a really good idea (I thought so anyway), not sure if i am ready to reveal it to the workd yet, I need to do a little more research on the matter then i will let you know whats up.

Not trying to be a dick i just don't want to go tossing out ideas and it either been done and failed and also don't want to put it out there if there is no way in hell it would work. But i will let you all know soon enough.

[sanders5x]

Well, if you do use the nuts, is the head really that important in one beer?

[Ó Flannagáin]

I love a good head... but beyond that, if there's enough oils to kill a head it scares me it will also add an oily texture to the beer, which would be pretty gross IMO

[DrunkenSatyr]

Ehh, I doubt you would notice it.

[MrMarbleHead]

Yeah i doubt it would come through in the mouthfeel of the beer, but may have a noticable effect on the head retention, depending on how & when you used the nuts.

[Ó Flannagáin]

So would you guys add in the mash, boil, secondary or later?

[sanders5x]

I suppose if you ground them up you could add them to the boil? I suppose you would get the most oils from them this way too. Adding them to the secondary would be an interesting idea to try. I would probably throw them in a food processor a bit.

[MrMarbleHead]

I think that i would lean away from putting them in the secondary, just because the oils. I think that if you put them in the boil or the primary there would be more time for the oils to separate and be filtered out through the racking process.

[sanders5x]

The oil should float to the top, so if you were real careful and left the top layer behind when you racked I think you could leave 90% behind after the primary and secondary. Being that kegs draw from the bottom this would further help you avoid the oil.

[MrMarbleHead]

That is what i was thinking too. If you used them in the boil or primary it would give you more chances to rack the beer so you would leave more behind.

[sanders5x]

It poses an interesting experiment.

[Ó Flannagáin]

How bout a chocolate peanut butter stout?

[sanders5x]

got a recipie? I would add coco powder and lactose for a little sweetness, but I have no clue how you would do the peanuts. Maybe roast them in the shell and grind them up and toss in the mash? Then add some to the boil?

[Monster Mash]

A guy in my club added pretzels to the mash and you could actually taste them in the beer, it was interesting to say the least...

I have never heard of anyone doing nuts though, just make sure they are unsalted and maybe make a small batch.

[cheesefood]

I did it once...I added my nuts to the beers I sent DS. The oils weren't an issue but it did make it a bit saltier. I wet-nutted the beer for about 10 minutes.

[Barley-Davidson]

Note to self, avoid cheese's nut beer in any swaps.

I know this is drifting a little from the original point of the thread, but you could also add a nut liquor to secondary.

[cheesefood]

...a nut liquor...

OK, do we completely de-rail here and go out in a string of gay jokes?

[DrunkenSatyr]

Rofl!

[Monster Mash]

I did it once...I added my nuts to the beers I sent DS. The oils weren't an issue but it did make it a bit saltier. I wet-nutted the beer for about 10 minutes.

You didn't happen to use the tea bag method on that did you? For anybody thinking about trying this just don't do it during the boil, there is a good chance you will carmelize your nuts.

[Ó Flannagáin]

Wow, this thread is really starting to get good.

[drowningman]

O'flannagain, I may get to repay the favor and offer you a little advice.

Last fall I made a partial mash peanut butter porter (I'm a Reese's freak, ok?) and though it didn't turn out exactly as I wanted, I had absolutely no problems with head retention (there's a trick). I'll state first that my problem had to do with hopping the beer. Looking back at my notes, I used 1 oz Northern Brewer (7.2 Alpha) for bittering, 1/2 oz Hallertaur (4.5 a) for flavor and 1/2 oz Fuggles (4.6 a) for aroma. The beer tasted pretty good through transfer and conditioning, but had an odd bitter-toasted flavor that I could stomach (I hate wasting), but I wouldn't hand out to anyone. When I try this again next fall, I'm going to use a lower alpha bittering hop, but the dumb move was dry hopping with 1 oz of the same Fuggles. Based on my recipe I recommend using one type of low-alpha hop and no dry-hopping. I bet it would have turned out pretty nice.

Now here's what I believe I did do right and recommend: Use pure organic nuts and if you can, get paste. The trick is that week before you brew, set the jar upside down and let as much the oil out of the paste as possible. Every day or two you can clear the excess oil. I used 1/2 cup at the beginning of the boil and at 20 minutes left I added a quarter cup. I might consider just a bit more next time

Let us all know how it turned out and good luck.
D-man

[Ó Flannagáin]

Sweet dude! Good to know it can be done without losing the head.