Gonoles10

Recipes 

So far, the chestnuts have been very similar to barley. I just transferred my first Chestnut beer to secondary and am already impressed with the results. After tasting a sample, an impartial party (my wife) told me that it tasted like all the other beers I make. Nothern Brewer's Tongue Splitter has been a staple in my household, and according to my wife, this Chestnut IPA tastes just like it! Well, thats good, as it is the same recipe, minus the barley (scroll back for the subs I made). I am absolutely amazed and excited. I am dry hopping with Cascasde and Sterling and am getting very thirsty. Lee, thanks for all the ideas and help! This will be a good beer. As soon as I keg this one, my thoughts are leaning towards a Sam Adams clone or a porter, or both!

Cheers

Leeinwa

Recipes 

Why is it that we just can't wait to sample the beer we make when we know it's not ready and it will do nothing but get better. I even start by tasting the wort before fermentation!! My wife, who's not even a beer drinker, is my sampler too. If she says great, then I know the true end product will turn out okay.

Skol


leeinwa

SexPanther13

Recipes 

So Lee, is there any way you would discount the chestnuts if I decided to keep brewing with them? And also how long will they stay fresh? If I were to order a bunch and leave them stockpiled in my closet would they make it very long?

mattinboston

Recipes 

Wow you guys have been busy on here!... Lee, you're getting good press from my post. I hope I can still source chestnuts from you and they're not sold out!... Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut! I'm looking forward to trying the chestnut meal you sent.

In any event, I have a chestnut black lager and a chestnut double IPA in fermentation now. They both look tremendous. The black lager has a touch of sulfur on the nose, but it has only been in fermentation for a little over a week so I'm hoping that clears up. I'll transfer the ale to secondary and dry hop in a few days. Fermentation is still going pretty strong at 65 degrees on the ale.

I do have a chestnut recipe for what I thought was going to be an "american cream ale", but that turned out more wheat-like or more specifically like a Belgian wheat kind of like a Leffe. I used 5lbs light roasted chips and a bit of sorghum for that and noble hops... plus the obligatory corn sugar to get it up to OG. It was a bit too hoppy for the style, but other than that after the harsh sorghum flavor wore off in a few weeks it was very good IMO.

If I was modifying it for a Leffe or Duvel-like beer I'd probably keep the chestnuts the same and just drop way down on the hops. If I make another "cream ale" I'll use less chestnut chips and probably drop the sorghum to get it lighter in body. The 5lbs of chips give the beer a weight.

Regarding yeast, I use mostly SafAle and SafLager yeasts for GF because they're supposedly grown on beets. Most yeasts are not GF, so you have to be careful if you're making it for a celiac or a celiac might drink it. I'm just intolerant to gluten so I could do the other yeasts, but who knows who else would want to drink it and it's a small sacrifice...

SexPanther13

Recipes 

Well fellas, I just started soaking my chestnut chips for my Strong Belgian. I also have my starter in the pantry bubbling away. Tomorrow afternoon should be fun!

Leeinwa

Recipes 

I thought Manhatten KS was in a dry county! Just kidding! Good luck and have a great day brewing. Make sure you taste the unprocessed wort before you start. You'll be surprised at the the rich sweet nutty flavor.

Skol
leeinwa

SexPanther13

Recipes 

Ok so I don't think I got the best conversion on my chestnuts, I soaked them for 12+ hours with amylase and pectinase but I couldn't keep the temp up at 140-150 and I couldn't be around to heat it up when it dropped down. It never went below 120 F but it usually wasn't in the ideal range. You guys think this is going to screw up my brew? My SG was only .1060 and Yooperbrew says thats mostly the added sugar. So do you think I'm going to have an ass tasting beer?

Leeinwa

Recipes 

Every thing will be just fine.You got the aroma and flavor you from the chips that will make the beer. Most of you fermenrables will come from you corn sugars. Hang in there!

leeinwa

Gonoles10

Recipes 

To quote the godfather of homebrew, "Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew." I'm sure it will be good. What route did you decide to go with the starter?

SexPanther13

Recipes 

I just used like a 1/4 cup of corn sugar and candi sugar boiled down and let it go for about 30 hours until it calmed down. My batch is bubbling away right now. I'm sure it will turn out fine. Has anyone else's Chestnut only brews turned out alright?