GF Brewing with Chestnuts

Well I homebrew to save money! I'm in college! haha

SexPanther13 said:

Well I homebrew to save money! I'm in college! haha

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I figured if you were in Manhatten your were either a rich professor or a broke student. I did the same thing 50 years. We made it in a used 30 gallon pickle barrel with "borrowed" ingredients from the livestock feed plant in animal science. Lots of grains and corn sugars and distillers yeast residues used for the B vitimans. Seldom bottled, Scaped away the scum on top and laddled in out into glasses. I think it ran 10-12 percent. Now that was cheap!

If that wasn't good enough we forge a lab request for a gal of 195 proof analytical ethanol. Dilute it 50/50 and add a few ounzes of glycerin to smooth it out.

leeinwa

Bet that beer was the best you ever had Lee! Update: my ipa has been chilling at 34 for over a week now. Been busy, kegging this weekend. Glad everyone is having success with their brews.

Jees, this brew is STILL bubbling away! I don't think I've had a brew ferment this long. Should I be worried about it being too dry?

I guess be careful what you wish for.

Blackhawkbrew said:

Jees, this brew is STILL bubbling away! I don't think I've had a brew ferment this long. Should I be worried about it being too dry?

I guess be careful what you wish for.

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Haha, well this is exactly what happened to mine and I ended up with 1.000 final gravity. It was extremely dry, so when I go to bottle it I am going to throw in some maltodextrin to try and make it drinkable. I think if I do this again I will use another fementable with it like sorghum or buckwheat to give it more body. I might also use a sugar that won't fully ferment. Who knows though, it sounds like everyone else is getting good chestnut only results.

Airlock has stopped bubbling! Took a gravity reading and it was at 1.006. The sample didn't taste too bad. I'll transfer it to a carboy tomorrow with gelatin. Should I get some maltodextrin for body?

I would, I'm going throw some in mine today or tomorrow and then taste it before I throw in the corn sugar for bottling.

I kegged my IPA last night and force carbonated it. I just had the first pour...AWESOME! It is very clear, has a great color and tastes great. I will take a picture on the next pour and post it on here. Time to start planning my next brew...tough to beat this one though! Very happy with the results.

took some pictures, but I guess I'm too stupid to figure out how to post them. This beer looks (and tastes) so good, I wish I could show you guys. I'm on my thir one already. At this rate, my ten gallons will be gone by the end of the weekend!!! Just to resummarize, this is Northen Brewer's Tongue Spliiter recipe with all the grain re-placed by 20 pounds of chestnuts (1/2 medium, 1/2 light roast) and five pounds of honey. Scroll back to see the exact method and recipe. This beer is phenomenal.

Gonoles10 said:

took some pictures, but I guess I'm too stupid to figure out how to post them. This beer looks (and tastes) so good, I wish I could show you guys. I'm on my thir one already. At this rate, my ten gallons will be gone by the end of the weekend!!! Just to resummarize, this is Northen Brewer's Tongue Spliiter recipe with all the grain re-placed by 20 pounds of chestnuts (1/2 medium, 1/2 light roast) and five pounds of honey. Scroll back to see the exact method and recipe. This beer is phenomenal.

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I'm glad that some of you guys [and gals] are finding out the joys of GF chestnut beer. I've been working for 5 years trying to convince the world that they make a first class beer. I read recipes that people use for GF that contain multigrains, spices and herbs etc. and the fact is that with the roasted chestnuts and a little sugar you can make just about any style of beer you want. Congrats on you sucesses!!!

Skol

leeinwa

How clear does the geletin get the beer? I added it this past Sunday and it's still as cloudy as it was before. Should I wait till it gets more clear before bottleing?

I would wait. It should clear over time. I've never used gelatin before so I can't help you there. I just crash cooled mine down to just above freezing for a few days and it is very clear. But there is always the option if drinking it cloudy too (depends how thirsty you are)

Glad the beer worked out Gonoles! My double IPA is good, but a little too sweet for my taste. It's also a bit too dry, so I think next time I make an IIPA I'll add back in a bit of sorghum for body. It's definitely drinkable though for sure!

My Black Lager (my first chestnut lager) is getting pretty darn good. Its color is too light to fit the category, but I expected that. Lee, the dark roasted chestnut flavor really comes out in it and it's a very light body beer. Quite nice. It tastes a lot like the liquor you have but much much lighter of course. I can't believe how much it tastes like chestnuts! I've been covering that up with hops I guess so with just the little Nobles it really is nice.

Now that I have capacity I'm going to work with the meal you sent. Took longer than I expected to get to it!......

On another note, does anyone know if I will damage my beer significantly if it's pressurized in corny kegs but at room temp for a few days? No light would get in because it's in the cornies, but I'm just not sure about the temp since it has been cold for so long...

mattinboston said:

On another note, does anyone know if I will damage my beer significantly if it's pressurized in corny kegs but at room temp for a few days? No light would get in because it's in the cornies, but I'm just not sure about the temp since it has been cold for so long...

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Big temp swings aren't good for a beer. If it is just you pulling it out, letting it age, and putting it back in, you should be fine. What you really don't want is for it to vary in temp constantly for a long period of time. (ie cold (30F) in the morning and hot (70F) at night).

Temp swing off tastes can also be aged out in a constant temp environment, so you are safe either way.

dkershner said:

Big temp swings aren't good for a beer. If it is just you pulling it out, letting it age, and putting it back in, you should be fine. What you really don't want is for it to vary in temp constantly for a long period of time. (ie cold (30F) in the morning and hot (70F) at night).

Temp swing off tastes can also be aged out in a constant temp environment, so you are safe either way.

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Thanks man - big help!

Hi guys,

question For Lee.

I'm based in NZ and can only get my hands on either whole chestnuts or chestnut crumbs.

http://www.chestnut-traders.co.nz/products.htm

Which do you think would be the best to brew with?

I think the whole nuts will be cheaper but then I will have to chip them myself which may be problematic.

Cheers

Colm

Could a food processor do it?

lcasanova said:

Could a food processor do it?

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It would be worth a try, I can get the chestnuts for $3-4 a kilo so it won't be too expensive for a trial run.

Blackhawkbrew said:

How clear does the geletin get the beer? I added it this past Sunday and it's still as cloudy as it was before. Should I wait till it gets more clear before bottleing?

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I like concentrated irsh moss.

Others who have tried it say that cold crashing at 34 degrees for 48 hours works great. I bottle card and all the beers settle out after a couple weeks.

Sorry for late reply been gone a week.

leeinwa

mattinboston said:

Glad the beer worked out Gonoles! My double IPA is good, but a little too sweet for my taste. It's also a bit too dry, so I think next time I make an IIPA I'll add back in a bit of sorghum for body. It's definitely drinkable though for sure!

My Black Lager (my first chestnut lager) is getting pretty darn good. Its color is too light to fit the category, but I expected that. Lee, the dark roasted chestnut flavor really comes out in it and it's a very light body beer. Quite nice. It tastes a lot like the liquor you have but much much lighter of course. I can't believe how much it tastes like chestnuts! I've been covering that up with hops I guess so with just the little Nobles it really is nice.

Now that I have capacity I'm going to work with the meal you sent. Took longer than I expected to get to it!......

On another note, does anyone know if I will damage my beer significantly if it's pressurized in corny kegs but at room temp for a few days? No light would get in because it's in the cornies, but I'm just not sure about the temp since it has been cold for so long...

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Sent samples of meal and chips to a brewery in Mich. and they placed an order for the meal. Said it worked better with their operation. Glad your trials are turning out. I 've got non-celiacs who have gotton hooked on chestnut beer. IT"S A BEER UNTO ITSELF!!

Sorry I'm late in reply been gone for a week.

leeinwa

celiacsurvivor said:

Hi guys,

question For Lee.

I'm based in NZ and can only get my hands on either whole chestnuts or chestnut crumbs.

http://www.chestnut-traders.co.nz/products.htm

Which do you think would be the best to brew with?

I think the whole nuts will be cheaper but then I will have to chip them myself which may be problematic.

Cheers

Colm

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Contact David Klinac at [email protected] He's the chestnut guy with the University in Hamilton. He can point you in the right direction. He sent me some freeze dried crumbles that were tastless and if the the crumbles you refer to are the vaccum packed raw nut product, the won't work. It's the drying and roasting that gives the flavor and aroma.

Yea, cracking dried nuts is hard. I built a SS heavy duty roller mill the pre-cracks down to a flowable size before I run them through a stone burr mill to make the chips. You can then roast them in glass cake pans in your oven if your wife will let you. The pleasant aroma will penetrate the house and linger for a while.

There are a couple others working on a chestnut beer in NZ for commercial production and I think Klinac has worked with them. He has also make different pocess equipment.

Try him first for local sources.

leeinwa

lcasanova said:

Could a food processor do it?

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If you are refering to chipping the dried nuts, it would have to be a darn good one. Dried chestnuts [12% moisture] are rock hard.

I just cracked open one of my chestnut brews that I bottled last weekend, I know, I know, WAY too early, but I had to try it. Obviously too young, but not bad. Once the hoppiness calms down I think it will be quite tasty.

Blackhawkbrew said:

I just cracked open one of my chestnut brews that I bottled last weekend, I know, I know, WAY too early, but I had to try it. Obviously too young, but not bad. Once the hoppiness calms down I think it will be quite tasty.

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You won't be the first one who couldn't wait. The other day I opened a bottle for a friend that I put up on 5/30/09. He said it was so much better than it was last fall. It was a dark ale. "Patience is a virtue" I well under stand why you couldn't wait.

Leeinwa

Just poured a Chestnut ipa myself and switched to a new keg already. Lee. Expect a call tomorrow or Tuesday. I'm ready to brew again. I meant to call a few weeks ago but got busy trying to keep all the balls in the air! Glass is empty, gotta go pour another.

I cracked open one of my chestnut ales and I had very littel carbination. Is this normal? I used 5 oz. priming sugar, as I always use with my beers. After two weeks I would have expected more carbination. There was very little head and no residual carbination once poured. Any suggestions?

Blackhawkbrew said:

I cracked open one of my chestnut ales and I had very littel carbination. Is this normal? I used 5 oz. priming sugar, as I always use with my beers. After two weeks I would have expected more carbination. There was very little head and no residual carbination once poured. Any suggestions?

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Carbonation- Was that 5 oz of suger per 5 gallons? That translates about to what I use. I don't prime as a batch. I always put 1 teasp per bottle and then add beer. I've never had any real problems with lack of carbonation like you mention. I do know that a ROUNDED teaspoon will give to much carbonation. I really not sure what happened in your case. I run my wort through a 1 micron filter system I made before bottling. 1 micron removes a lot of suspended matter and still lets yeast cells through. Where you getting a good cap seal and didn't get any CO2 leakage as it formed?

Head-- You probably won't get a head without good carbonation. Keep in mind that glutens are what makes dough, dough. They kind of bind things together. They do the same thing with beer head. Since there a no glutens in chestnuts or other GF beer I always add a head retainer. These products are added to thousands of food products for texture reasons. Also, and I've mentioned this before, glasses washed in a dishwasher with a spot remover that leaves a residue, will diseminate a head in shot works. These are surfactents and won't allow head bubbles any staying power.

If you're set up for kegging you might transfer bottle contents to keg and cabonate that way.

How did the beer taste flat?

Any one else have any comments?


leeinwa

Lee, Thanks for the quick reply. I used 5 oz priming sugar for my 5 gallon batch. I have always thrown it into my bottling bucket and have had no problems. Also, the beer I opened was not cold, if that matters. I do remember a discussion on this thread about head retainers, I'll have to give that a try on the next batch. As far as the taste, it was still a bit "green," with some residual "fruit" flavors. I think it would be better when cold and aged a bit longer. My neighbor, for whom I made this beer, thought it was good.

We're already talking about the next chestnut batch!!

Blackhawkbrew said:

Lee, Thanks for the quick reply. I used 5 oz priming sugar for my 5 gallon batch. I have always thrown it into my bottling bucket and have had no problems. Also, the beer I opened was not cold, if that matters. I do remember a discussion on this thread about head retainers, I'll have to give that a try on the next batch. As far as the taste, it was still a bit "green," with some residual "fruit" flavors. I think it would be better when cold and aged a bit longer. My neighbor, for whom I made this beer, thought it was good.

We're already talking about the next chestnut batch!!

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Great! Give that beer more time. What temp are you storing it at? I generally in developing recipes, would crack at sample a bottle a week to check progress and at about 6-7 weeks most of the beers would reach peak flavors alon wuth great carbonation. If you used Cascades they have a tendency to impart and "citrus" flavor without masking the chestnut flavor. Other low acid hops, 4-7 alpha range, might not have that effect. Had a non beer drinker for dinner the other night and she fell in love with a dark ale from 5/09. It ages well.

Skol

Leeinwa

10 more gallons chestnut ipa in the fermenter. Still amazed at these chestnuts.

"Heat 5 gallons of water to about 160-170 degrees and add bag with chips to pot. Add pectinase and amylase per manufacture’s directions. Chestnuts are really a fruit and the pectinase will create a much clearer end product by dissolving suspended pectins. Add water needed to fill brewing pot. Allow to soak 12-24 hours [24 is better]"


My big question is this .... does the temp need to maintained at 160-170 for that whole time?

Nope. I've had great success heating them to 150 the night before brew day and cranking it back up to 150 the next day. I wrap the mash tun in a thermal blanket for the night and the mash usually falls to about 120 for me.

Androshen said:

"Heat 5 gallons of water to about 160-170 degrees and add bag with chips to pot. Add pectinase and amylase per manufacture’s directions. Chestnuts are really a fruit and the pectinase will create a much clearer end product by dissolving suspended pectins. Add water needed to fill brewing pot. Allow to soak 12-24 hours [24 is better]"


My big question is this .... does the temp need to maintained at 160-170 for that whole time?

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No. The enzyme activity will keep the pot warm enough. Like Gonoles says it will still be warm the next day.

leeinwa

OK, I got my hands on some chestnuts and I'm going to try and give it a go this weekend.

I have a couple of questions before I start.

The chestnuts have been taken out of the green outer shell but are still in the brown casing does this have to be removed before roasting? should I crush/chip them before or after roasting?

The amylase that you are using, is it just alpha amylase or is it a mix of alpha beta and gluco?

Should I boil the chestnuts and water then reduce temp and add enzymes or just heat to the correct temp and then add them?

Thanks for your help

Colm

celiacsurvivor said:

OK, I got my hands on some chestnuts and I'm going to try and give it a go this weekend.

I have a couple of questions before I start.

The chestnuts have been taken out of the green outer shell but are still in the brown casing does this have to be removed before roasting? should I crush/chip them before or after roasting?

The amylase that you are using, is it just alpha amylase or is it a mix of alpha beta and gluco?

Should I boil the chestnuts and water then reduce temp and add enzymes or just heat to the correct temp and then add them?

Thanks for your help

Colm

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Getting the fresh chestnuts is the easy part. I make beer out of chestnuts that are airdried in the shell for about a year. They are then ran through a shelling machine. To chip them, they have to be 12 -14 % moisture. They will be rock hard. I run them through and pre-crusher roller mill I made, to get them to a size that will feed through a stone burr mile that is set to give uniform chips. After chipping they are sieved to remove most of the fines. I then roast them in a special continuous stirring roaster I built that is propane heated. Light, medium or dark roast, Take your pick. THEN the are ready to use in beer. Tala!

Hope this helps

Skol

Leeinwa

Leeinwa

G'day all.
I'm brand new to homebrewtalk.com and pretty much brand new to home brew as well (two brews a coopers pale ale and a coopers dark ale.)
my uncle owns a hobby farm with a couple hundred chestnut trees on it, so i've suddenly become the owner of about 9.5kg (20ish pounds) of fresh chestnuts.
after reading through this tread i thought giving chestnut beer a go would be a better option than throwing them out.
since they're fresh they're still fairly soft, so my plan was to use a food processor to chip/pulp them and then to oven roast them at a pretty low temp. (say 100C/210F) to help dry them out then take it up to 180-250C(350-480F) till they're browned up.
then following one of the recipes posted already.
any advise or comments??

G'day again
bit of an up date.
i decided to do a small test batch.
-started with 1kg(2.2pounds) of fresh, off the tree, chest nuts.
-used a food processor to chip them to a pretty consistent size of 2-5mm
-layed them out on oven trays and dried for 30mins at 120C/250F and roasted them a 180C/360F for another 30mins (pulling them out every 10-15mins and mixing them)
-after removing as much of the chestnut shell as i could re-weighed at 0.375kg/0.83pounds
-put them in 3Lts/0.8Gal(US) of water at 150F
they've been soaking about 15hrs now. I'm bring the temp back up to 150F and i'll leave them at least another day. Took a hydro reading at 15hrs of about 1.012 adjusted for the temp its more like 1.017 it's currently a quite light brown (maybe a bit darker than a pale ale, but i expect it will clear a bit) and tastes surprisingly sweet.

I managed to shell and roast about 4 1/4 lbs of chestnuts which I then soaked at in about 12L of water with 4mL of pullulanase, alpha amylase and beta glucanase at 70C for ~24hr, I kept it on the burner at low temp until I went to bed then I put it in the hot water cupboard on my beer warmer and wrapped in a blanket. Then the next day 4mL of amyloglucosidase was added.

I lautered and sparged it and ended up with 10.5L of wort at ~1.010.

I like experimenting so I decided to make 3 x 5L brews rather than one big one. I made a Lager, an IPA, and a brown ale. Sort of.

Here are the recipes.

IPA Recipe
3.5L of chestnut wort.
640g Dextrose
63g maltodextrin
12g fuggles (60min)
2g East Kent Goldings 4.8%(22min)
12g Cascades (22min)
¼ t irish moss (10min)
4g of fermentis safale S-04 ale yeast was rehydrated in ~1cup of water and added to the cooled wort.

The brown ale recipe was the same except I added 80g of Belgian candi sugar, and soaked 100g of dark roasted buckwheat malt in the wort prior to boiling.

Lgaer Recipe
3.5L of chestnut wort.
640g Dextrose
63g maltodextrin
9g Czech saaz 4.1% (60min)
9g saaz (20min)
5g saaz (10min)
5g saaz (end of boil
¼ t irish moss (10min)

5g of fermentis saflager S-23 lager yeast was rehydrated in ~1cup of water and added to the cooled wort. It’s now in the fridge at ~2C and bubbling nicely

I plan on racking to a secondary and dry hopping the lager with 5g of saaz.

The chestnut wort was nice and sweet, but the reading was a bit lower than I expected. I didn't grind the nuts very fine so I think that could be the problem. I have another 8kg of chestnuts to play with so the next batch will be ground finer.

OPM,

Sounds promising! I've found that in order to get my gravity up there, I add honey. For a ten gallon batch (we knucklehead Americans are still using the imperial system, so don't ask me to convert it ), I have had good results using 20 pounds of chestnuts and 5 pounds of honey. That got me to around 1.045 starting gravity out of the boil kettle. It will finish a bit lower than you are used to, due to all the fermentables

Survivorman,

Those recipes look good and tasty! It will be interesting to see the effect that a finer grind has on the sugar yield from the nuts and the starting gravity. It does seem low, but I am sure it will be good.