GF Brewing with Chestnuts

CornyKegs 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Sounds like you fellow brewers are finding out how much work and it is to prepare chestnuts to use in beer. My average sugar extraction is 4.5% brix or about 1.013 sg. with my beer chips. You're finding out you do need some extra fermentables to get a good strong beer but the roasted chestnut flavor still comes through.

Good luck with you're variations in chestnut prep.

To you mates accross the Pacific I wish I could send you some samples to show you what I start with. To costly. I've worked with commercial start ups in NZ and AU but they get pretty closed mouth when it comes to results. I'd like the whole world to know about chestnut beer, so I share info.

Skol

Leeinwa
 
Hey Lee, tried to call you last week...must have missed you. Any thoughts on larger quantity discounts (20 pounds at a time)? :D
 
G'day
another up date.
left the 375g of chips in 3Lts for about 36hrs (no added enzymes) drained off about 1.75Ltrs topped up the chips with another 1.7Ltrs left for another 30mins and drained off 1.5Ltrs.

3.25Ltrs at about 1.020
added 350g of dextrose to bring up the OG (about 1.045)
60min boil
hop pellets Hallertau (Mittelfruh) , german "noble" hop with a delicate spicy herbal aroma
7g at the start
3g with 5mins to go (not really sure about the hop quantities, just sort of guessed based on other recipes)
cooled it down topped it back up to 3ltrs and added some yeast.
tell you how it tastes in a couple months
 
I racked my chestnut IPA and brown ale to a secondary the other day and both had really low FG's. The IPA was 1000 and the brown ale was 1003. This seems a bit strange to me as I added 63g of maltodextrin which should have boosted the FG.

I will probably be bottling this weekend, should I add some more maltodextrin to help with body etc, or will it end up being too much and too sweet?

The lager is still bubbling away slowly in my fridge at ~4C
 
celiacsurvivor said:
I racked my chestnut IPA and brown ale to a secondary the other day and both had really low FG's. The IPA was 1000 and the brown ale was 1003. This seems a bit strange to me as I added 63g of maltodextrin which should have boosted the FG.

I will probably be bottling this weekend, should I add some more maltodextrin to help with body etc, or will it end up being too much and too sweet?

The lager is still bubbling away slowly in my fridge at ~4C
Click to expand...

What other fermentables did you use? And if it is that low adding maltodextrin will just make it sweet. I had my chestnut brew finish at 1000 and it was SUPER dry so I threw in a pound of maltodextrin and it still ended up with a dry finish and just tasted like a bad wine. So I don't know how to go about fixing that.
 
celiacsurvivor said:
I racked my chestnut IPA and brown ale to a secondary the other day and both had really low FG's. The IPA was 1000 and the brown ale was 1003. This seems a bit strange to me as I added 63g of maltodextrin which should have boosted the FG.

I will probably be bottling this weekend, should I add some more maltodextrin to help with body etc, or will it end up being too much and too sweet?

The lager is still bubbling away slowly in my fridge at ~4C
Click to expand...

Instead of adding more malto why don't you try some heading powder as per directions.


leeinwa
 
I was thinking of doing a porter or stout with the dark roasted chestnut chips. What hops would work best? Any different sugars I should use?

Thanks
 
Blackhawkbrew said:
I was thinking of doing a porter or stout with the dark roasted chestnut chips. What hops would work best? Any different sugars I should use?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I think I'll put the hop question out there for open dicussion. Most have been with ales and I'm sure there will be several opinions on the hop thing. Hello out there!!! Got any suggestions for Blackhawk?

I'd keep using corn sugar. it always gives and good clean alcohol with no side tastes.

Leeinwa
 
I would use brown sugar or maple syrup for a porter or stout. They would both help with color and leave a little more character behind when it finishes. But that's just me. Maybe Belgian Candi Sugar as well if you didn't want too much leftover character.
 
Blackhawkbrew said:
I was thinking of doing a porter or stout with the dark roasted chestnut chips. What hops would work best? Any different sugars I should use?

Thanks
Click to expand...

While it wasn't a porter or a stout, I used blackstrap molasses and maple syrup as additional fermentables in my american brown ale (check my drop down for some details). You couldn't really taste either in the final product and the molasses adds some nice color. For hops I'd try to use fuggles and east kent goldings. The thing I'd be worried about right now is getting the right color for the beer, while I haven't tried chestnut chips (yet) I haven't had success getting that dark dark beer using my own home roasted grains.
 
Blackhawkbrew said:
I was thinking of doing a porter or stout with the dark roasted chestnut chips. What hops would work best? Any different sugars I should use?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Talked to a 20 vet of home brew. He said hops are still a matter of taste. Just don't OVER-HOP with Porters and Stouts. He said brown sugers and other dark carbs will change flavor.

leeinwa
 
I've made a stout with malted buckwheat, and unmalted millet. It turned out jet black but with severe burnt coffee flavour. I'm letting this age now in the hopes that it will mellow.

The trick to getting the colour right is roasting your grain till its really dark. This is kind of trial and error as I think I over roasted mine which gave it the burnt coffee taste.

I used fuggles and east kent goldings.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
 
I still have a lot of chestnuts in my fridge that I want to peel and freeze before they go off.

I have found that if you boil them for about 10-15 minutes, the inside goes all crumbly and comes out really easy.

Do you think this boiling will affect the chestnuts at all? I boil them before I add the amylase anyway so I don't think it will make much of a difference.
 
celiacsurvivor said:
I still have a lot of chestnuts in my fridge that I want to peel and freeze before they go off.

I have found that if you boil them for about 10-15 minutes, the inside goes all crumbly and comes out really easy.

Do you think this boiling will affect the chestnuts at all? I boil them before I add the amylase anyway so I don't think it will make much of a difference.
Click to expand...


Take those surplus nuts and put them in a Seal-A-Meal vaccum pack and freeze them until you need them. Don't cook them first. They lose a little texture quality but will keep for a year or so. DON"T just freeze them or they will freezer burn.

leeinwa
 
So after my epic chestnut failure a few months ago I am going to get back on the horse and do another. This time I'm going to use sorghum syrup instead of just corn sugar as my other fermentable and hope it doesn't over attenuate. I'm going to do a pale ale.

*5 Gallons*

5lbs Light Roasted Chestnut Chips
6lbs Sorghum Syrup

2oz East Kent Goldings (60min)
1oz East Kent Goldings (30min)
1oz East Kent Goldings (1min)

Danstar Nottingham Yeast

Does this sound like it could make a decent beer? I don't have any calculators to figure out the IBUs on it so if someone could run those numbers for me that would be awesome. Also, how long do sorghum beers take to age to get rid of their off flavors?
 
SexPanther13 said:
So after my epic chestnut failure a few months ago I am going to get back on the horse and do another. This time I'm going to use sorghum syrup instead of just corn sugar as my other fermentable and hope it doesn't over attenuate. I'm going to do a pale ale.

*5 Gallons*

5lbs Light Roasted Chestnut Chips
6lbs Sorghum Syrup

2oz East Kent Goldings (60min)
1oz East Kent Goldings (30min)
1oz East Kent Goldings (1min)

Danstar Nottingham Yeast

Does this sound like it could make a decent beer? I don't have any calculators to figure out the IBUs on it so if someone could run those numbers for me that would be awesome. Also, how long do sorghum beers take to age to get rid of their off flavors?
Click to expand...

I don't know what style you're going for, or just how much gravity you are going to get from the chestnuts, but it sounds like this is going to be a fairly big beer.
 
Well I said in the post I was aiming for a pale ale but if you think it will be big I can always half the sorghum and go for a smaller beer.
 
SexPanther13 said:
Well I said in the post I was aiming for a pale ale but if you think it will be big I can always half the sorghum and go for a smaller beer.
Click to expand...
Don't know how I missed that pale ale part.
That amount of sorghum should net you an initial gravity of 1.044. In a previous post, someone mentions that 2.2 lbs of raw, whole chestnuts in .8 gallons of water gave him a gravity of 1.017, (removing as much of the shells as he could left him with .8 lbs). So, if your chestnuts are whole, you should get a gravity of 1.009 from the chestnuts (assuming you get the same conversion % he did.)
 
my chestnut order arrived about a week ago. 5# of medium roast and 5# of dark roast!

so im shooting for a porter with the medium roast and a stout with the dark roast.

ive started the mashing process for the stout and here what ive got so far

im shooting for a chocolate oatmeal stout.

ive mashed the 5 # of dark roast chestnuts with 1# toasted bobs redmill GF oats for about 20hours with amalyse and pectic enzymes.

gonna test here in a min with iodine to see if we have starch conversion

ill sparge here in a bit

for the boil

im looking at 2 oz of fuggles hops(1@60, .5@30 and .5@15). mostly cuz thats all i could get. (i also have an oz of sterling and cluster so if anyone suggests anything else lemme know)
6oz bakers cocca @ 10
1tsp irish moss @ 10
some maltodextrin some where in here during the boil

i have 2 choices for yeast: coopers ale or windsor

if anyone suggests any tweaks or alterations lemme know im going to start sparging and brewing here in the next 6 hours
 
DirtbagHomebrew said:
my chestnut order arrived about a week ago. 5# of medium roast and 5# of dark roast!

so im shooting for a porter with the medium roast and a stout with the dark roast.

ive started the mashing process for the stout and here what ive got so far

im shooting for a chocolate oatmeal stout.

ive mashed the 5 # of dark roast chestnuts with 1# toasted bobs redmill GF oats for about 20hours with amalyse and pectic enzymes.

gonna test here in a min with iodine to see if we have starch conversion

ill sparge here in a bit

for the boil

im looking at 2 oz of fuggles hops(1@60, .5@30 and .5@15). mostly cuz thats all i could get. (i also have an oz of sterling and cluster so if anyone suggests anything else lemme know)
6oz bakers cocca @ 10
1tsp irish moss @ 10
some maltodextrin some where in here during the boil

i have 2 choices for yeast: coopers ale or windsor

if anyone suggests any tweaks or alterations lemme know im going to start sparging and brewing here in the next 6 hours
Click to expand...

Does the bakers cocoa have any fat in it? I used a fat-free cocoa powder for my double chocolate oatmeal stout...it's the same that is used is the regular version around here. I think the fat in the powder might have some effects on the head retention and some other things but I'm not 100% sure.
 
Brewed it up and made several changes. Added 2 # of honey, 1cup dark brown sugar 4 oz cocca 2 vanilla beans 1 @ 60 1 @ 15. 4 oz maltodextrin

I did tested pot alch right after mashing and was looking at 2. So I decided I need sugars. It smells awesome and I'll check tomorrow to see if it started
 
I brewed up DirtbagHomebrew's stout this afternoon. Here's the recipe I used:

5# Dark roast chestnuts
5 oz. maltodexrin @ 45 min.
6 oz. blackstrap molasses @ 45 min.
6 oz. Hershey's unsweetened cocoa @ 40 min.

.5 oz Fuggle @ 60 min.
.5 oz Fuggle @ 15 min.

Topped up boil pot to 6 gallons with extra sparge runoff at 10 min.

Safeale 04

My gravity was REALLY low 1.025 :mad:

Is there a way I can up the gravity when it is already in the fermenter?

Hydrometer sample wasn't bad, a bit watery though.
 
Blackhawkbrew said:
I brewed up DirtbagHomebrew's stout this afternoon. Here's the recipe I used:

5# Dark roast chestnuts
5 oz. maltodexrin @ 45 min.
6 oz. blackstrap molasses @ 45 min.
6 oz. Hershey's unsweetened cocoa @ 40 min.

.5 oz Fuggle @ 60 min.
.5 oz Fuggle @ 15 min.

Topped up boil pot to 6 gallons with extra sparge runoff at 10 min.

Safeale 04

My gravity was REALLY low 1.025 :mad:

Is there a way I can up the gravity when it is already in the fermenter?

Hydrometer sample wasn't bad, a bit watery though.
Click to expand...

Did you test the conversion during the mash, maybe you didn't get enough.

I know you can do sugar additions during the ferment but I really don't know a whole lot about that.

Was it at all chocolatey? Boiling that cocoa powder for 40 min seems like a long time.
 
No, I didn't check the conversion of the mash, but it tasted sweet. I had it in my cooler tun over night (longer than 12 hours) and when I drained it it was still at around 120 degrees. I should have checked for full conversion though.

I'm just not sure how much sugar (and what kind) to use to up the gravity to around at least 1.040 or so.

The wort was a nice dark chocolaty color, but the sample did not tast overly chocolaty. I was kind of winging it. Should I have waited to add the cocoa later?
 
holy crap. i hope my insanity hasnt poured over to you. so i hope the brew doesnt turn out like crap for you. i added honey to the brew to add to my gravity. the batch that i brewed was bottled tuesday and im completely in the dark about how it might turn out. but im thinking that it might be one of those batches that would benefit from sitting in the basement for a few months.

the question is what kind and how much sugar to add. im not the most experienced brewer. so whats the possiblility of boilling a pot of water and dissolving something like corn sugar or rice syrup solids or cane sugar. as for how much and flavor profile, i havent the foggiest idea. but yeast convert sugar to booze. so more sugar more booze.. :)
 
I'll be concocting some sort of recipie tonight utilizing the medium roast chestnuts. I'm shooting for something not super hoppy, unlike me my girlfriend isn't a serious hophead. Any reccomendations?

Gonna do a 18-24 hr mash with the medium roast nuts. And I'm going to increase the amount of pectic enzyme and analyse enzyme by 25-50% of the recommended amount.
Going to use a full 8oz of maltodxtrin
from here I need to devise my hop schedule I have Czech saaz cluster cascade sterling and prolly some more prolly use an oz or less
and finally I'll check out icasanovas post about the other sugars

thoughts comments concerns

mashtonight brew tomorrow
 
Well. My chestnut oatmeal stout spent a week in the primary then a week in then 2 weeks in the secondary. Conditioned with a lil more Han 3/4 cup cornsugar. Cracked one yesterday and boy was it bitter but it was pretty good. That was right out of the closet. Then I had one from the fridge with absoultly no head and it tasted like crap. I'm gonna give it several more days and then try again. But is this something that will mellow out after forgetting it in the basement for a while?
 
DirtbagHomebrew said:
Well. My chestnut oatmeal stout spent a week in the primary then a week in then 2 weeks in the secondary. Conditioned with a lil more Han 3/4 cup cornsugar. Cracked one yesterday and boy was it bitter but it was pretty good. That was right out of the closet. Then I had one from the fridge with absoultly no head and it tasted like crap. I'm gonna give it several more days and then try again. But is this something that will mellow out after forgetting it in the basement for a while?
Click to expand...

The cocoa contributes A LOT of bitterness...if you up the cocoa then it's a good idea to cut back on the hop bitterness a bit. I think when I make it again (my recipe) I'll lower my bitterness by 15 IBU's, Beersmith says it was at 31 IBU's so essentially it will be half. I need to cut back on my fermentables too since it was a little too hot. Give it some time, I think it will mellow out.
 
DirtbagHomebrew said:
I'll be concocting some sort of recipie tonight utilizing the medium roast chestnuts. I'm shooting for something not super hoppy, unlike me my girlfriend isn't a serious hophead. Any reccomendations?

Gonna do a 18-24 hr mash with the medium roast nuts. And I'm going to increase the amount of pectic enzyme and analyse enzyme by 25-50% of the recommended amount.
Going to use a full 8oz of maltodxtrin
from here I need to devise my hop schedule I have Czech saaz cluster cascade sterling and prolly some more prolly use an oz or less
and finally I'll check out lcasanovas post about the other sugars

thoughts comments concerns

mashtonight brew tomorrow
Click to expand...

Yes, are you going to post your recipe? I'd like to get a chestnut brew going, but I doubt I can do that in the situation I am in for the time being.
 
Time has been a rare comodity at the moment. The chestnuts are still in the freezer. When I put a full mash together I'll post the recipie. At the moment it's just been extracts. Gonna be bottling a quinoa ups and transfering a strawberry blonde next week.
 
Just bottled my low gravity chocolate stout and the sample was pretty good. I think this will be rather tasty after several weeks of conditioning. I'll be out of town for the month of July and that should help me from being too impatient with it. The next time I need to add more fermentables to up the gravity, but I'll try this one again.

Thanks DirtbagHomebrew for the recipe help.
 
No worries. I'm learning this whole thing as I go just like everyone else here. Just glad I could help. Oh man I hope I can cook up the chestnuts I have in the freezer this week. Does anyone have any recipie reccomendations? I got 5# of medium roast chips

I know this is prolly covered elsewhere. But how well does corn sugar(dextrose) work to boost %alc?
 
Has anybody else been having problems with their chestnut brews fermenting too dry? I am almost ready to bottle my third batch and they have all finished around 1.000. The first two batches were based on Lee's recipe with the Windsor Yeast. The first was pretty dry, but drinkable. The second was so dry that the hops overpowered it making it too bitter to drink. This last one was an attempt at a belgian wit style:

2.5 gallon batch
5 lbs chestnuts (light roast)
2 lbs honey
3/8 oz Willamette (60 min)
1/4 oz Willamette (5 min)
1/4 oz bitter orange peel (5 min)
1/4 oz corriander (5 min)
Whirlfloc
1 pkg Lallemond Windsor yeast.

I boiled the chestnut prior to mashing for 5-10 minutes, cooled to 155F, added the amylase and mashed in my 5 gallon cooler for 18 hours. The temp at the end was right at 120F. After batch sparging, I had 3.5 gallons of wort at 1.015. Then I did a 60 min boil adding the honey in the last 10 minutes to get to 1.055. After two weeks in the primary the gravity was at 1.000. I added 2 oz maltodextrin to try to increase the body a little. It is now sitting at 1.004.

The flavor is pretty good, just very dry. I might try some lactose and/or maltodextrin in the boil next time. The orange and coriander work pretty well with the nutty taste of the chestnuts. The color is too dark to be called a wit it is more of a copper brown, like an ipa. I'll give this batch one more week in the carboy and then bottle it up. So far it is the best attempt I have made at chestnuts and I have pretty high hopes for it. I just wish I could get some residual sugars at the end of fermentation.

Any thoughts?
 
mrkstel said:
Has anybody else been having problems with their chestnut brews fermenting too dry? I am almost ready to bottle my third batch and they have all finished around 1.000. The first two batches were based on Lee's recipe with the Windsor Yeast. The first was pretty dry, but drinkable. The second was so dry that the hops overpowered it making it too bitter to drink. This last one was an attempt at a belgian wit style:

2.5 gallon batch
5 lbs chestnuts (light roast)
2 lbs honey
3/8 oz Willamette (60 min)
1/4 oz Willamette (5 min)
1/4 oz bitter orange peel (5 min)
1/4 oz corriander (5 min)
Whirlfloc
1 pkg Lallemond Windsor yeast.

I boiled the chestnut prior to mashing for 5-10 minutes, cooled to 155F, added the amylase and mashed in my 5 gallon cooler for 18 hours. The temp at the end was right at 120F. After batch sparging, I had 3.5 gallons of wort at 1.015. Then I did a 60 min boil adding the honey in the last 10 minutes to get to 1.055. After two weeks in the primary the gravity was at 1.000. I added 2 oz maltodextrin to try to increase the body a little. It is now sitting at 1.004.

The flavor is pretty good, just very dry. I might try some lactose and/or maltodextrin in the boil next time. The orange and coriander work pretty well with the nutty taste of the chestnuts. The color is too dark to be called a wit it is more of a copper brown, like an ipa. I'll give this batch one more week in the carboy and then bottle it up. So far it is the best attempt I have made at chestnuts and I have pretty high hopes for it. I just wish I could get some residual sugars at the end of fermentation.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Dry, i.e, like sec in wine, is called thus, because all the avalible sugars have been converted to alcohol. Windsor will ferment up to 8+% ABV. With a s.g. of 1.055 alcohol potential is only 6%. Try increasing the sugars so you have some left after fermentation.

leeinwa
 

Similar threads

8
Chestnut Dark Beer Recipe?
Replies
1
Views
1K
glutarded-chris
glutarded-chris
Deadalus
American Chestnut Keezer with Iron Pipe Tower
Replies
1
Views
772
Deadalus
Deadalus
B
Briess Sorghum Liquid Extract
Replies
2
Views
1K
glutarded-chris
glutarded-chris
S
From hoochin to homebrew
Replies
3
Views
365
jtratcliff
jtratcliff
prismpeaches
Excited to finally start brewing!
Replies
2
Views
426
prismpeaches
prismpeaches
BrewSwag 300

Latest posts

Back
Top