making a nut flavored mead

I love nuts (the kind you eat - not the kind that asks to be elected to the highest office in the country) and often make nut flavored beers but would love to make a chestnut flavored mead. Has anyone tried this? I would rather not make an extract which I then add to the mead but use the alcohol in the mead to extract the flavor from the roasted chestnuts. What issues do I need to be aware of and what problems am I likely to face? Thanks.

The biggest issue with nuts is the oil. Oil can go rancid or suffocate the yeast if there is a lot floating on top. That is why extracts that remove the oil are used. That being said, I've heard of folks throwing them in without any issues. I image good sanitation and luck are involved.

chestnuts are different from other nuts in that they have more starch and much less oil than most others. with walnuts, pecans, etc, you'd probably want to press the oil out like you'd do for beer and then use the de-oiled cake.

but i think your plan would work. i don't know how much chestnut i'd use per gallon. i'd consider chopping the nuts slightly after roasting - quarters or something. i may try something of the kind too - i have a batch that i started in july with the intention of racking onto fruit sometime around now...but i haven't found enough of any seasonal local fruit, and have got a lot of chestnuts...hmmm.

Thank you loveofrose and wildmazer. My plan is to add about 8 oz of chopped roasted chestnuts to the primary and another 16 oz of chopped nuts to the secondary...

i'll probably try something like a pound and a half to two pounds, just in secondary, when i get back from a camping trip early next week. it's not the strongest flavor, so i want to make sure i add enough to be noticeable.

Been thinking a lot more about this project and I now think that I will make an extract - adding about 1.5 lbs roughly chopped roasted chestnuts to about 1 pint or 1.5 pints of vodka and allowing the nuts to sit for about a month. And then adding the filtered extract to a gallon of mead (or perhaps to 7 pints of a mead). I am thinking that I might be able to filter about 1 pint of the extract... but using a Pearson's square , if my mead is about 11% and the vodka is about 40% that will give me a mead of about 14.6%... which is a little higher than I want. I wonder if there is an effective way to use less vodka to extract the nut flavors - say about 1 pint - providing me with about .5 pint of usable extract... ? Thoughts? Thanks

Coming to this late, but seeing as how chestnuts are so starchy and sweet, once roasted, might you grind them and then sparge as one would with malt? That would, in theory, release additional sugars as well as flavor.

yep. apparently chestnuts are somewhat sought after for gluten-free beermaking - we had a few gallons made for an event a few weeks ago...

i didn't ever rack onto chestnuts as intended - scored a bunch of pawpaw mash instead. i should start a new batch with chestnut after all.

so i did start a roasted chestnut mead, even though i was running lower on chestnuts than i thought. as a result, i only started with about a pound in primary and will only be able to rack onto about a pound in... i guess you'd call tertiary. currently it's in a carboy and has been strained off the original nuts. will update.

wildmazer said:

so i did start a roasted chestnut mead, even though i was running lower on chestnuts than i thought. as a result, i only started with about a pound in primary and will only be able to rack onto about a pound in... i guess you'd call tertiary. currently it's in a carboy and has been strained off the original nuts. will update.

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Me too. My mead is just about ready for me to add the chestnut extract though tasting the extract I don't think that the flavor is very rich or intense... I may need to add some almond extract and perhaps some hazelnut too (along with a tad of vanilla)...

Has anybody tried this with pistachio's? I have an idea but not sure where to start with it

I would love to use pistachios but how easy is it to find unsalted or undoctored pistachios?

The latest episode (55) of the meadcast talkt about nuts. Could be worth listening to. http://www.meadmakr.com/meadmakr-podcast/

bernardsmith said:

I would love to use pistachios but how easy is it to find unsalted or undoctored pistachios?

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I would check bulk bins at organic grocers/larger supermarkets.

bernardsmith said:

I would love to use pistachios but how easy is it to find unsalted or undoctored pistachios?

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I can get them through work shelled and unsalted. If I got some roasted a little and then chopped would that work?
I'm thinking of a saffron and pistachio combo going on. All the flavours work well together on a plate

leytonangell said:

I can get them through work shelled and unsalted. If I got some roasted a little and then chopped would that work?
I'm thinking of a saffron and pistachio combo going on. All the flavours work well together on a plate

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Saffron and pistachio mead sounds magic!

bernardsmith said:

Saffron and pistachio mead sounds magic!

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Thanks. Think it might need to be a little sweeter to carry the earthyness of the saffron but will be giving it a go soon

The Meadmkr podcast (episode 55) about the use of nuts suggests that when all is said and done, pistachio may taste very much like peanuts when you prepare the nuts to ferment on them...
http://www.meadmakr.com/meadmakr-podcast/

agreed, pistachio/saffron sounds awesome.

just about to rack my chestnut mead onto more chestnuts.

bernardsmith said:

Thank you loveofrose and wildmazer. My plan is to add about 8 oz of chopped roasted chestnuts to the primary and another 16 oz of chopped nuts to the secondary...

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How did the Chestnut meade turn out...any 'Dos and donts' ?
Thanks
pc