Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Black Walnut Bitter

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Homebrew54

Beer Alchemist of Coastal Carolina
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Messages
10
Reaction score
1
Location
Jacksonville
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
WL WLP005
Yeast Starter
yes
Batch Size (Gallons)
5 gallon
Original Gravity
1.033
Final Gravity
1.008
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
Color
dark amber
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7
Tasting Notes
An earthy beer that will knock your senses off!
Ingredients:
Grains mash for 60 min at 152 deg
0.39 lb 2-row Carmel Malt 10L
6.3 lb 2-row Brewers Malt Briess
0.39 lb 2-row Carapils Malt Briess
0.10 lb black barley Briess
0.25 lb Peat malt
0.18 lb rice hulls
Irish moss last 15 min of boil
0.25 (3.3%) Candi Sugar added last 15 min

Hops:
1 oz Chinook (13.o%) boil 60 min
0.50 oz Citra (12.0%) add to boil at 5 min

Lautering rate of distilled water treated with minerals
I used distilled water at a rate of 1.5 qt per pound of grain for the mash for boil adding 4.3 grams of Gypsum, 4.3 grams of Epsom salt, 4.0 grams of baking soda, 2.0 grams of Calcium Chloride, 0.9 grams of chalk, and 1.7 grams of pickling lime.

Sparging:I used 2 quarts distilled water per pound of grain using same minerals. I sparged the grains for 50 minutes with 170 degree water.

Boil the wort for 60 min. adding hops, moss as mentioned. cool the wort to 75 degrees before adding yeast starter made the day before. Racked it to primary and left it at 68 degrees for seven days.

On the day before transfer to secondary you will need 3.5 pounds of fresh cracked black walnuts no shells. You will need to bake the walnuts at 250 until lightly tanned. use a paper towel to wipe up any oils the show. If none shows don't worry. You will boil the nuts later.

On the day of transfer to secondary boil the nuts for 5 minutes in 2 cups of distilled water. Cool in an ice bath and scoop off oils that float to top. there will be some left but again don't worry. Oils will kill the head but you will rack without oils later. once cooled place in secondary fermentor and transfer your wort into the secondary. Let it rest for 7 days at 68 to 70 degrees.

I force carbonate my keg. When racking into your keg you will see oils on the top of the fermentor/carboy. just make sure you draw from below the oil line and stop before any oils make it into your keg or bottling bucket.

You end up with a earth,black walnut infused bitter that will blow your mind!
Enjoy!

Black Walnut Bitter a.jpg
 
I happen to have two black walnut trees on my property and they fall every year and I drive over them. Never eaten one myself. Are you picking fresh or are you buying from a store? Really would like to put them to use but I have no idea how to begin let alone the time. I know they stain your hands pretty bad.
 
I pick them from my tree. Crack them in a vice. Time consuming but worth it. Let them dry out then hose off the shell after soaking in water. Wear rubber gloves or u will have black fingers for a week.


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Sounds fantastic!

Do you let the husks age until black or gather and crack them when green?

I am looking at the squirrel gather the Black Walnuts that fell from my trees and thinking he's steeling my ingredients! LOL. I get front end loaders full every year.


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Yes let them age until black. If they dry no worries. Soak them in water for a couple days then blast them off with a hose.


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