Maple Pecan Brown Ale

I’m thinking about getting the Honey Brown Ale extract/specialty grain recipe kit from Austin HomeBrew and modifying it into a Maple Pecan Brown Ale. I’m not sure how many pounds of roasted pecans I should add though . . . any suggestions?

I was also thinking about adding about 4 lbs maple syrup and 15¼ oz brown sugar to bring the original gravity up to around 1.075-1.080 with a potential ABV of around 10% (I like . . . big . . . beers . . . and I can not lie . . .). Do those amounts/calculations sound about right?

Yeast: I’m considering using White Labs California Ale V WLP051, but might end up experimenting with Lalvin D-47. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
evenstill

.....bump.....

What do you all think about this prospective recipe? I just guessed about how much pecan to use, should I change the amount? The boil will be in a 20 gallon Blichmann Engineering Boilermaker and the fermentation will be in a Blichmann Engineering 14.5 gallon Fermenator. Any tips, tricks, or suggestions?
Thanks,
evenstill

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 7.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.075 SG
Estimated Color: 27.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 18.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
1 lbs 8.0 oz Pecans (2.0 SRM) Adjunct 10.91 %
5 lbs 8.0 oz Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 40.00 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3.64 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3.64 %
8.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 3.64 %
8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.64 %
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 1.82 %
1.00 oz Mt. Hood [5.20 %] (60 min) Hops 18.5 IBU
1.00 oz Real Vanilla Extract (Primary 1.0 weeks) Misc
1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Primary 3.0 days) Misc
2 lbs Maple Syrup (35.0 SRM) Sugar 14.55 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 10.91 %
1 lbs Brown Sugar, Dark (50.0 SRM) Sugar 7.27 %
1 Pkgs Trappist High Gravity (Wyeast Labs #3787) Yeast-Wheat

I'll bite... (Not sure why some posts get 10 pages of replies and others get none???)

As for the Pecans (not pronounced Pee-can, properly pronounced pu-con) I would go for more like 2+ pounds. The process for using them is to lay them out on a cookie sheet/sheets and toast them at about 275-310 degrees untill they're lightly toasted, before they start smoking. Take out of oven, turn/toss. Put back in till they're toasted more, take out. Crush or crack a fair amount, put in oven, toasting again, take out of oven, turn them. Toast again, crush more, toast, turn, and toast again. Final step is to put in blender produce a medium chop, toast some more, you want these suckers nice and brown, just don't blacken em! Keep at till you've cooked most of the oils off of them. It may be useful to do the crushing or just blot with paper towels as you go through this process.

Otherwise I would simplify this recipe. Simple is quite often better and this will probably come out very "odd" rather than "wow". Try eliminating some of the sugars, if you want more gravity, do it with extract or grain. Though no matter what I expect brewing a decent brown at close to 10% is not something many people have done. I'm guessing you're looking for a big malty bier so I'd take a swing at it with something like this:

Partial Mash Recipe

2 lbs 8.0 oz Pecans (2.0 SRM) Adjunct (prepare as above or oils will kill head, etc)
6.6 lbs Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 120 (60.0 SRM) Grain 3
1 lb Instant Oatmeal (brought to a boil and added to the mash tun)
8.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain
3+ lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain
1.00 oz Mt. Hood [5.20 %] (60 min) Hops
1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Primary 3.0 days) Misc
1 lbs 8.0 oz Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 10.91 % (Add at flame-out)
1 Scottish Ale Wyeast 1028 or WLP 028 (great for malty bier and high abv)

Name it Honey Pecan Cluster Bier and let us know how it goes!

Schlante,
Phillip

Check this out:

http://homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=58853

and the follow up:

http://homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=64020

Hope this helps

What do yall think about steeping the pecans with the other grains then also adding them to the boil for 60 minutes?

Also look at the Pecan Scottish Ale recipe in my recipe drop-down box. Lots of info there on the 1/2lb I used and how to roast them "right" or "wrong".

Can't attest to the level of pecan flavor due to fermentation issues - Tastes more like cloves than anything because of underpitching.