Pecan Porter

I have been working on a recipe for a Lazy Magnolia type pecan brown/porter. Looking for input if anyone has any suggestions. This will be the replacement for a holiday/pumpkin ale, as the last two have not been as wonderful as I thought they would be.

Est. OG (1.062)
Est. FG (1.014)

All Grain
5 gallons

7lbs Marris Otter
1lb Crystal 20
12oz Crystal 60
12oz Crystal 80
8oz White Wheat (to aid head retention)
8oz Oats (For a creamy mouthfeel)
1lb Honey
12oz Roasted Pecans (in mash)

.35 oz Magnum (45 minutes)
.5 oz Tettnang (5 minutes)

Choice of S-04 or S-33 for the yeast.

Any thoughts on modifications or which yeast I should use.

I just made a brown with pecans last weekend. Haven't tasted it yet, but it smells very much like pecans. I toasted 1c of pecans in my oven at 300F for 10 minutes, crushed them, and added to the mash. I didn't weigh them, but it seems that 1cup<12oz so be careful of overdoing it. There's a link in my sig for the full recipe.

I like your recipe... I wish I would have picked up some chocolate malt while I was at the brew shop. If I don't brew it this weekend I will try and add a little bit, I think it would add a real nice flavor.

How did your watermelon wheat come out? I tried the one from 21st, but I had it with 24 inches of snow on the ground and it didn't really hit the spot. Haven't tried it since it warmed up.

Note that I used PALE chocolate malt, not regular. My watermelon wheat turned out nicely, hit the exact amount of watermelon that I'd want. I've never had the one from 21A unfortunately.

WAY too much crystal malt. Try not to exceed 15%. It would be cloying and undrinkable IMO. Try cutting all the crystal in half or go with just the crystal 60 you have. I have no idea about pecans though. I would be worried about the oils from them fighting with the head retention. Interesting idea.

Thanks for the inputs guys. Here is the modified recipe I came up with

Est. OG (1.057)
Est. FG (1.015)
Est ABV 5.5%

IBU: 25.3
SRM: 16.5

All Grain
5 gallons

7lbs Marris Otter
4oz Crystal 20
8oz Crystal 60
4oz Crystal 80
8oz White Wheat (to aid head retention)
8oz Oats (For a creamy mouthfeel)
4oz Chocolate Malt (For color)
12oz Honey
10oz Roasted Pecans (in mash) - roasted and set on paper overnight to reduce oils

.5 oz Magnum (60 minutes)
.5 oz Tettnang (10 minutes)

S-04 for the yeast

How does this look?

This looks good. I've been looking for something a little darker for my third AG brew. Time to start preparing for winter.

Going to keep a big eye on this one.

I've tried mashing pecans in my coffee. It had virtually no effect. 8 pecans crumbled in with the grounds.

Toasting must be key.

Maybe, but with coffee you're running the water over the grounds quickly as opposed to basically steeping them in 152F water for an hour.

whatsleftofyou said:

Maybe, but with coffee you're running the water over the grounds quickly as opposed to basically steeping them in 152F water for an hour.

Click to expand...

True.

I have thought about adding the pecans either mashing or extracting. My initial thought was to make an extract with vodka or bourbon and just adding that to the secondary, but a few people I know that have tried it say you get a harsh flavor that way.

Reading on here some people have had really good luck toasting them first and adding them to the mash, so I am going to give that a try.

So I finally got around to it... I modified it down to an American Brown ale recipe. I gotta say, I love this no sparge RIMs system I built. I put the water into my MLT this morning and set it for the mash in temp, sprayed my grain for conditioning, and went to school. I got back at noon, crushed and doughed in.. washed the dog, went to the post office, came back for the boil. by 315 I was cleaned up, my wort was chilled to 68 degrees and I pitched my yeast.

Here is the final recipe I used...

7 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain
8.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain
8.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain
6.1 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain
6.1 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain
12.00 oz Roasted Pecans (Mash 45.0 min) Misc

.5oz Magnum @ 60min
.5oz Tettnang @ 15min
4oz Brown Sugar @ 15 min
1/2 Whirfloc @ 10min

Pitched 1 pkg S-04

OG 1.054
75% eff
Est. FG 1.014
5.21%abv

I am hoping it will have a pecan pie type flavor for the holidays. The wort tasted great, I can't wait to see how it comes out.

Pecan pie....maybe a little biscuit malt would have been good?

I am sure it will be good.


How dark did you toast the nuts?

Pretty dark, they had a good roasted flavor to them. It was probably a little less than 12oz cause I sampled a few

It smells great right now and is fermenting like a demon

Its been a week, down to 1.020 and smelling great. Hoping to get down to FG in the next few days... I can't wait to get this one on tap, although it will be a while. I am going to let it age in the keg at 68* for a month or two... maybe tap it around Halloween.

Well folks, finished at 1.016 and has been in the keg 2 weeks under standard pressure. Drew a half pint tonight. Turned out AWESOME! Great flavor, the pecans come through in aroma and aftertaste.

Too much chocolate malt for what I was going for, I think next time I will reduce or maybe replace with brown malt. Also I will up the oats for a creamier mouthfeel.

Looking forward to seeing how this ages. The head is a beautiful light brown/tan and really hangs around. I think we have a winner. I have a feeling this is going to be great for Thanksgiving if it lasts that long. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a brown thats a little different. Ill post pics and more notes after it ages a bit.

Excellent! This is what I was hoping to hear.

Once my self-imposed brewing moratorium has been lifted, I may try this one. Hopefully that will be before winter is over so I can enjoy it. If not, it goes on the Beerflix queue for next autumn.

I would go ahead and lift it for this one... just brew it now and wait to drink it I may be doing another batch of this quick so it will have time to sit for January/February - Thats the only time I gets really cold here.

How long and at what temp did you roast the pecans? Looks good. Thanks for posting.

if I remember right it was 350.. less than 10 minutes, just to get thema little dark. You will be able to smell them roasting. Check and stir every few minutes... and sample as necessary

Do you crush them before you toast them or mash them?

Also, when you say "stir" them...you mean you're just moving them around on a pan correct? They aren't in a liquid right?

Sorry for all the questions. Thanks again.

Bookmarking this, pretty sure it's going to be my next brew, thanks!

I put it in the recipes section under American Ales. Its the Roasted Pecan American Brown... I didn't think it was quite right in the porter category.

JTS - Thats ok, questions are good. yeah just move them around a little bit, try to flip some of them over so they don't burn. Also when you put them in the mash, I would layer them somewhere in the middle. I do no sparge, so everything floats, but some other posts I have read about using pecans recommended layering so they get sandwiched between the grains.