Nuts for Body

All,

Has anyone ever tried using nuts to produce body in the beer? I realize that they have a lot of fat, but I was going to attempt to boil them and decant the fat off hoping to produce a 'thickening' agent for a gluten free beer. Is this worth a shot or pointless? Seems like it might add some complexity to what I've read about rice and quinoa. I haven't brewed any GF yet, but I want to make a good one for my Aunt for christmas. Any thoughts/tips would be appreciated.

aomagman78 said:

All,

Has anyone ever tried using nuts to produce body in the beer? I realize that they have a lot of fat, but I was going to attempt to boil them and decant the fat off hoping to produce a 'thickening' agent for a gluten free beer. Is this worth a shot or pointless? Seems like it might add some complexity to what I've read about rice and quinoa. I haven't brewed any GF yet, but I want to make a good one for my Aunt for christmas. Any thoughts/tips would be appreciated.

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It'll probably do the opposite in terms of mouthfeel, but there are ways to get a nutty flavor. I'd suggest a flavor extract, but if you really want to use nuts, there is a good post on the topic:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/ah-nuts-using-nuts-brewing-140666/

Huh, I thought it was proteins and such that add body. But I guess it has more to do with maltodextrin, can you get that gluten free?

aomagman78 said:

Huh, I thought it was proteins and such that add body. But I guess it has more to do with maltodextrin, can you get that gluten free?

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Maltodextrin is typically gluten free, you can look at the ingredients sticky for a little more detail.

Body is one of those words that gets misused a bunch of the time. It gets used for the following:
- Fuller mouthfeel
- Higher FG
- Full head retention

It really only refers to the first one, although the other two do help contribute to the first one (this may be even more confusing, my bad). Proteins have a lot to do with this...but it is less about adding protein and more about getting the enzymes to correctly interact with the already present protein.

Also, adding nuts also adds fats which kills head retention making a beer feel like it has less body.

In any case, here is a fantastic (albeit fairly advanced) article on how to add body to a beer. Maltodextrin accomplishes it by adding dextrins, which also adds some sweetness.

http://***********/stories/article/indices/12-body/89-add-body-to-your-beer

Great, thanks. I just want to make a fantastic beer for someone that thinks all hope is lost with her celiac's disease. So I want to put in the extra work and get it just right. Article was very helpful. Sounds like GF flaked oats is the way to, have others had success with this? In addition, I will use a low attenuating yeast.

I am going to give the boiled nuts a shot and make a real small batch to see what happens. I'll post results positive or negative.

aomagman78 said:

Great, thanks. I just want to make a fantastic beer for someone that thinks all hope is lost with her celiac's disease. So I want to put in the extra work and get it just right. Article was very helpful. Sounds like GF flaked oats is the way to, have others had success with this? In addition, I will use a low attenuating yeast.

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I am struggling to understand the flaked ____ situation. Some people seem to be getting sugar from it without any enzymes. Not sure how that works exactly, but certainly worth a try.

aomagman78 said:

All,
Seems like it might add some complexity to what I've read about rice and quinoa. I haven't brewed any GF yet, but I want to make a good one for my Aunt for christmas. Any thoughts/tips would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

Hi...

You can brew gluten-free beer by using home-malted buckwheat and brown rice syrup. If you perfectly know "how to malt your own grain" and if you have a knowledge for selecting or picking the appropriate good quality gluten-free ingredients.

Then nobody stops you make your own gluten-free beer and if you want any help you can take from the Gluten-Free Living magazine...

Regards

DKershner said:

I am struggling to understand the flaked ____ situation. Some people seem to be getting sugar from it without any enzymes. Not sure how that works exactly, but certainly worth a try.

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Really? I'm assuming I've missed these posts, but has someone done a steep with flaked oats, for example, and and determined that they got more than just starch?