Pine nut brew?

So I browsed the database and the net and was unable to come up with a pine nut pale ale (or wheat) recipe. I'm sure someone out there has done an extract version of something like this...I hope.


Anyways anyone have experience with such a brew and result good enough to post the recipe?

Keep the pine nuts for pesto. They contain a lot of oil and would probably leave you with an oily beer - not to mention that the amount of flavor you would get from them wouldn't be worth the cost. If you are looking for toasty flavors in your beer, look into getting some victory or biscuit malt.

bierhaus15 said:

Keep the pine nuts for pesto. They contain a lot of oil and would probably leave you with an oily beer - not to mention that the amount of flavor you would get from them wouldn't be worth the cost. If you are looking for toasty flavors in your beer, look into getting some victory or biscuit malt.

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I'm not in it for the toasty flavor. Rather I was looking for a way to combine the pine nut flavor with an ale (hence the name).

Good point on the oils I don't know how that would work out. I have used fresh orange peel before for brew and had good results but I didn't need to use alot to get the effect. I can't seem to find a recipe anywhere though so there much be a reason for it.

Sounds like it's time for an experiment. Maybe make up a starter size batch with some DME, a little hops, and pitch a little yeast in there. Not sure at what point you would add the pinenuts in, I suppose at the tail end of fermentation. This way you could get a good idea of how it would work without potentially wasting an entire batch.

A spruce beer would give you something along that line and since it's a traditional (old) style, there's recipes out there already.

Do pine nuts even have a distinct enough flavor? They seem pretty mild to me

Pine nuts are mild, and also expensive. That would be a potential concern.

ChshreCat said:

A spruce beer would give you something along that line and since it's a traditional (old) style, there's recipes out there already.

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I'll hunt for this in the database if it's there, if not can you post a link to where I would find that?

I'm sure I tried a pine nut flavored brew years ago at the Great Western Brewery in Reno Nv. Either that or they did a hell of a job getting the beer to taste like they used pine nuts.

Anyways even if I found a recipe for it it would have to be simple enough for an extract guy to follow. I havent jumped to AG yet.

Yankeehillbrewer said:

Sounds like it's time for an experiment. Maybe make up a starter size batch with some DME, a little hops, and pitch a little yeast in there. Not sure at what point you would add the pinenuts in, I suppose at the tail end of fermentation. This way you could get a good idea of how it would work without potentially wasting an entire batch.

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good idea....how bad could it be?

Here's a good thread about BM's spruce beer.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/spruce-tips-popping-do-i-dare-60942/

I predict a lot of allergic reactions. Pine nuts are one of the most notorious allergy agents out there. Be sure your drinkers know what's in it before you let them drink the beer. Or keep an epi pen close by. The oils are the primary culprit for the allergy.

/The more you know

Might try soaking the pine nuts in vodka until it picks up the flavor you are looking for. Then try freezing it and skim off the oils. add to secondary. I am thinking about doing a bacon beer and this is how i am going to get it to work without the oil.

bigolbigbelly said:

Might try soaking the pine nuts in vodka until it picks up the flavor you are looking for. Then try freezing it and skim off the oils. add to secondary. I am thinking about doing a bacon beer and this is how i am going to get it to work without the oil.

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BRILLIANT! I'll see how this works....

Naa, simply add 1/2lb (or 1gal ziplock bag) fresh pine sprigs to the boil at about 20 minutes (More time if you want more pine flavor), if you want a smokey pine flavor you can also toast a few pine "chips" and add them to the fermentor, we do it all the time. We've also lined the mash tun with pine sprigs sort of like a strainer bed. Boiling works best.

COLObrewer said:

Naa, simply add 1/2lb (or 1gal ziplock bag) fresh pine sprigs to the boil at about 20 minutes (More time if you want more pine flavor), if you want a smokey pine flavor you can also toast a few pine "chips" and add them to the fermentor, we do it all the time. We've also lined the mash tun with pine sprigs sort of like a strainer bed. Boiling works best.

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Well then, maybe this is a stupid question. It looks alot easier to get pine flavor into the beer...makes sense if you just try to boil out the pine flavors from a needle or wood...but part of the "pine nut" idea was not just the pine flavor but the "nutty" meat flavor that comes with it. Anyone that's had a pine nut straight out of the cone knows how different the two taste. The vodka idea makes sense since I'm trying to extract both the pine flavor and the nutty flavor as well. Maybe that will work?

Bigger question in my mind now is how WOULD one go about getting a nutty flavor (chesnut, cashew, almond, etc) into a brew. Like I said yesterday, maybe it's not being done because someone tried it and realized it didn't work. Either way I can't find anything about it in any of the books I have on it and this seems like a good place to bring it up.

Some malts will give a nutty flavor.