Beer from Grape Nuts

[Bradinator]

I think the 'nuts' is a bit of a misnomer. If Wikipedia is truthful this cereal got its name from its appearance rather then having anything to do with nuts or grapes.

That aside, I bottled the above recipe this morning. With a final gravity of 1.016 I am sitting just a hair below 6% ABV. I am not sure if the mash temperature or the grapenuts prevented it from getting any lower (I was hoping for 1.012), but it is what it is. I am going to give it a couple weeks in bottles before trying one.

I did a small sample taste and right now it leaves a lot to be desired... But so did my last batch which ended up being the best to date. Here is hoping!

 

[Bradinator]

I chilled and tried a couple bottles this weekend and it turned out very good. A nice flavourful ale, lots of caramel in it. There is a surprisingly large amount of sweetness that I am assuming came from the grapenuts. To be honest if it was anymore sweet I probably would have found it a bit cloying. I think its best described as richly flavoured.

Head is basically non-existent. Colour is a nice deep toffee.

Would I use grapenuts again in a beer? Absolutely! I really like the what it added to the final product. Would I use 1.5lbs again? Probably not. I don't think I would use more then 0.5lbs in conjunction with other specialty grains.

Overall I think the experiment was a success.

 

[thetragichero]

sounds like a i need to formulate a breakfast stout with grapenuts added to the mash!