First, some data on the beer I brewed featuring chestnuts.
Final volume after boil: 5.5 gallons
Expected efficiency: 65%
OG: 1.040, FG: 1.006, ABV: 4.5%, IBU: 24
Grains:
12 lbs American two row (90%)
1.26 lbs malted wheat (10%)
Hops:
1 oz German Tradition hop pellets (6% AA)
Adjuncts:
1.5 lbs Chestnuts (weighed with shells on)
Yeast:
Nottingham Ale Yeast
Mash: conducted one hour @ 157.2 F. One quart of water per pound of grain. Achieved lower than expected efficiency.
Boil: extended from one hour, to 90 minutes for concentration purposes. Hops were added at 90 minutes. The shelled chestnuts were added at 60 minutes.
Method of preparing the chestnuts:
Carved an X into the flat side of the chestnuts. Roasted them for 20 minutes at 400 F. Three people spent 40 minutes trying to shell them. We crumbled the nuts up when we tossed them in the boil.
Results:
First of all, not many people have a firm idea of what a chestnut tastes like. If you are brewing with others in mind I feel like that is a critical point to make. I learned that when I started sharing my chestnut beer with friends. They can pinpoint a definite nutty flavor, but can't really draw a line where the normal beer flavors begin and end.
The beer has retained significant head retention. If poured straight down a glass it makes an over-abundant head. If poured carefully down the sides of the glass there is evidence of head but no more or less than a typical pale ale. 1.5 lbs of Chestnuts had no discernible effect on the head of this beer.
As to the flavor, there is a definite chestnut flavor. It is light enough that I am glad I missed my original gravity goal (1.050) at 1.040. The flavor of chestnuts are very different than barley but the two ingredients work well together. The beer finishes clean and bitter with no astringency or tannic feeling on the tongue. There is no hop flavor present (as you might expect from a single 90 minute addition). It's like a pilsner got together with ale yeast and made a baby that tastes of chestnuts.
The only oddity is that some sediment invariably makes it out of the bottle into the glass. It does not resemble or move like yeast sediment. I suspect the boiling process suspended very tiny bits of chestnut. I have used Nottingham many times and these bottles have been in the fridge for a week, so I am confident it's not the yeast.
Conclusion:
If shelling chestnuts wasn't such a pain I'd also have "dry nutted" with 1.5 lbs. Also if shelling chestnuts wasn't such a pain I'd consider repeating this beer. Instead I am going to consider using chestnut flour in a fine mesh hop bag during the mashing process if I attempt this again. I must contemplate the flour method more, because flour will have it's own problems.
Final volume after boil: 5.5 gallons
Expected efficiency: 65%
OG: 1.040, FG: 1.006, ABV: 4.5%, IBU: 24
Grains:
12 lbs American two row (90%)
1.26 lbs malted wheat (10%)
Hops:
1 oz German Tradition hop pellets (6% AA)
Adjuncts:
1.5 lbs Chestnuts (weighed with shells on)
Yeast:
Nottingham Ale Yeast
Mash: conducted one hour @ 157.2 F. One quart of water per pound of grain. Achieved lower than expected efficiency.
Boil: extended from one hour, to 90 minutes for concentration purposes. Hops were added at 90 minutes. The shelled chestnuts were added at 60 minutes.
Method of preparing the chestnuts:
Carved an X into the flat side of the chestnuts. Roasted them for 20 minutes at 400 F. Three people spent 40 minutes trying to shell them. We crumbled the nuts up when we tossed them in the boil.
Results:
First of all, not many people have a firm idea of what a chestnut tastes like. If you are brewing with others in mind I feel like that is a critical point to make. I learned that when I started sharing my chestnut beer with friends. They can pinpoint a definite nutty flavor, but can't really draw a line where the normal beer flavors begin and end.
The beer has retained significant head retention. If poured straight down a glass it makes an over-abundant head. If poured carefully down the sides of the glass there is evidence of head but no more or less than a typical pale ale. 1.5 lbs of Chestnuts had no discernible effect on the head of this beer.
As to the flavor, there is a definite chestnut flavor. It is light enough that I am glad I missed my original gravity goal (1.050) at 1.040. The flavor of chestnuts are very different than barley but the two ingredients work well together. The beer finishes clean and bitter with no astringency or tannic feeling on the tongue. There is no hop flavor present (as you might expect from a single 90 minute addition). It's like a pilsner got together with ale yeast and made a baby that tastes of chestnuts.
The only oddity is that some sediment invariably makes it out of the bottle into the glass. It does not resemble or move like yeast sediment. I suspect the boiling process suspended very tiny bits of chestnut. I have used Nottingham many times and these bottles have been in the fridge for a week, so I am confident it's not the yeast.
Conclusion:
If shelling chestnuts wasn't such a pain I'd also have "dry nutted" with 1.5 lbs. Also if shelling chestnuts wasn't such a pain I'd consider repeating this beer. Instead I am going to consider using chestnut flour in a fine mesh hop bag during the mashing process if I attempt this again. I must contemplate the flour method more, because flour will have it's own problems.
