Dangerous Man Pecan Brown Recipe-Feedback wanted

[JenMac]

Had the DM Pecan Brown at the taproom years ago. Loved it and want to brew a similar beer. here’s the notes from DM. Pecan Brown Ale - Dangerous Man Brewing Company

thoughts on the pecans? I don’t see whole pecans locally very often so would need to research and find the best source for pecans in the shell. is it worth trying to source whole pecans and toast them myself or is suitable to use an extract? Likely Apex flavors, if I buy extract.
I was thinking I would add the nuts/extract after primary fermentation is complete or even wait until I transfer to the serving keg.
any advice, best practices?

 

[BrewerBrad82]

Mere blocks from my house! I would assume that DM is not actually directly using pecans in the beer, as the oil content would be detrimental to foam formation and stability. Personally I would look at the Apex Flavors pecan offering, as (in my experience) that brand of flavorings is the best I have found. Otherwise, you could make a tincture yourself with toasted pecans and a high proof neutral spirit. Add finely crushed pecans to the spirit and allow to steep for a few days, then strain it through a coffee filter to remove solids and finally place it in a freezer to solidify any nut fats to separate off the resultant homemade extract. Add to taste in bottling bucket or keg.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Mere blocks from my house! I would assume that DM is not actually directly using pecans in the beer, as the oil content would be detrimental to foam formation and stability. Personally I would look at the Apex Flavors pecan offering, as (in my experience) that brand of flavorings is the best I have found. Otherwise, you could make a tincture yourself with toasted pecans and a high proof neutral spirit. Add finely crushed pecans to the spirit and allow to steep for a few days, then strain it through a coffee filter to remove solids and finally place it in a freezer to solidify any nut fats to separate off the resultant homemade extract. Add to taste in bottling bucket or keg.

I've added Apex Flavoring's Pecan extract to @TheMadKing 's awesome Honeymoon Porter recipe which is wonderful by the way. Last year I entered the beer in a local competition sponsored by The Brewing Network and MoreBeer, and it scored a 46/50!!
I simply added 1 tsp extract to an empty 5 gallon keg and racked on top of it. Personally, I wouldn't use actual pecans when I'm able to get such a good flavor from this particular extract.

 

[TheMadKing]

I've added Apex Flavoring's Pecan extract to @TheMadKing 's awesome Honeymoon Porter recipe which is wonderful by the way. Last year I entered the beer in a local competition sponsored by The Brewing Network and MoreBeer, and it scored a 46/50!!
I simply added 1 tsp extract to an empty 5 gallon keg and racked on top of it. Personally, I wouldn't use actual pecans when I'm able to get such a good flavor from this particular extract.

Thanks for the kind words!

 

[JenMac]

Thanks so much for the input. I am much more comfortable going with the flavoring option now. Looks some other fun options to try as well on the website.
@BrewerBrad82 you are lucky as you have some great food options too in your neighborhood. Love Young Joni. Try to get there whenever I get back to the cities.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Thanks so much for the input. I am much more comfortable going with the flavoring option now. Looks some other fun options to try as well on the website.
@BrewerBrad82 you are lucky as you have some great food options too in your neighborhood. Love Young Joni. Try to get there whenever I get back to the cities.

Re: Apex. I've used not only the Pecan extract but also their Toasted Coconut in a Milk Stout, and the Apricot in an Apricot Wheat.

I've also carb'd some water using my CO2 tank and added their Lemon Drop to one keg, and their Cranberry to another for non-alcohol refreshment.

I've bought but not yet used their Grapefruit (for an ipa), their Cocoa Nib (for a chocolate stout), and their Chocolate Cherry Custard (for an eventual dessert/pastry stout).

Despite it looking otherwise most of my homebrews don't contain any extracts.

 

[JenMac]

I did brew this Did a 6g split batch (3g to each fermenter) as I did find 1lb of pecans in the shell in a local natural store-from last year's harvest as well as picked up the Apex pecan extract. the DM site listed the grain bill and here's what I used for % of each. I am rookie brewer-certainly open to feedback although I was happy with the overall results.

Stout Malt 2 °L (72.7%)
Victory Malt 19 °L (8.4%)
Caramunich I 38.2 °L (7.8%)
Caramel Malt 60L 60 °L (5.2%)
Chocolate Malt Pale 222 °L (3.3%)
Roasted Barley 487.7 °L (2.6%)
Warrior 1oz Hops 20 min
Warrior .33oz 5min hopstand
Miscellaneous - 3/4tsp - Pecan extract (Apex) in 1 batch-added to the keg. In the other, I added 6oz chopped pecans (roasted and left in brown bag overnight)-7 days in fermenter and then bottled with 1/4 tsp Apex extract with the corn sugar in bottling bucket.
Yeast 1 pkg with starter (split in roughly half)- Imperial Yeast House A01
O.G. 1.06/F.G. 1.016

So this was more of a fun experiment than a true comparison since I had to use 2 packaging methods due to lack of kegs but both beers are good. The one with the actual nuts has a deeper nut flavor but less head and is a bit cloudy. I think it still needs to condition a bit-21 days in bottle as of this writing.
The keg beer is really tasty-has just enough pecan flavor with a balanced brown ale base, is clear, has a creamy head, full body. I think it might just a tad sweet and not quite the DM version (its been too many years since I have had it though so who knows) But I would definitely brew this again with the Apex extract. However, next up on my list is a WC pale and then TheMadKing's Honeymoon Porter (TY for sharing this).

Cheers.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Sounds like a successful experiment. Thanks for sharing.