Hazelnut Brown Ale- HELP!

[TheCanMan629]

So I'm going to be brewing a partial extract partial grain brew and I'm a bit concerned with the technique I'm going to be trying. 2 of my malts are grains and I'm considering steeping them for an hour in .5 gal of water before adding them to the steeping extract. I don't know if this is a great way to do it. I'm also considering adding Hazelnut to it as well but don't entirely know whether to use toasted hazelnuts or extract. Any opinions would be wonderful. Thanks!

 

[ncbrewer]

I'm not sure what you mean by "the steeping extract". Maybe you're planning to steep the specialty grains in hot water and then removing them, then adding the malt extract. If so, this is the normal process. Maybe I misunderstood. Could you explain the process more?

 

[kh54s10]

Steep the specialty grains for 20-30 minutes in hot water. Use the volume that you will boil before top up. Usually 2.5 - 3 gallons. Keep the temperature between 150 and 170. Then add your extracts while boiling. To keep the color of the beer a little lighter add about 1/2 the extract at the beginning of the boil and the rest at 5 minutes (or after flameout). Add the hops by the schedule in the recipe.

IMO - no Hazelnuts... But that is because I don't like the flavor (in coffee anyway..)

Nuts generally leave oils that kill any head on the beer so I would suggest an extract.

 

[TheCanMan629]

I usually bring my bases up to about 160 degrees while I steep the grains. I didn't mean that I'd steep the extract.

 

[TheCanMan629]

Thank you for your help. How much extract is good? Ive never used a flavoring in my beer but I had a wonderful Hazelnut brown ale and I want to make one of my own

 

[trogdor447]

I used one of the two fluid oz bottles poored in after fermentation in my 5 gallon batch. Scored very well at judging. So I'd say that's probably enough. I just used a more beer amber kit

 

[eadavis80]

I used a hazelnut extract (1/2 of this bottle : http://www.homebrewing.org/Natural-Hazelnut-Flavoring-4-oz-_p_6018.html) on NB's nut brown ale. I don't know if it was the extract or what, but the nose on the beer turned out very awful. The taste is okay, but there is certainly something funky in the nose. Again, I can't say for sure it was the extract, or the Notty I used or what, but I'm not using either product again. I only used 1/2 the bottle because I had read that sometimes the extracts are too intense.