How to infuse macnut flavor?

[nhuisman]

I have just started brewing and for my third beer I would like to experiment a little with a porter. I have a base porter recipe (see below). What I would like to do is add vanilla beans to the secondary and also find some way to add a noticeable macnut finish. My thoughts so far were:

Macnut Liquor in secondary or during bottling
Macnut Extract in secondary (I'm not sure if I can find any alcohol based macnut extract)

I know that macnuts are pretty oily so just adding ground up macnuts would probably ruin the head. Does anyone have suggestions or experience with infusing nut flavors?

Extract Recipe

5.5 lbs. Light Malt Extract
1.75 lbs. Special B Malt
1.25 lbs. Roasted Barley, 300 L*
0.5 lbs. Chocolate Malt
0.33 lbs. Black Patent Malt

1.25 oz Nugget, 13.0% AA, 60 min.
1.0 oz Chinook, 13.0% AA, 30 min.
1.0 oz Chinook, 13.0% AA, 0 min.

Ale Yeast

Steep grains at 150 degrees F in 2 gallons of water for 20 minutes. Remove grains and sparge with 1 gal of 170 degree F water. Stir in extract and bring to a boil. Boil for 30 mins, then add Nugget hops. Boil for 30 mins and add first Chinook addition. Boil 30 mins more, turn off heat and add last Chinook addition. Transfer to a fermenter with 3 gals cold water. Pitch yeast when cool enough. Ferment at 66 degrees F for one week. Rack to secondary and store at 66 degrees F for three weeks. Bottle with 0.75 cups corn sugar.

 

[DeadYetiBrew]

interesting.... are you referring to macadamian nuts?

if so that's be an interesting flavor.... First try a small test... grind them into a powder and boil with some water.... the oil should separate and come to the top, you should be able to pull the oil off.... test to see if the water tastes like the nuts, if it does just do that.....

I think finding extract would be your best bet... or make your own

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf57087851.tip.html
That's about someone making vanilla extract it's possible you could use the same method to make nut extract.


Second thing i noticed, your porter recipe looks a LOT more like a stout recipe... 1.25 of Roasted Barley is quite a bit for a porter....

 

[nhuisman]

Thanks for the info. I'll try the boil test. And yes I am referring to macadamia nuts. I'm not too worried if it is more of a stout but I guess I don't want to overpower the subtle flavor of the macnut. That recipe is an award winning porter recipe I found that was made by a local brewer. Is the roasted barley going to give it a coffee flavor or what flavor does that impart?

 

[DeadYetiBrew]

Thanks for the info. I'll try the boil test. And yes I am referring to macadamia nuts. I'm not too worried if it is more of a stout but I guess I don't want to overpower the subtle flavor of the macnut. That recipe is an award winning porter recipe I found that was made by a local brewer. Is the roasted barley going to give it a coffee flavor or what flavor does that impart?

I'm not putting the recipe down it just doesn't look 'traditional'. If you've tasted the recipe use it. I was just observing the ingredients and IBU's. It'll be dry-ish, but there's nothing that will make it terrible or bad... Let me know how it goes with the nuts, i'd like to see how a Macadamia Nut Ale would go.

 

[nhuisman]

Could you explain what in the recipe will cause a dry character? Ive decided I'm going to brew that recipe as in and then create a new recipe which won't overpower the vanilla and macnut as much.

 

[DeadYetiBrew]

Could you explain what in the recipe will cause a dry character? Ive decided I'm going to brew that recipe as in and then create a new recipe which won't overpower the vanilla and macnut as much.

It's not that it's necessarily dry like you would think in the wine sense.... Roasted Barley gives it that stout dryness if you get what i mean.... that roasted coffee type feeling of dry....

Try a nice Northern English Brown Ale... (usually the base for Nut Browns)

Alternatively you could try a blonde or something of the like.