Thoughts on Vodka Nut Tinctures

[CaptainKaplan]

I'm posting this because I couldn't find tips on making a nut tincture with vodka and wanted to hear other peoples experiences about what works.

A friend has several chestnut trees on his farm nearby, and I wanted to use them to add some extra nut flavor to a Northern English style Nut Brown Ale I'm doing. (The recipe is Nutcastle from Brewing Classic Styles.)

My brew shop (shoutout to Nepenthe in Baltimore!) told me to make a tincture by soaking the nuts for 3 to 7 days in vodka, or any 80+ proof alcohol. Then before bottling, to measure out 3 or 4 1/2 cups of un-carbonated beer and add a few drops of the tincture to taste. When you find the taste you like, do the math to calculate how much to add to your batch.

Trouble was, the tincture added an off flavor of alcohol to my test cups. My solution was to boil the tincture until the smell of alcohol was gone, and it worked great. Not only did this remove the alcohol flavor, but it also reduced down the tincture to something like a thick extract, that when added to the test cups, gave the beer a touch more rounded body and the nutty flavor I was going for.

I ended up only needing 64 ml (4.3 tbsp) for my 5 gallon batch. I just bottled tonight, so I can't speak yet about the finished product, but I'm pretty confident this method will do the job because it really improved the taste.

Any one else out there have any good tips on nut tinctures?

 

[eatmorefrogs]

/subscribed to see how it turns out.

I haven't personally done exactly this, but everything you've described is spot on based on similar things I've done (soaking bourbon in wood chips for the barrel flavor or adding concentrates like vanilla drop by drop into a small amount and then extrapolating what the batch needs.)

My only question/comment is that nuts tend to have a noticeable amount of fat. Did you get a fatty film on top of your vodka concoction? Did you scrape it or use it? I just did a pecan porter (currently carbing) where I racked a run-of-the-mill porter into secondary on a bed of lightly roasted pecans. When I kegged it, I did notice what my LHBS warned me about - fat (a filmy, oily type, not like chunks) floating on the top. I kegged anyways, as I figured it's safe at refrigerator temps and the beer goes fast anyways.

I anticipate your beer will be excellent! Report back!

 

[Legume]

Chestnuts (unlike other nuts) have very little fat, making them easy to deal with in brewing.
Many gluten free brewers make chestnut beer by steeping them or adding them to the mash.
I have had some very good chestnut beers.