3.14 | Pecan Pie Stout 9%

Decided to do something different for Thanks Giving and I hate hate hate pumpkin beer so we decided to go for pecan.

Grain Bill

27lbs Pale Malt 2 Row
3lbs Chocolate Malt
3lbs Roasted Barley
1lb 8ozs Carmel / Crystal Malt 60L
1lb 8ozs Flaked Wheat
2 Pecan pies for 15 mins in the boil (Original plan was whirlpooled for 20 mins)
4ozs Magnum for 60mins
600B cells of Imperial A10 Darkness
Forgot to buy rice hulls

It was a mistake to boil the nuts as they added a real bitterness.  Next time I would whirlpool the pie.  To compensate for this after crashing for 4 days I added 1/2cup maple syrup, 4 table spoons brown sugar and 1 table spoon vanilla.  The bitterness is now very much in the background and all in all I would say it came out really nice.

Inspiration

Been thinking about new stout ideas and saw a beer Trillium did with bananas and have been planning to do something like this, but seeing it is Thanks Giving I decided to go for something fitting to the season.

Brew Notes

Water adjustment of 8g gypsum, 12g calcium chloride and 7g magnesium sulfate – to bring the water to 83ppm calcium, 11ppm magnesium, 38ppm sodium, 128ppm chloride, and 117ppm sulfate.

Had major issues with my HERMS (Heat Exchange Recirculation Mash System) today.  When I first mashed in it kept clogging and I would say I never really got it working 100%.  The flow was always much less than ever before.  I assume I must have got grain under the false bottom, that said I’m not really sure the issue.

I also forgot to buy rice hulls so I suspect my pre boil SG was lower than expect due to no rice hulls and the HERMS issue.

Original plan was to whirlpool the pies for 20mins but after transferring to the boil kettle I felt my SG was low and the taste a bit on the light side so I decided to put the pies in the boil for 15mins (When I added them they dropped the temp a few degrees so the boil was more like 12 or 13mins).  I was speaking with the beer savant Jeremiah last night and he was concerned with off flavours from the nuts being boiled, which is why I was planning to whirlpool the pie.  Guess we will know in a few weeks.

Next time DO NOT boil the pie.  I think the nuts ended up adding a very bitter taste from the boil.

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