Walnut pilzner

[u/No-Knowledge-1008]

Hi. Im pretty new to beer brewing, but I want to experiment a little with it. I have pilzner brewkit from coopers and some of fresh walnuts. I want to add them without skin to the beer to add some new tastes. What is the best way to add them? I heard adding them durning the fermentation can add too much oil to the beer. Is it big problem? The other way I heard is making extract from walnuts and vodka and next freeze out the oil from it. Is it the better way? How vodka will change the taste of the beer?

[u/Outrageous_Rain_7659]

Walnuts in a pilsner is a wild move but I respect the curiosity. The vodka tincture and freeze method is definitely the safer route since it keeps the oils out and gives you way more control over flavor. Just add a little at a time after fermentation and taste as you go, the vodka won't really register if you keep the dose reasonable.

[u/zigziggy7]

Just want to say kudos to you. Big Piney River Brewery in Missouri has a Black Walnut Wheat beer that I like and I've always been curious how they did it.

[u/rosa_delgado7222]

Your instinct is right. I would lightly toast the nut pieces, soak them in just enough vodka for a week, then freeze overnight and skim the solidified oil off the top before filtering. Dose the tincture at packaging, a few ml per liter at a time, tasting as you go. At that dose the vodka is invisible, and putting the nuts straight in the fermenter would flatten your head.

[u/rmikevt523]

Back when I first started brewing around 2012 I member a pistachio pale ale in BYO Magazine and this reminded me of it and I found the recipe. I assume you can follow the same process:

All-Grain Recipe 
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.052  FG = 1.011
IBU = 46  SRM = 6  ABV = 5.3%
Ingredients
5.0 lbs. (2.3 kg) 2-row pale malt
4.25 lbs. (1.9 kg) British pale ale malt
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) flaked oats
0.5 lbs. (0.23 kg) crystal malt (10 °L)
0.25 lbs. (0.11 kg) crystal malt (40 °L)
10 AAU Palisades hops (60 min.) (1.0 oz./28 g of 10% alpha acids)
5 AAU Palisades hops (15 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g of 10% alpha acids)
5 AAU Palisades hops (5 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g of 10% alpha acids)
1 tsp. Irish moss (15 min.)
24 oz. (680 g) roasted pistachios
Danstar Nottingham Ale yeast
Step by Step
Mash at 153 °F (67 °C) for 60 minutes. Boil wort for 60 minutes, adding hops at times indicated. Ferment at 68 °F (20 C). Roast pistachios with propane torch. Steep in 3 cups boiled water. Freeze liquid and scrape off any fats that rise to top. Thaw and add mixture to secondary.

[u/EbNinja]

Making vodka extract will get you a chunk of the fat/oil pulled, and balancing the flavor is slightly easier. I think you get good bio transformation from adding some roasted walnuts during fermentation, but both bring their own flavor.
Pilsner style will make the nuttiness shine, but could be overwhelmed by it as well.

[u/Smart-Water-9833]

I had a thought that perhaps defatted walnut powder existed similar to peanut butter powder but guess not. My local brewer XUL makes a fantastic PB&J sour that I'm thinking of making.

[u/EducationalDog9100]

I added Hazelnut extract that I made with 150 proof spirit to a beer and it came out really nice. I added the extract at the time of kegging.