U Moru

DESCRIPTION: This is my interpretation of Pietra", a beer made from chestnuts, available only on the French island of Corsica in the Mediterranean. We had many of those during our hike in 2009 on the GR20 in Corsica, a beautiful trail across the island, crossing mountain ranges, valleys, and rivers, with fantastic views of the scenery of this serene island. Pietra is a brown lager, it has a nice nutty full flavor but is still refreshing on a hot summer evening. 

I can't really make a true lager here in late fall as the temperature is still too warm, so instead I opted for Belgian Abbey Ale yeast, and added loads of malt to get a heavy and smooth beer. Chestnuts don't ferment by themselves, so you need to add enzyme rich malt to get the starch converted into fermentable malt. 6-row is exactly the right ingredient here. The chestnuts were freshly harvested from a farm in Oregon, I roasted them in the oven at 380F for about 45min. After that, the peel comes off quite nicely, and some of the initial bitterness goes away. I ended up eating a lot of the freshly roasted chestnuts since they are indeed delicious! Coarsely grounded in a mortar, the chestnuts were added to the mash and were let to rest together with the other grains.  

Since I didn't want to overpower the delicate chestnut flavor with too much hops, I opted for the benign but still noble bitterness of German Hallertau hops, 3 oz. total. OG of the wort came out pretty high at 1.0777, diluted down to 1.042 OG to give 23 liters of brew. Let's see how this one comes out!

BREW DATE: 12/01/2013

BOTTLING DAY: 12/29/2013

GRAIN BILL:  

- 2 lbs. Rahr 6-row pale
- 5 lbs Rahr 2-row pale

- 1 lb. Briess Caramel 60L

- 2 lb.English brown malt

- 2 lbs. of coarsely ground roasted chestnuts. 

MASHING:

- Sacch Rest 153F for 60min, Mash-out 170F at 10min.

HOPS SCHEDULE:

- 1 oz. Hallertau (60min)

- 1 oz. Hallertau (30min)

- 1 oz. Hallertau (15min) 

YEAST: Wyeast Belgian ABbey Ale II

TASTING NOTES: Very smooth amber ale. Malty and nutty at the same time, with some strong background bitterness to it. Estery flavors from the Belgian Abbey Ale yeast are there but just adding a bit of complexity and creaminess. The chestnut flavor is subtle and not overwhelming. Next time I probably should  use less hops for a smoother flavor and grind the chestnuts more to allow more extraction and add more chestnut characteristics. Overall still a nice drink for a cozy late afternoon next to the fireplace!

2lbs of roasted chestnuts 

grain bill and hops addition

Nutty, creamy, slightly hazy U Moru! Sante!