Acorn Maple Wheat

Here in New England, acorns provide a readily available source of starch for use as an adjunct.
Collecting them in the fall is easy enough, but the treatment neccessary to use them is a bit tedious.
Basically, you gather a big pile of them, roast them in the oven at 225 F for two hours, shell them
until your hands bleed, chop them in the blender, and rinse them with running water for two more hours.
You don't need a lot of water, but it must keep moving (do not soak). After drying them in the oven
again, they are ready for use. As an alternative, I understand they can be purchased, already prepared
at some Asian markets. To break the starches down, I used some amylase enzyme that I bought at the
brew store, which took several hours at about 130 F. Then I just added the whole mess to the mash.

Brewer:	S. Chavez		Email:	-
Beer:	Acorn Maple Wheat		Style:	-
Type:	Partial mash		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	107 HCU (~37 SRM)		Bitterness:	7 IBU
OG:	1.078		FG:	1.002
Alcohol:	9.8% v/v (7.7% w/w)
Water:	I filtered the water for use, but I made no chemical adjustments of any kind. Perhaps some gypsum would have helped, but I did not notice any sort of problems.
Grain:	4 lb. 0 oz. American 2-row 0 lb. 8 oz. Dextrine malt (Cara-Pils) 0 lb. 2 oz. British black patent 0 lb. 2 oz. Roasted barley 2 lb. Acorns, shelled
Mash:	50% efficiency
	I soaked the acorns for several hours as described above. I put the grains, and the acorn into a grain bag for the mash. Did a stovetop mash at about 152 F (approximately, temperature control was spotty at best) for an hour and sparged with near boiling water. Collected 3 gallons.
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.129	3 gallons
	3 lb. 5 oz. Wheat extract 5 lb. 0 oz. Maple syrup
	I added Irish Moss with 15 minutes of boil remaining.
Hops:	1 oz. Hallertauer (3.3% AA, 60 min.) .5 oz. Hallertauer (3.3% AA, 15 min.) .5 oz. Hallertauer (aroma)
Yeast:	Since I needed an alcohol tolerant yeast, I chose the Belgian Strong Ale, Wyeast 1388.
Log:	Fermented for approximately two months, making regular transfers every couple of weeks. Kept everyting at room temperature (upper 60's) and gave the yeast time to do their work.
Carbonation:	To pick up the maple flavor, I primed with 3/4 cup of maple syrup, and bottle conditioned for two weeks.
Tasting:	Mild flavor, more maple aroma then taste. Slight nuttiness from the dark malts. The alcohol content is noticeable, and comes through in the flavor. If I did it over again, I might use a more assertive hop, but really I was quite pleased.

Recipe posted 01/20/98.