My Peanut Butter Porter

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Mystikty

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Howdy! I am attempting my fourth brew which is a peanut butter porter. I am on my third day and the fermentation seems to have slowed down a bit. I have a few questions about what's happening with my brew. I pitched at ~80 F with British Ale Yeast(White Labs WL005) and have been maintaining a temp of 75 F. I know this is a bit high and I'm concerned about how this will impact the flavor of my beer. The OG was 1.070 and when I checked this morning, the SG was at 1.025. According to my recipe, my FG should br 1.017. This evening, I added 4 oz of Peanut Butter Flavoring. I am currently soaking my cocoa nibs in rum and have it stored in the freezer. I was told that the rum would add a nice flavor to the brew. My question is what would be the best way to add the nibs to my primary as I do not plan to rerack to a secondary. This will be my first time using cocoa nibs so I'm not very clear how to use them.

I've said quite a lot here. I could use some pointers on how best to proceed from this point. Thanks!
 
Sounds really tasty! I would maybe just lower them in with a sanitized ladle or spoon. Iv have only added nibs during boil or to secondary. Just try not to get any O2 in there or you could get some oxidizing of your brew.
 
Should I include both the nibs and the extract (rum that it was soaked in)?
 
you can dump it all in or just pour the nibs/rum through a tea filter or even coffee filter.

most of the nibs will sink but it seems like 5% float. I usually just dump all the nibs and rum in to something like that cause i dont care if i pour a beer and theres a little nib in it :D
 
I'd definitely strain out the nibs. Cacao is high in fat/oil and that stuff will absolutely kill any kind of head retention in the final beer.

I'd take the nibs out of the freezer now and let them sit at room temp until the night before you're ready to add the rum. The reason is because the extraction of the chocolate flavor will happen much quicker at room temp than at freezer temps. For my nib tincture, I usually let them soak for 7 days at room temp, then strain the nibs out using a coffee filter or cheesecloth, and then stick the extract in the freezer for 24 hours. This should separate the fat from the alcohol and should form a nice (very thin) fat cap on top.

When you pull it out the freezer, be gentle and use a spoon to remove as much of the fat as possible, and pitch the rest.

Pro Tip: If this is something you'll do often, make 3-4 times more than you need next time. You'll get more final product for the same amount of time/work, and the more nibs you use will give off more fat which will form a better, easier to remove fat cap. Personally I use 24oz vodka, 12oz nibs, and 4 vanilla beans, and this makes enough for several batches (up to 8 depending on how much extract I'm adding).
 
Wow MagicMatt, I really wish I had heard from you earlier because I had already dumped everything in. Since I may have killed my head retention, is there anything I can do at this point? The FG is 1.020 and I am conditioning with plans to bottle this Sunday. I will definitely do what you suggest the next time I plan to add nibs to my brew.
 
What did you use for peanut butter flavoring? I had a friend who used PB2 (no oil) in his PB porter and it turned out awesome.
 
There's nothing I've found that remedies a lack of head retention after the fact. I'm sure the beer will still be great, but sometimes (for me at least) it's a bit disappointing when showcasing the beer if the head doesn't last like people expect it to.
 
What did you use for peanut butter flavoring? I had a friend who used PB2 (no oil) in his PB porter and it turned out awesome.


I heard that using PB2 produced too much trub which cuts into my yield, so my local brew supply store recommended that I use Brewers Best Natural Peanut Butter. It's a liquid flavoring that comes in a 4 fl oz bottle. For a 5 gal batch, you would use the whole bottle. One of my favorite breweries "Belching Beaver" uses it in their Peanut Butter Milk Stout and it's delicious. I tasted my beer when I was measuring the SG and I can definitely taste it. You can have the peanut butter flavor without the trub.
 
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