De-oiling peanut butter...

[Rob2010SS]

2 weeks later, how's it going?

So, final outcome - pretty delicious! I let this sit on the peanut butter for 4 weeks total. At time of kegging, i used just a tad bit of chocolate syrup to give it a bit more chocolate aroma. All in all...

1lb PB2 in boil
4oz Ghiradeli cocoa powder in boil
2lbs natural pb in secondary
2tbsp chocolate syrup in keg

Pretty happy with it. I like the flavor, it strongly resembles a reese's peanut butter cup. There's a couple of changes that i would make at this point but this is a solid start for sure!

 

[JJ900]

Looks and sounds delicious. What changes would you make?

 

[Rob2010SS]

Looks and sounds delicious. What changes would you make?

I don't think id do cocoa powder. I think next time maybe combine toasted cocoa nibs with the peanut butter in secondary.

Instead of de oiling the peanut butter for 10 days, i might go 15 to get a bit more oil out to help the head retention.

Other than that wouldn't change a thing. I just had two more of these tonight and I'm obsessed with it! Im probably going to post this in the recipe section because i like it so much. I literally think reese's cup when drinking it. You get almost a nice creamy peanut butter in the mouthfeel of it.

 

[ranchonodinero]

Apex flavorings. Peanut butter cup flavoring. 10x better than pb2. Takes 10x less work too.

How much of the Apex flavoring did you add to a 5 gallon batch?

 

[Rob2010SS]

How much of the Apex flavoring did you add to a 5 gallon batch?

I know you didn't ask for my input but I would stay away from this extract. Was not a fan of it at all. Very fake, chemically tasting. I have a bottle of it that i won't use because of how bad it was. Just my opinion of course

PB2 may be more work but it'll taste much better than this extract does.

 

[Beer666]

Your beer looks fantastic! i think i am going to have to try some real pb next as my experience of pb2 and flavourings has been dismal to say the least. I dumped the last batch, it had a horrible bitterness from using brewers best extract and adding pb2 to secondary was very underwhelming. Such little flavour.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Your beer looks fantastic! i think i am going to have to try some real pb next as my experience of pb2 and flavourings has been dismal to say the least. I dumped the last batch, it had a horrible bitterness from using brewers best extract and adding pb2 to secondary was very underwhelming. Such little flavour.

Highly recommend it man! I just did it again actually in an Imperial S'mores Stout. Love the flavor it gave off. When it comes to PB, I won't use extracts. My experience mirrors yours.

 

[Beer666]

Highly recommend it man! I just did it again actually in an Imperial S'mores Stout. Love the flavor it gave off. When it comes to PB, I won't use extracts. My experience mirrors yours.

Nice one i am really happy to hear that. Is there a particular type of PB you recommend using? I am in the UK so my choice will be limited. Cheers

 

[okiedog]

So no problems with it being too oily?

 

[Rob2010SS]

Nice one i am really happy to hear that. Is there a particular type of PB you recommend using? I am in the UK so my choice will be limited. Cheers

Go for a natural peanut butter that usually requires stirring when you open them because the oil separated on top. You want a peanut butter where the oil will naturally separate over time. If you go with just a standard peanut butter that's ready to use right after opening, it'll never separate.

This is the one I use. As you can see in the pic, the oil is separated on top. Try not to shake it up too much when purchasing. Get it home, open it, dump out all of the oil on top and spread the rest on paper towels in a pan. Get it spread out as thin as you can. That'll get more oil out of it.

So no problems with it being too oily?

Like I said before, the head retention was definitely affected a bit so there's obviously SOME oil in the beer. You get a lot of oil out of it by doing the above process for 10-15 days. Some of the remaining oil comes out in the fermenter when the beer is sitting on top of it. If you keep the fermenter on the cool side (<60*F) that oil will come to the top of the fermenter and not quite harden, but you'll see it form a layer on top. As long as you siphon or transfer out from below that layer and leave maybe half inch or so of beer in the fermenter, you leave most of the oil behind. This has been my experience anyway.

Can't stress enough that the flavor you get is definitely worth the effort.

 

[Beer666]

Thanks for all the tips. I will have a go at this asap. If i can get the same level of flavour from peanut butter as coconut i will be really happy. Like you i love pb. Do you think pb benefits a sweeter beer and its flavour is enhanced by heavier use of crystal malts?

 

[Rob2010SS]

Thanks for all the tips. I will have a go at this asap. If i can get the same level of flavour from peanut butter as coconut i will be really happy. Like you i love pb. Do you think pb benefits a sweeter beer and its flavour is enhanced by heavier use of crystal malts?

I haven't experimented with peanut butter that much. However, I would think you'd be better off using malts that give off nutty flavors - Maris otter, victory, biscuit, etc.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Thanks for all the tips. I will have a go at this asap. If i can get the same level of flavour from peanut butter as coconut i will be really happy. Like you i love pb. Do you think pb benefits a sweeter beer and its flavour is enhanced by heavier use of crystal malts?

But if you're going for a chocolate pb flavor, maybe crystal is the way to go. Like I said, I haven't gotten to play with it that much