Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Peanut Butter Porter - Tips and Advice

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TasunkaWitko

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Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Peanut Butter Porter - Tips and Advice

The next beer that I will be brewing is Peanut Butter Porter, from Brooklyn Brew Shop:

Peanut%20Butter%20Porter%20Package.jpg


As with all of my "Tips and Advice" threads, this will be a running account of the experience and the things that I learn during the process.

As usual, I'll start with the particulars:

Informational link (for the 5-gallon version): http://brooklynbrewshop.com/five-gallon-beer-making-kits-and-mixes/peanut-butter-porter-5-gallon-mix

Instructions: http://brooklynbrewshop.com/directions/Brooklyn_Brew_Shop_Peanut_Butter_Porter_Instructions.pdf

This all-grain, 1-gallon mix is for a beer that incorporates Pale Ale malt, Caramel 60, Chocolate Malt and Roasted barley; it is described by Brooklyn Brew Shop as "rich, roasty and a little bit sweet...a creamy brew that’s a thirst quencher and liquid snack all at once." At 7% ABV, it sounds just right to me; I love porters and am really looking forward to giving this a try.

I have the recipe for this porter in Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Beer Making Book; The recipe in the book uses a combination of Northern Brewer hops and Fuggle hops, while the pre-packaged mix uses Progress hops. Northern Brewer hops are quite versatile; you can read about them here:

http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/hop-of-the-month-northern-brewer/

I am a really, really big fan of Fuggle hops, and love their profile:

http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/hop-of-the-month-fuggle/

However, since I have none on hand, I’ll use the Progress hops and see how they work for this; this will be fine, as I am intrigued by their description:

http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/hop-of-the-month-progress/

They just might become a new favourite.

The yeast that comes with the mix is a pretty generic, fast acting strain - I think that it is a version of S05, but please do not quote me on that. The recipe in the book recommends S33, so I will use that, instead.

I will plug the recipe into Brewer's Friend when I have time, and post the stats at a later date; I'll also come up with a label design and post that, as well.

The star of this beer is, of course, the peanut butter. Brooklyn Brew Shop advises that “natural peanut butter is essential...because of the separation of oil and nut paste.” The reason for this is that the oils in peanut butter (or any nut butter) will affect head retention and eventually go rancid. Brooklyn Brew Shop goes on to say that you should “[l]et the oil settle out to the top and skim off the top inch or so; what you want to use is the dry, crumbly, chunky stuff on the bottom.”

The peanut butter that I will be using is Adams:

bb0f2de4-9e59-43ae-9ee1-a6730544fc4d_1.57c60b3b2f4db5a5051d4e61b5f597b0.jpeg


It tastes great and has a very good separation between the oil and the peanut paste. Both the recipe and the instructions say to use 1/3 cup of this peanut butter for a gallon of beer, but all descriptions and reviews that I have read say that this amount results in a far too-subtle flavour in the end product, so I will double this amount, at least, depending on how far down I have to go in order to get to the oil-free stuff. I have read of people using powdered peanut butter for similar beers, but I don’t have any available to me, so I’ll use this and carefully adhere to the admonitions about avoiding the oil. I am sure that it will turn out fine.

As stated above, I do have the recipe for this porter, in PDF format; if anyone would like to give this a try, please feel free to shoot me a PM with your email address, and I’d be happy to send it over.

As always, I welcome any comments, suggestions or feedback on this - if anyone is interested, please feel free to chime in, or simply follow along.

More as it happens, etc. &c....

Ron
 
Last night, 4 December 2016, I was able to brew this beer. Things went fairly well, and I think I'm going to have a good thing here.

For the brew, I basically followed the procedures as outlined in the recipe book and on the instruction sheet (referenced above); I also (as usual) used this video as a guide:

[ame]https://vimeo.com/11354805[/ame]

The mash went well, with no real issues. Due to the amount of the grains (2.9 pounds) I used 3 quarts of water for the mash. Temperatures held pretty well at the upper end of the 144-152 range, with a few times going a degree or two over - nothing critical. The grains had a really nice aroma to them throughout the mash - definitely chocolaty, with a roasty, nutty quality that was reminiscent of Peanut Butter. Both my son and I commented on this, so it must not have been due to imagination.

I spilled a few drops during the sparge because of the large amount of grains and wort, but it was no real trouble. The wort had a beautiful, deep, rich chocolate colour and appeared to be thicker than it probably actually was - almost viscous. It had a really nice, chocolaty taste to it, with some rich undertones that I am assuming set the foundation for the peanut butter, which was added during the boil.

The boil went well - I got a good hot break, I think, and there were no real incidents. Due to the large volume of wort, it was a 75-minute boil.

As noted above, I used Progress hops, which came with the kit. They were nice, and seemed to me to be pretty close to the description provided in the link above. The Fuggle hops are still probably my favourite, but there was nothing at all wrong with these.

The hops schedule was a bit ambiguous on the instruction sheet and in the recipe book, when either one is read by itself; but taken together, a person can easily figure it out. For those who might only have one or the other, here it is:

75-minute boil

.10 oz hops, depending on recipe (see opening post) @ 60 minutes
1/3 cup natural peanut butter (without oil) @ 45 minutes (note: I doubled this amount)
.10 oz hops @ 30 minutes
.10 oz hops @ 5 minutes

I considered adding some maple syrup at knock-out, but ultimately decided not to.

As far as the peanut butter goes, I did double the amount, as mentioned above. I think this was a good move; the descriptions and reviews that I have seen online all mentioned that the peanut butter aroma and flavor were far too subtle when used as per the instructions and recipe. Using double the amount, the aroma seemed the be fairly well represented, without being over-powering or "too much." I think it will be a good match with the chocolate character of the malts.

A couple of other notes about the peanut butter: powdered peanut butter MIGHT be a better option, and is worth looking into. I had to dig pretty far down in order to get to the dry, crumbly layer that was the most oil-free; even so, I did get a little oil in the wort. I am hoping most of it blows out with the krausen (this is S33, after all), but if any is still present in the fermenter at bottling, I'll try to find a way to get rid of it. I didn't think of it at the time, but a turkey baster (sanitized) would have reached right down into the fermenter and sucked it up. The other thing about the peanut butter is that one probably needs to take care to stir fairly often until it dissolves into the bubbling wort. My concern is that it might stick to the bottom of the pot and scorch, but this did not seem to happen; whether it was because of my stirring, I cannot say.

The chill-down after the boil went fine, as did the transfer to the fermenter. I was able to pass the wort through the mesh on my large, bowl-type strainer, and this caught the small chunks of peanuts as well as most of the hop and break material. I then ran the wort a second time though the fine mesh of my funnel; this was time consuming, but it did pick up a lot of remaining hops and break material, and I consider it time well spent.

I pitched half a packet of S33, as per the recipe, set up a blow-off tube, and tucked it in a bin our bedroom closet for the night. The temperature was a pretty constant 66 degrees, and as of this morning I saw the beginnings of krausen and heard the slow blip-blip from the blow-off tube, indicating that fermentation is beginning right on schedule.

I'll check the when I get home from work today and keep the temperatures constant; however, at this point, the yeast is really doing most of the work. At BrewDay + 3, I'll swap the blow-off tube for an air-lock, and then do my best to ignore it until it is time to bottle.

All indications at this time point to a successful brew and a really nice beer that will be enjoyed as winter really begins to hit her cold, dark stride. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

More as it happens, etc. &c....

Ron
 
Cool, keep us updated. I like peanut butter and have been wanting to make some peanut butter stout or porter. I've got their books, so I'll check this one out.
 
Hi, Tony -

First impressions are that this is a good one. I am really liking the chocolaty-ness of the wort, and the added peanut butter can only improve it, I imagine. The hops so far really seem to add to the experience, giving the impression of a really nice cold-weather "comfort beer."

I considered adding a just bit (maybe a teaspoon) of salt to this, since it seems to be subtle in the natural peanut butter and could - I think - really get a few flavours to pop. I decided not to for now, because who knows how the fermentation will affect the sweetness that is existing. But, perhaps, this might be an option before bottling.

If you're looking to try something along the peanut butter spectrum, I think that you'd do well with this recipe. The hops in the book are different from the mix, but that's something you could probably tweak, depending on the direction you want to take the beer.
 
As promised, here are some stats after plugging the recipe into Brewer's Friend:

OG - 1.074
FG - 1.021
ABV - 6.89%
IBU - 24.78
SRM - 38.75

All of these numbers seem pretty high "for the standard" (except for the IBUs), but it sure looks like a good beer so far. The ABV is a little bit under the 7.0 advertised by Brooklyn Brew Shop, but I don't pick nits, so it's fine.

More as it happens, etc. &c....

Ron
 
Last night marked the two-week mark since brewing this beer. As far as I can tell, everything is looking and smelling the way it should.

Since porters seem to benefit from a bit of maturation, I will most likely wait until the three-week mark - or maybe a little after, considering the holiday - to bottle this beer. If I notice any peanut oil clinging around the top, I'll be sure to skim it off.

I think this is going to really be good ~
 
Long story, but I bottled this tonight (8 February 2017). I had put it in to cold crash right before New Year's, and it froze in my mini fridge. It eventually thawed, and I was finally able to bottle it this evening.

Note to self: I used the "grape" caps for this batch.

Due to the unintended extended time cold-crashing, and the fact that it ended up being frozen for a time, I thought it might be a good idea to add just a bit of yeast when bottling. I mixed a half-packet of a generic brewing yeast in a bottle of bottled water, then added a couple of tablespoons of the result to the (1-gallon) batch in the bottling bucket. I have no idea if this was a good or bad idea; successful or unsuccessful; necessary or unnecessary, but we'll find out in a couple of weeks, I guess.

For priming sugar, I used just a hair less than 2 tablespoons of maple syrup; this has worked quite well in the past, and I expect it to be great for this porter.

I was able to get 9 bottles from this batch. I am afraid that doubling the amount of peanut butter may have been a mistake, mostly because it seemed to result in a bit more oil than intended on the surface; there wasn't much, but it was noticeable. I did the best I could to rack beneath the oil, both from the fermenter to the bottling bucket, and again from the bottling bucket to the bottles, but I am sure that at least a small amount got into some of the bottles, which may or may not be a problem down the road.

I had just enough left over for a small sample, and it was very interesting. The colour was an incredible, deep brown that was like really nicely-brewed coffee; it was quite clear - even though it was dark - due to the extended cold crashing. The peanut butter aroma was quite prominent, which is something that I rather liked, but it wasn't obnoxious. the taste was rich, with some roasty bitterness from the dark malts and a nice touch from the peanut butter. There might have been just a bit of sourness that I can't account for, but this could have been (and probably was) due to the fact that my sample had a very high concentration of the peanut oil that was floating on top.

It is far too early to know how this will turn out, but I think it is going to be good after carbonation and conditioning. I am very sure that any flaws in the finished beer will be my fault, and not the fault of the original recipe.
 
Thanks, Tony -

Reports and reviews that I had read said that the peanut butter aroma and flavor were far too subtle, so I doubled it. Those criticisms are definitely not an issue with this batch, and I think that it is turning out pretty well, for a first attempt.

In the back of my mind, I'm a bit worried about the potential problem with the peanut oil, but over-all I am very happy with the project.
 
I don't have a clue how much powder a person c/should use, but there might be instructions on the package; failing that, an email to BBS might provide an answer.

If you determine an amount, please post! I am certain that I will try to use powder next time, if only to avoid the worries about oil.
 
Unfortunately, this brew was a dismal failure that was 100% my fault.

The major factors seem to be too much peanut oil in the wort and fermentation temperatures that got away from my (too high). It seems that the oil went rancid and turned the beer into a very sour, very un-drinkable concoction, which is too bad, because it looked absolutely gorgeous in colour.

Based on the taste, autolysis is a possibility, but this was not a problem with the other two beers that I brewed and bottled under the same conditions. They turned out great, with one of them possibly being at the top of the list of "best beers yet brewed."

I will make this again at a later date and will update this thread at that time. Three things I will do in order to have better results will be:

a) use powdered peanut butter in an attempt to minimize oil in the brew, and stick to the amount (converted) that is called for in the recipe, at least until I get the final product that I should get.

b) be very - no - be extremely bloody careful with fermentation temperatures.

c) bottle it promptly when ready, rather than forgetting about it for a couple of months.

Once again, I am completely certain that the fault was with my own actions and not due to any problem with the recipe. To me, the idea is a truly a good one, and I am sure that the main culprit was my carelessness with the oil in the peanut butter.

Ron
 
Thanks for the update. I've got the same brew carbing up in my cupboard at the moment. I'm also worried about a bit of residual oil I saw floating around when I was bottling. Not too much but we'll see how it goes. I kept fermentation temps low though. We'll see how it goes in another couple of weeks.
 
Hi, Glenn -

I'm guessing you should be okay, if your temps were in line. Let me know how it goes! :mug:
 
Thanks for the update. I've got the same brew carbing up in my cupboard at the moment. I'm also worried about a bit of residual oil I saw floating around when I was bottling. Not too much but we'll see how it goes. I kept fermentation temps low though. We'll see how it goes in another couple of weeks.

Glenn - any updates on this? I'm thinking of giving it another try soon, with an eye toward correcting the mistakes I made the first time.
 
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