Considering a stout....ingredient recommendations please

[Turfgrass]

Recently I tried a chocolate, peanut butter stout with fresh brewed coffee and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not sure about adding the coffee to my creation, but the chocolate and peanut butter would be nice. This would be a first time for a stout of any kind, so advise on grains, hops, yeast, timing and any other ingredient would be helpful. Hopefully have it ready for the cold months ahead. Thank you.

 

[Transamguy77]

5 gallon batch
11 lbs 2 row
1.5 lbs chocolate malt
.5 lbs roasted barley
.5 lbs crystal 60
8 oz maltodextrin
1 oz fuggles @ 60
.5 oz fuggles @ 15
Mash 154 for 60 mins
Nottingham, Thames valley and London ale 3 are all good yeast choices.
OG 1.072
FG 1.025
You could add coffee to this 8oz of coffee cold brewed would be a nice addition.

I have brewed this many times and it is a delicious beer, it can be filling with the maltodextrin which if you wanted to leave out you could but it gives this beer a fair amount of body.

 

[divrack]

I pretty much consider a stout to not have any crystal as opposed to porter which does and keep the grain bill pretty simple, top and tail sort of thing...
I imagine if you are adding peanut butter you would want to take care to minimise the oily part as much as possible.

 

[Turfgrass]

I imagine if you are adding peanut butter you would want to take care to minimise the oily part as much as possible.

I haven’t looked into the source for peanut butter yet(grocery store bought?), but I planned on adding it to secondary for a few days. Maybe try and smear it up against the side walls for maximum contact? Where does the chocolate flavor mostly come from in this type of stout, grain or nibs? Thank you.

 

[divrack]

I haven’t looked into the source for peanut butter yet(grocery store bought?), but I planned on adding it to secondary for a few days. Maybe try and smear it up against the side walls for maximum contact? Where does the chocolate flavor mostly come from in this type of stout, grain or nibs? Thank you.

Depends really. Personally I'm a fan of trying to get it from grain, but a lot of the big ris American style things throw the entire larder in.
Some carafa 2 and brown malt will set off chocolate flavours. Try to get the peanut butter from the bottom of the jar. Don't go to heavy on the really roasted stuff or it'll end up too liquorice/soy sauce with all the other stuff I think..

 

[Queequeg]

You can't use peanut butter, all that will happen is you will ruin your beer and impart no peanut flavor.

Some people have used PB2 powdered peanut butter but report no significant flavor imparted.

Commerical peanut butter stouts like yellow belly use peanut butter flavouring which is synthetic. Peanuts never enter the brewery, the allergy implications are just too great. That and peanuts don't work as a brewing ingredient.

 

[Turfgrass]

You can't use peanut butter, all that will happen is you will ruin your beer and impart no peanut flavor.

Some people have used PB2 powdered peanut butter but report no significant flavor imparted.

Commerical peanut butter stouts like yellow belly use peanut butter flavouring which is synthetic. Peanuts never enter the brewery, the allergy implications are just too great. That and peanuts don't work as a brewing ingredient.

Have you made an attempt at this kind of stout with any success?

 

[Turfgrass]

5 gallon batch
11 lbs 2 row
1.5 lbs chocolate malt
.5 lbs roasted barley
.5 lbs crystal 60
8 oz maltodextrin
1 oz fuggles @ 60
.5 oz fuggles @ 15
Mash 154 for 60 mins
Nottingham, Thames valley and London ale 3 are all good yeast choices.
OG 1.072
FG 1.025
You could add coffee to this 8oz of coffee cold brewed would be a nice addition.

I have brewed this many times and it is a delicious beer, it can be filling with the maltodextrin which if you wanted to leave out you could but it gives this beer a fair amount of body.

I assume you add the coffee at some point post fermentation? Also I’ve never used maltodextrin, so at what point would I add it? TY

 

[Queequeg]

Have you made an attempt at this kind of stout with any success?

Nope, I have just read a lot of threads regarding PB stouts and the use of PB2 in attempts to get the peanut flavor.

Whatever method you use you must keep the fat out otherwise the fat will turn rancid during storage and spoil the beer. Plus you will probably have other off flavours and no head retention.

One other thing that some people have tried is by 100% peanut peanut butter and invert the container so the oil comes to the top. Then place it in the freezer and once it freezes scrap off the oil. Repeat until you just have peanuts. Then add this to the beer.

Personally if PB2 fails to infuse peanut character I can't see the above method working either.

Silver cloud estates make a peanut butter flavouring and I have read that their flavourings are really good in brewing.

My advice would be get a good milk stout recipe and use extract and cocoa nibs/powder to get the chocolate and peanut flavor.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

Do not bother with PB2. Use this:

http://www.apexflavors.com/Beverage-Industry/Craft-Brewing/Nut~2977

Peanut Butter Cup flavor - same stuff DuClaw uses for Sweet Baby Jesus. Wonderful stuff.

 

[JJ900]

Turfgrass, PM Dawn perhaps?

I have read of people having success using peanuts and the September BYO has a clone recipe for a PB stout where the writer implies that the brewery uses peanuts. The article is vague on whether to crush or chop them but it does say to add at end of primary.

I am trying this now - I added 1/2 lb chopped roasted peanuts and 1/2 lb de-oiled peanut butter after 10 days in primary to an imperial stout. I sampled at days 1 and 3 after adding peanuts because I am trying to figure out how long til bottling. Its improving, the peanut flavor is noticeable, but its not as strong as I'd like yet.

 

[Turfgrass]

Turfgrass, PM Dawn perhaps?

I have read of people having success using peanuts and the September BYO has a clone recipe for a PB stout where the writer implies that the brewery uses peanuts. The article is vague on whether to crush or chop them but it does say to add at end of primary.

I’d be interested in seeing the recipe if you could post. I like PM Dawn, but they add a little to much coffee for me. I live 15-20 min from Trillium and I did try their PM Dawn with peanut butter. Great!

 

[Hobby brewer]

Brewers best makes lots of flavors that can be added after fermenting. I used their peanut butter flavor and added it to my bottling bucket with the priming sugar

 

[JJ900]

I’d be interested in seeing the recipe if you could post.

This is from Junkyard Brewing in Minnesota.

Then the recipe I am using is the HBT 2011 RIS medal winner from the recipes section but adding peanuts as I described above. I’d like to try the junkyard recipe soon.

 

[Turfgrass]

Do not bother with PB2. Use this:

http://www.apexflavors.com/Beverage-Industry/Craft-Brewing/Nut~2977

Peanut Butter Cup flavor - same stuff DuClaw uses for Sweet Baby Jesus. Wonderful stuff.

I looked it up and starting at 5% solution it would be expensive unless my math is wrong. For example, 5% of one gallon is 6.5 oz. and a 8oz bottle is $30. Now times that by a 5 gallon batch.

 

[FatDragon]

I looked it up and starting at 5% solution it would be expensive unless my math is wrong. For example, 5% of one gallon is 6.5 oz. and a 8oz bottle is $30. Now times that by a 5 gallon batch.

0.05%-0.4%, which ranges from roughly 1/3 of an ounce to 2.5 ounces for a five gallon batch. That's a pretty dang wide range, though, so you'd have to dose several samples to figure out the ratio you want to use. Edit - Sorry, I was looking at the almond flavor. The range for peanut butter extract is half as much extract as they suggest for almond, though they suggest starting at 0.05% for beer so that's still 1/3 of an ounce or more in five gallons, up to about 1.25 ounces. Peanut butter cup's range is .1-.5% and suggests a minimum of .2%, or 1.25 ounces in 5 gallons, for beer.

A local brewpub gets significant flavor in their peanut butter stout with powdered peanut butter. Not sure what brand or how much they use, but it can be done. You can sometimes feel the powder in the mouthfeel though, as a sort of slight soft grittiness, so you might not prefer that. Another option is to de-oil peanut butter - using fresh peanut butter (you can usually get it squeezed right in front of you in the bulk food sections of a lot of supermarkets these days), you put it in some kind of sieve on cheesecloth or paper towels. Wait a couple days for a significant amount of oil to separate, remove it (you could probably use it for cooking if it doesn't go rancid - it's great for kettle corn or a lot of Chinese or Thai stir fries as long as nobody's allergic), mix up the peanut butter, change the cheesecloth/paper towel, and repeat several times over the course of a few weeks until it's pretty much just de-oiled peanut solids. I've heard good things about using a pound of this in a five gallon batch, but unfortunately I don't know if that's supposed to be measured before or after the de-oiling process. I'd assume it's before, but no guarantees.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

I looked it up and starting at 5% solution it would be expensive unless my math is wrong. For example, 5% of one gallon is 6.5 oz. and a 8oz bottle is $30. Now times that by a 5 gallon batch.

Where did you get 5%?

Quoted directly from the PB cup extract:

We recommend a starting use level of 0.10% to 0.50% in most alcoholic beverages. In beer start at 0.20% and adjust to taste.v

So for a 5 gal batch 0.2% would be 1.28 oz. The cheapest bottle is all you would need.

 

[divrack]

I don't get you yanks insistence on putting non beer things in beer. Pumpkins, peanut butter... It's a damned travesty I tell thee!
*Takes off flat cap in a rage and jumps up and down on it, then slurps down some flatish infected oxidised mild ale*

 

[Turfgrass]

Where did you get 5%?

Quoted directly from the PB cup extract:

We recommend a starting use level of 0.10% to 0.50% in most alcoholic beverages. In beer start at 0.20% and adjust to taste.v

So for a 5 gal batch 0.2% would be 1.28 oz. The cheapest bottle is all you would need.

I was looking at peanut butter and didn’t realize that peanut butter cup was below, so .05 was starting rate for peanut butter. What’s the formula for figuring out a solution percent? I was just taking the percent from the total volume. Thanks.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

I was looking at peanut butter and didn’t realize that peanut butter cup was below, so .05 was starting rate for peanut butter. What’s the formula for figuring out a solution percent? I was just taking the percent from the total volume. Thanks.

So take their recommended starting % and times that by your number of ounces.

On all their products they do a % for alcohol/spirits and then usually 1 for beer specifically. For the PB cup one it says start at 0.2% and go from there.

So if you have a 5 gal batch, that's 640 ounces. So take 640 times 0.2% and you get 1.28 ounces. Then you can convert that to teaspoons etc if you'd prefer on Google. That's what I do just because it's easier with my utensils at home. I've noticed that their recommended percentage is usually right on my tastes.

Also for the PB one, yep they do say 0.05%, but that's point oh five PERCENT, not times by 0.05, yeah that would be 5 percent if so. So for that peanut butter only one you would take 640 * 0.05% or 0.0005 if you want to type it out in the calculator, will come to the same number either way. That would require 0.32 ounces.

 

[Turfgrass]

I should have known that . Thank you.

 

[Turfgrass]

Ordered the peanut butter cup today......any yeast recommendations? Thinking of using dry us-05.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

Yep that'll work just fine. I think you'll really enjoy it

 

[Turfgrass]

G

Yep that'll work just fine. I think you'll really enjoy it

Great. I’ll double check, but I believe the gravity to be 1.060 brew. Is one packet of us-05 good enough or starter/ 2 packets needed?

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

G


Great. I’ll double check, but I believe the gravity to be 1.060 brew. Is one packet of us-05 good enough or starter/ 2 packets needed?

A 1.060 beer requires about 210 billion cells per 5 gallon batch, so you would be just slightly under pitching, but nothing that would cause a problem. Don't bother with a starter for dry yeast. They're cheap - just use an extra one whenever you need more than one.

If it were me - and this is just a personal problem (very anal retentive about under pitching at all) - I would pitch 1.5 packets, or even just do 2. US05 is cheap - and the beer most likely will get to fermenting a bit quicker too. But 1 would be just fine too.

Good luck and let me know how you like the PB cup extract.

 

[Turfgrass]

I’ll pick up two pks this weekend. When did you add the peanut butter cup flavor? Just after primary, or attime of legging?

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

I’ll pick up two pks this weekend. When did you add the peanut butter cup flavor? Just after primary, or attime of legging?

Add at kegging. Right to the bottom of the keg. Then rack on top of that. Once you purge oxygen you can swirl it around a bit if you want, but it should mix just fine. Taste will be immediate. Hope you like it. Tastes just like Sweet Baby Jesus.

 

[Turfgrass]

5 gallon batch
11 lbs 2 row
1.5 lbs chocolate malt
.5 lbs roasted barley
.5 lbs crystal 60
8 oz maltodextrin
1 oz fuggles @ 60
.5 oz fuggles @ 15
Mash 154 for 60 mins
Nottingham, Thames valley and London ale 3 are all good yeast choices.
OG 1.072
FG 1.025
You could add coffee to this 8oz of coffee cold brewed would be a nice addition.

I have brewed this many times and it is a delicious beer, it can be filling with the maltodextrin which if you wanted to leave out you could but it gives this beer a fair amount of body.

Thanks for the recipe. I don’t know anything about maltodextrin other than it adds body. When would you add it and would you add to a milk stout? Adding 1/2lb of lactose in my peanut butter milk stout. Thx

 

[JJ900]

Maltodextrine and lactose can both go in the boil. Last 10-15 mins is fine.

 

[Rob2010SS]

You can't use peanut butter, all that will happen is you will ruin your beer and impart no peanut flavor.

Some people have used PB2 powdered peanut butter but report no significant flavor imparted.

Commerical peanut butter stouts like yellow belly use peanut butter flavouring which is synthetic. Peanuts never enter the brewery, the allergy implications are just too great. That and peanuts don't work as a brewing ingredient.

This isn't necessarily true. I just did one and used 2lbs real, deoiled pb. Came out fantastic and you can taste and smell the pb.