Using Oreos

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chichum

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Doing a big stout with oreos - never used them before. I was planning on doing secondary - curious if you'd use the entire cookie or remove the creme? Pretty sure the cream is just crisco and vanilla so I was thinking of doing the wafer part of the cookie and adding some vanilla beans.

Any thoughts? Can't seem to find anyone who has done it and not sure if I should add the creme with all the fats.
 
stuffing is basically Crisco and sugar...yeah, the Crisco oil probably not good.
 
Any of the beauty of an Oreo isn't going to make itself apparent in the final product.
Disappointing, I know. Try vanilla and a version of cocoa and make the stout with a higher FG.
Edit: I was curious and I looked. There are claims that say you can get the authentic flavor of an Oreo so I thought I should correct my post. Still skeptical though.
Good luck. I'd love to know the secret if it's out there or from someone on here.
 
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A brewery near me "dry hops" a dry stout with 200lbs of oreos in 15bbl (a little over 2lbs of oreos per gallon)

They also condition with vanilla and cocoa nibs.

It surprisingly does taste somewhat like oreos (and not just your usual vanilla chocolate stout)...
 
I'd do two batches, one without the cream and one, probably a smaller one, with, just to see how it works
 
Wow, beer and brewing has come a long way, but not in a direction I'd ever take.

Reminds me of drinks we'd make from the frappe/ice cream bar during clean up,(OK, slow days too) at the restaurant I used to manage when I was a kid. Hint, adding rum to chocolate products is a whole lot easier, probably tastes better too.

edit: frappe is old local word for milk shake around these parts.
 
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Doing a big stout with oreos - never used them before. I was planning on doing secondary - curious if you'd use the entire cookie or remove the creme? Pretty sure the cream is just crisco and vanilla so I was thinking of doing the wafer part of the cookie and adding some vanilla beans.

Any thoughts? Can't seem to find anyone who has done it and not sure if I should add the creme with all the fats.
Hey how did it come out, I’m about to make one this month.
 
I currently have my coffee stout at 2 weeks now in the fermenter. I have an Oreo 'gingerbread' house that I crushed up after Christmas. I wanna split the batch, put some amount of the goodness directly into the secondary for another two weeks. What can go wrong? Bad idea or delicious effort?
 

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I currently have my coffee stout at 2 weeks now in the fermenter. I have an Oreo 'gingerbread' house that I crushed up after Christmas. I wanna split the batch, put some amount of the goodness directly into the secondary for another two weeks. What can go wrong? Bad idea or delicious effort?
No turning back now. 1 cup sifted oreo powder in secondary (reused primary carboy vs. using secondary) and separated the batch. Bottle the initial batch and give another 2 weeks for oreo carboy to setup. We shall see!
 

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No turning back now. 1 cup sifted oreo powder in secondary (reused primary carboy vs. using secondary) and separated the batch. Bottle the initial batch and give another 2 weeks for oreo carboy to setup. We shall see!
Ok so update: the carboy is now bubbling away with the coffee stout sitting under the layer of thick chocolate the Oreo powder made. Seems we may have woke the yeast for another round?! Will take the final gravity in 2 weeks or whenever things calm. We shall see. But I was surprised to see things engage so quick in the original fermenter. Any guesses on final alc %? Guessing 8, hopefully not more?
 
Been two more weeks now (4 total), bubbling continues every 11s, top of fermenter is the thick layer of cake looking oreo powder that was added, bubbling and popping periodically. At this point I'm unsure whether to leave it alone until bubbling stops, or try and intercept things and transfer to secondary now.

Things I don't want:
1 - very boozy end result (already clocked in at 6% after the initial 2 weeks.
2 - sediment in final product
3 - whatever else happens when you sugar charge the yeast like I did

So at this point it's been in the primary fermenter for 4 weeks.

Reading after 2 weeks : OG: 1.060, then bubbling stopped, 1.014 , 6% abv. Then added Oreo powder and here we are.

Options?
1 - Wait indefinitely until bubbling stops
2 - split batch again for experimentation purposes
3 - cold crash
4 - move 2.5G all to secondary keeping the Oreo cookie and yeast out of the final product as best I can (monitoring for green light and eventual bottle transfer and conditioning)

I think either way I'll take hydrometer reading today and see how things are settling and then recheck before I commit to anything in the event is not bubbling due to actual fermenting.

Thanks
 
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Yeah so took it last night and will take it again today. I think it's not moving much at this point, and the increase seems marginal. I would call it at 1.012 (1.014
2 weeks ago) assuming it will read the same today marking 4 total weeks in primary fermenter. 6.3% after 4weeks vs 6.03% after 2 weeks.

(Update: After letting the sample settle,I will adjust my response in that the FG read in at 1.010, making it a 6.5%. Bubbling now actually is completely stopped and with a new measure today, I will guess we are NOW ready for bottling phase)

Taste test to come!
 
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Final reading tonight: 1.010. Calling it DONE. Time to bottle condition see how it shapes up.
 
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Started to open a few bottles from the first half of the batch. Not bad, I may infuse the coffee differently next time (did 2oz ground Coffee directly into fermenter with the other 2oz of whole beans left to float). This Oreo infused half batch still has a few more days of bottle conditioning then I'll throw them into the cellar after that for another 2 weeks I'm thinking. That puts us at around the end of month. I will open one this week at 14 days bottle condition 'just cuz' and update here.
 
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If I were to try to recreate an Oreo...I'd do a bit of lactose and vanilla, cocoa powder, some torrified wheat for breadiness and roasted barley...
altho...I'm not so sure people drinking it wouldn't just think, "tastes like a pastry stout".
Eager to hear how this turns out!
Should try dunking Oreos in this beer! 😆
 
I'm not an adjunct brewer, so I've never brewed anything like this. But I thought from most things I've read, if you like the flavor of something you want to add, you don't throw it in with live yeast because it will change it. So I would assume the best way to get oreo flavor is by soaking in the fermented beer after cold crashing.
 
I'm not an adjunct brewer, so I've never brewed anything like this. But I thought from most things I've read, if you like the flavor of something you want to add, you don't throw it in with live yeast because it will change it. So I would assume the best way to get oreo flavor is by soaking in the fermented beer after cold crashing.
Interesting yes. So the cold crash is to stop any more yeast fermentation right, and then add to flavor after? The .5% extra alc won't we worth it if the taste isn't there and I'm guessing cold crashing would more guarantee the Final Gravity would not change right?

It's an experiment anyway, and all this talking now makes we just wanna open one early here and see what we have so far...
 
If I were to try to recreate an Oreo...I'd do a bit of lactose and vanilla, cocoa powder, some torrified wheat for breadiness and roasted barley...
altho...I'm not so sure people drinking it wouldn't just think, "tastes like a pastry stout".
Eager to hear how this turns out!
Should try dunking Oreos in this beer! 😆
Right I was thinking myself that lactose would be a good addition here. How and when would that occur?

I had a glass with ice out of the final fermenter before bottling just to see how it was. Sort of reminded me of a thin black russian. If anything it may show me what I should have done, or would do next time...
 
Well...

It's been 2 weeks in bottle. Honestly hoping it improves with age. The picture without much head below I ended up having vanilla ice cream with, which tasted good and improved overall flavor. Top picture was right after a hard pour, head retention disappears after 30s. Likely some of the fatty cream particles from Oreo guessing?
I'll have to compare it to the other half batch, but certainly after half a glass feels like a 6.5%abv but there's a bit of an astringent aspect to the flavor right now, which I could do without.

Next time...
 

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I would recommend Apex extracts to get the flavors you're looking for. All of the flavor, none of the downsides.

https://www.apexflavors.com/Beverage-Industry/Craft-Brewing
Dumping Oreos, Skittles, Fruity Pebbles into beer is a fun story to tell, but when you end up with 5 gallons of crap, the story runs out of steam quickly. These extracts are fantastic and work.
 
We did a NEIPA with Lucky Charms on saint patrick's day and turned out fantastic, so you never know! Fun to try in moderation right.
Feel like Lucky Charms is a safe bet. It's mostly just oats and sugar after all, not greasy like Oreos.
 
If the Oreos were added during the steep/boil would you think things would have gone differently? The cereal was added during initial steep...
 
You would have to expect the beer would not hold its head retention when adding things with fats you know your giving that up. Did you sample before the oreos how was it then? I actually plan on trying an Oreo stout one day myself and I just don’t like extracts I’ve only had bad experiences with them even using the highly recommended ones but that’s just me. However right now for me it’s sour season and adding fruit is easy.
 
Yeah so since I split the batch, I have the other half as the base to compare against. I had 32oz of it last night and it's rather nice and head retention is much different, sets up like a creamy Guinness with a slightly darker color. It's the Northern Brewer Place Coffee kit.

I tasted the Mix before I decided how much Oreo powder to put in yes. Based off a one cup sample and ratio math, decided the sample I made was too sweet and that I should add less powder, thus added only one cup of the powder to the half batch (2.5G) so as to not over power it. It was already sweet.

I had read about fats but now I see and believe it.

If you do rock one out, please let us know. Hope this post helps your perspective and planning on the subject.
 
Josh Baas of Elk Grove, CA won a National Gold in 2019 for his "Sticky Faucet Oatmeal Milk Stout" which uses 2.5 lbs of Oreos (crumbled - includes the creme) / 5 gallons. Just made it. Sticky faucet is correct! I'm guessing he named it such to avoid judges having a bias if "Oreo" was in the title. I'm trying to siphon this thick beer right now.

For those of you who are members of the American Homebrewer's Association - the recipe is here: Sticky Faucet Oatmeal Milk Stout | Beer Recipe | American Homebrewers Association
 
Maybe I just needed to add a TON more!? Interesting. The head in the picture I'm surprised to see with the fats taking it's toll on retention.
 
I wonder if that is a stock photo.

I have been force carbing mine ... so far it's taking a WHILE! lol. This is a pretty thick stout. I hope it doesn't cause a problem in my keg lines. I had to leave about a gallon in the fermenter because it either wouldn't siphon or was super super slow which meant probable clog on keg lines. IF I do this again, I'll see about crushing the cookies to a powder. But, I think the cookie did disintegrate (at least my oreo cookies in milk do...) - not sure what is making it so thick!

Taste is kind of good. Needs time to build complexity. Ends up a bit sweet. Award winner got it down to 1.032. I waited a week at 1.035/1.034 - probably should have let it sit a while longer. It does (surprisingly) have some fusels in the taste.
 
Crazy! Yes fusels is the word. It ended up looking like a thick cake on top for sure with the thin powder I made it into... Interesting. I just uncapped another one of mine tonight oddly enough, hasn't gotten better with age so far...
 
I didn't have any thickness on top and I do think the taste is integrated. So maybe using the actual cookie was better. I have a beer guild meeting later in the month where I'll share it with some of the "gray beards" and see what they suggest for next batches.

After I finished the oreo stout I poured a commercial craft brew into the same glass - no head. Amazing how powerful that oil is. If I get any gray beard tips - I'll pass them along.
 
So your experiment was with the residual fats left over after your Oreo stout? With a Clean glass You would see head from commercial pour?
 
Just stumbled onto this thread. I couple years back I brewed basically my milk stout without the lactose. Added a family pack of oreos think it was like 2.7 pounds. Add whole when fermentation was winding down, cookie part basically dissolved but the sugar centers were pretty much not edible for the yeast. Head retention wasn't horrible. It really did taste like oreos for about a week, then faded gradually to kind of essence of oreo. Was worth doing once but not real interested in doing it again.
 
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