# Feasable PBJ Wine



## hownowbrowncow (Sep 3, 2012)

Here is the website for the brand of powdered peanut butter I found; 
http://fitnutzpbmix.myshopify.com/products/regular-1lb 

Now; Peanut Butter contains oil no matter what state it is, so the first thing I thought of was preservation. Warmer temperatures reduces the life span of peanut oil, even though peanut oil does outlast most oils aside from olive oil, so my main concern is oxidation of the peanut oil. At warmer temperatures peanut butter should last 2-3 months upon first opening and used regularly. 

Plus as this is a powdered formula of Peanut Butter it will be easily diluted with water and if a separate layer of oil formed on the top I can easily scoop off. So I am thinking that I would create the peanut butter water mixture, let it set for 48+ hours then see if anything can be removed from the top before anything else is mixed in. I can also place my syphon hose into the water, let it settle for a few hours and have any oil return back to the top, suck it back out and leave the layer.

So my main idea is to make a Peanut Butter & Jelly wine;

1lb of Powdered Peanut Butter = 1.9 Cups - The mix ratio is 1:1 for water to powder for paste so I think a 1:6 ratio giving a total (without jam flavor) of 0.68 US gallons. 4 Cups of your favorite Jam/Jelly, personally I like Raspberry giving a total of 1 US Gallon in liquid.. I have a stash of home made Raspberry Syrup concentrate which has roughly 1/2 cup of sugar per 1 cup of syrup giving me 2 cups of sugar from the syrup. I'll have to add 2.5 cups of dextrose. Pectic enzyme as per directed from the bottle but I do question if I need campden tablets or any acid blend. If anyone has any insight, I'd be thankful.


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## saramc (Sep 3, 2012)

hownowbrowncow.....I have been enjoying powdered peanut butter since January, but I source mine off Amazon, it is called *PB2-made by Bell Plantation (over 90% of the fat removed from the peanut, 85% less fat calories vs traditional peanut butter)* and I pay less than $9 + FREE SUPER SAVER SHIPPING for a 16 oz container... http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=grocery&field-keywords=pb2
**You can also buy directly from PB2, but they usually tack on a $10 shipping fee.

Even better, IMHO: BYRD MILL offers "Peanut Flour", less than $5 per pound and has _no salt or sugar added_. http://www.byrdmill.com/content/1-lb-peanut-flour-light-28 Byrd Mill offers a 12 and 28% fat product. The 28 has more peanut flavor versus the 12, plus they offer a light or a dark roast. I am currently out of my stash from Byrd Mill, but once my PB2 is gone I will order a 5 pound bag of the 28 from Byrd Mill. Note: The PB2 product has salt/sugar added as does the Fit Nutz product.

Every time I use my PB2 I honestly think "I wonder if I could make a PB&J wine with this?" 

Now, are you planning on using JELLY/JAM or your homemade raspberry syrup? Got confused when you started talking about your syrup.Sorry. Do you plan on backsweetening with the raspberry syrup? 
Most jam/jelly wine recipes recommend 3-16oz jars of jam/jelly per gallon. And typically little to no additional sugar will be needed to reach your desired starting S.G. 
In regard to addition of the PB powder, I am hoping it will act much like Dutch cocoa powder--a pnut buttery foam on top while another layer of thick pnut buttery sludge forms on the bottom of carboy. You may have to rack off the PB sludge a few times as it settles out. What about adding 1 11oz container of 100% white grape juice frozen concentrate per gallon OR if you can find a white grape raspberry? I can see the traditional PB&J sandwich made with concord jelly---use concord jelly,some concord juice concentrate + PB powder!
_Clarify for me: how much PB powder per gallon do you plan on adding?_

I do not see any reason as to why you would need to use k-meta/Campden INITIALLY, but I would use the standard dose amount when you transfer from primary ferment container to your carboy & apply airlock and then you only have to dose every 90 days or so & until you get it bottled. 
Most interested in seeing how this will clear since there is so very much protein in the powder [PB2 has 5g per 12gm(2 tbsp) powder]. Wonder if bentonite pre-ferment would be beneficial to assist in compacting the lees,etc? 
I also find when making jam wine I make sure to add the normal amount of pectic enzyme pre-ferment and then same amount again when I transfer from primary fermentation container to carboy/airlock. Wonder if Amylase enzyme would be more beneficial than pectic enzyme?? Hmm. 
Addition of acids could be done post-ferment, if necessary.

Please, post your final recipe & photos/progression, etc. Interesting---drooling imagining PB and banana OR PB-chocolate-strawberry-banana-vanilla. 

[Informational edit: for those who are thinking "POWDERED PEANUT BUTTER? You can also look for "peanut flour"--though some are just blanched peanuts(www.nuts.com), not roasted peanuts (PB2,FitNutz). Anyway, peanut powder/flour is a great source of protein & since it has so much of the fat removed it is a healthy option. Family adores it made into spicy peanut dipping sauce for grilled chicken or a sweeter dipping sauce for apples and other fruits. Add-in as powder to shakes, oatmeal....just about everything the label says it is used for!]


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## Midwest Vintner (Sep 3, 2012)

I have made PBJ wine. Nut wines are difficult to make and very tedious to make right. Both pre-ferm and post-ferm requires work to deal with the whole process we do, which includes making pecan. I made my pbj from organic whole unsalted peanuts.  They are not cheap though.


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## hownowbrowncow (Sep 3, 2012)

Hey saramc! Thanks for the reply; very interesting I'll keep in mind.

The reason why I've chosen fitnutz is because I actually found it in a local grocery store for 11.99$ for a 16oz bag and any others I'd have to order online and pay shipping so my costs would be a tad cheaper thus paying for my yeast. Which I will probably use the whole 16oz bag per gallon, as you've spoken about the PB sludge, I will assume I'll lose a lot of flavor in it so to maximise my chances of creating an adult drink from the childhood snack we still enjoy today.

I'll probably stick to the syrup I made as I only have 39 quart jars of my home made raspberry jam left; my daughter and I eat far more toast then pancakes. Working out the math for the sugar content of the syrup was I got from the New York times website at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/dining/192wrex.html but I did not use 1 1/2 cups of sugar for every 2 cups of raspberries, 2:1 ratio for raspberry to sugar. So you're right, I probably shouldn't add any sugar rather just a sweetener at the end if it doesn't taste like you're biting into a nice juicy sandwich. As for the grapes .. well, I'm not exactly a huge fan of fresh grapes or in jams for that matter, I prefer them fermented.

While I'm out today, hopefully purchasing some yeast because the only brewer store in the whole town was closed (I made the Cure-All recipe and a Coffee recipe but my yeast was dead), I'll stop at the store and pick up two packages of the powdered peanut butter to attempt an experiment.


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## hownowbrowncow (Sep 3, 2012)

I'm not too concerned about giving it a Nutty taste, I'd rather a hint of peanuts and a body of berries.. Exactly like I like my PBJ's. After looking at the various recipes on this site I have noticed the same thing as you've said, Midwest Vintner, tedious.


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## saramc (Sep 3, 2012)

hownow.....what yeast do you plan on using? 
ONLY 39 quarts of raspberry jam/jelly left??


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## hownowbrowncow (Sep 5, 2012)

I'm probably going to go EC1118 because it's a very stable yeast and should work just fine. Haha yeah.. No, I don't share...

Today I put together a 1:6 ratio of Peanut Butter Powder to Water, I can already see a sludge forming at the bottom but there isn't really anything floating yet. I'll leave it till the morning and see where that takes me.


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## saramc (Sep 12, 2012)

Any update on the PBJ wine project? Want to follow you before I take the plunge, though I definitely will! In the meantime I had to order more PB powder because I use it every day in the household!!


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## hownowbrowncow (Sep 15, 2012)

Hey! Sorry I had forgotten to post any updates on this!

I had left it for three days and I had noticed a lot of sediment on the bottom, there was a very thin layer of what looked like some milky? of who knows what on the top. I syphoned the peanut water into another one of my jugs and I gave it a little taste.. very watery peanut water. I'm pretty sure this will work but I do think that the peanut butter taste will be clouded.. I may have to look at a way of bringing out the peanut flavor a little more. I used a 6:1 boiled water to peanut powder ratio in a 1 gallon milk jug.

I lost roughly 2 cups of liquid (from 1 gallon) from the sediment, because I didn't want to put any of it into the new jug, so I filled that with raspberry syrup, put in pectic enzyme and one campden tablet. Let it sit for a day and a half then I put in a table spoon of EC1118 on the 10th. It has sat there bubbling away for the last five days, in two days I'll rack it.


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## hownowbrowncow (Sep 15, 2012)

I decided to try another recipe attempt using real peanut butter this time. Using Kraft - Smooth brand peanut butter I had taken a pot and put 2,000 ML (4 cups) of water, brought to a boil. Added in roughly .6kg of the peanut butter, brought back to a boil and skimmed off the top. After I poured it into a bowl to cool down in I had noticed much of the same sediment from the powered peanut butter sitting on the bottom of the pot.. it wasn't burnt or stuck it sat there the exact same way and easily washed out.

Once it cools I will pour it into my fermenter jug, add my raspberry syrup, campden and pectic enzyme. Let it sit until tomorrow, if there is a vast amount of sediment I'm going to syphon it off and top it up with water.. have it sit another day and than add my yeast.


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## saramc (Sep 15, 2012)

Interesting. I think I will do the 6:1 format, BUT allow the peanut lees to remain for a while. Will be a while, have no empty carboys. Will update here when I do my attempt if that is okay with you...kindred spirits and all!!


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## hownowbrowncow (Sep 16, 2012)

I personally use the 1 gallon Milk Jugs from the store. I find my the airlock bungs fit perfectly inside them... plus we go through a lot of milk in this house.


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## saramc (Sep 22, 2012)

The teens like Hawaiian Punch in the one gallon jugs, and I find that those are sturdier than typical milk jugs and the BuonVino bungs fit quite well. They are my emergency carboys and as my glass becomes available I transfer. Will be starting my batch within the week!!


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## hownowbrowncow (Sep 24, 2012)

I have two versions going, the first racked at day 7 on the 17th which was with the powdered peanut butter 6:1 ratio (1 gallon). The second is made with real peanut butter, .6KG to 1 Gallon of water or 0.07 gallons of peanut butter - boiled, skimmed and cooled and was racked yesterday (23rd). 

The powdered peanut butter I have found a few things I dislike about it, first the smell of peanut butter is gone as soon as I racked it. I had given it a little taste yesterday and I there was a hint of peanuts but it was more of a roasted flavor then really peanut-y. Perhaps I need more powdered peanut butter, as it did have more sediment than the real peanut butter.

The real peanut butter.. well, I'm extremely liking this. Boiling the peanut butter removed a lot of excess ingredients (skim the top) and most importantly.. you can taste peanut butter. I believe I may have used too much peanut butter per gallon but I'm pretty sure the taste will soften out as I rack it and it ages. So far, this batch is by far better in every way.


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