The Protein Flavoring System

[diamonddave]

OK, I got my protein powder and flavor packets today (EXCELLENT SERVICE!!). Now I'm trying to mix up a couple of pounds of chocolate mint and have a couple of questions. I'm guessing that others that aren't experienced in custom flavoring their own protein will have questions, so maybe this thread can serve the purpose of Q&A and eventually maybe all of the questions will be here in print and Crowler won't have to answer the same questions over & over via email, pm's, etc. Also if someone comes up with an excellent mixture/recipe, this would be a nice place to post it for others to try.

OK, now for my questions:

I'm starting with 2lbs protein powder. I mixed it with 1/2 packet of Choc flavoring and about 60g Altern sweetener (no mint added yet). I feel I mixed it very well, but I didn't detect any actual chocolate flavor. I said "screw it" and dumped the remainder of the packet in there. Now I have a very mild chocolate flavor (detectable, but very very weak).
Isn't each flavor pack supposed to flavor up to 4lbs at normal strength, right? I've added a whole pack of chocolate flavor and it's not near as strong as the plain chocolate sample I received last week. I'm confident all of my measurements are correct for the protein and sweetener. Any ideas?
I weighed the packet before using any of it and it weighed about 12.5g. I measured an empty bag w/label and it weighed 1.3g so the packet had about 11.2g of chocolate flavoring. Is this correct for 4lbs (about 2.8g per lb)?

Anyway... I'm new at this and just want to get it right so I can make up the rest of my stuff with confidence.

Thanks,
dd

 

[CROWLER]

Ok sounds good except the Altern should be at about 70 but if you like stronger perhaps more is better for you, sometimes more sweetner actually can bring the flavor out more.

You are right on your measurements of the Chocolate Flavoring as we use 1.4 grams per pound.

Try the extra Altern but if you say you can't taste the chocolate at all if it will help a huge amount. Please let me know.

Thanks


CROWLER

 

[diamonddave]

The extra sweetner did improve the overall flavor, but didn't really bring out the chocolate part of it. It just made it more enjoyable. I'm not really a chocolate protein fan, I guess it's time to let the wife try since this flavor is for her. Thanks for the quick reply! I'm having fun playing around with it. I'll report back with the outcome.

dd

 

[CROWLER]

Thanks for the feedback Diamond Dave. Hey could be on me I am not getting the exact ratios to you so don't blame your mixing. Am HAPPY to send more but believe it or not the ONLY flavor we are out is yep you guessed it Chocolate

Let me know how it goes buddy.


CROWLER

 

[diamonddave]

Well, the goal here was to make a chocolate mint flavor. So I kept the chocolate at the double strength and added just a little more sweetener. For me the sweetspot for the Altera is around 37-38g per pound. For my taste the little additional sweetner improved the flavor and then at that spot of 37-38g the flavor seemed to "pop" a little more. Still kinda weak, but better. Then I added the mint at half strength to start with. I decided to do that because the instant I opened the postal box, my whole house smelled like mint. I figured it must be strong considering it was still sealed within two ziplocks. In my opinion, this gave the mix a better overall flavor than ON Choc Mint. To me, their mint flavor is too strong and now I understand why.
For anyone using the mint flavoring, you can use 1 nanogram per metric ton of protein and get a fairly strong mint flavor!
Anyway, I got a thumbs up from the wife. It's not the same as ON, but she liked it. I think they have a super strong chocolate flavor so you can taste it through the mint. There also may be some subconcious deal going on with the coloring.
So there's my story on batch one.

Tips from batch #1:
-If your using Altera, going above 35g/lb by 2 or 3g may improve the flavor intensity. Try it at 35g and add a couple more grams if it seems to lack "something".

-If your using mint start at a very low amount (1g/lb) then add alittle more at a time if you want more. Unless you like drinking mouthwash straight from the bottle, you may be OK with 1g/lb. It's still strong at that rate.

I hope this helps someone.

dd

 

[CROWLER]

WOW

Dave you REALLY made my night man, thanks.

I have been stressing about this thinking what to do to help you out.

You da man buddy, thanks again.

You say it now tastes better then Optimum Nutrition. YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BTW are you available for hire as full time flavor tech?

I can pay you in protein powder

CROWLER

 

[diamonddave]

BTW are you available for hire as full time flavor tech?

I can pay you in protein powder

CROWLER

That's a BOLD offer. My taste buds might just suck. For now, I'll just post my observations and tips for free. Once you start becoming rich from my input, then I might take some protein for payment.:lol: Your flavors seem to be getting rave reviews already!

dd

 

[not_big_enuf]

You mixing in water or skim milk?

That's a BOLD offer. My taste buds might just suck. For now, I'll just post my observations and tips for free. Once you start becoming rich from my input, then I might take some protein for payment.:lol: Your flavors seem to be getting rave reviews already!

dd

 

[diamonddave]

You mixing in water or skim milk?

I generally take my protein with just water. But, I think about all powders taste better when mixed with milk. So I used both when I was playing with the flavoring & sweetener.
I only used about 1 or 2ozs at at time. I tried my original mixture in both to get a baseline, then as I made incremental changes I tried each tweak in just water. As I started getting close to what I felt was the desirable outcome, I would try it in both again.

dd

 

[diamonddave]

Here's my experience in making up some Peanut Butter flavored protein:

The protein powder (10lbs) came to me in 2 - 5lb bags. I measured out 2 lbs for the chocolate mint mentioned above. I measured the remaining powder and it came out to exactly 3 lbs, so I decided I'd go for 3lbs of PB.
Based on my experience with the chocolate, I decided to just try the whole packet of flavoring for the 3lbs. I started with adding the Altera sweetener at a rate of 35g/lb. I mixed it up well and tried it in both water & skim milk. As with the chocolate, I felt the strength of the flavor was somewhat subtle. For me this was just fine. I'm not one to eat just straight PB, so the subtleness of the flavor was welcomed by me. I did feel, after taste testing, that it could use a little more sweetness, so I added another 2.5g/lb of Altera. I liked the taste at that point, but I wondered how it would taste with another bump of the sweetener. So I added another 2.5g/lb, this put me at 40g/lb total. I think that this amount is a little too much. I actually kinda like the sweetness, but the sweetness seems to exceed the pb flavor making it taste a little more candy-like. It's not bad at all, it just made it less like actual pb and a little more like candy.
So for PB, I'm sticking to the same recommendation that I made for the chocolate. Try the sweetener at 35g/lb. If you want a little more flavor and/or sweetness tweak it up to 37-38g. Don't go above this unless you really want a sweet drink. Again, the extra sweetener taste pretty good, but if you're a pb purist (I'm not) then 35 - 38g of sweetener will probably do it for you.
I didn't start with the flavoring at the recommended amount. I started with the packet which could flavor 4lbs, into 3lbs of powder. I feel that the pb is not a strong, overwhelming flavor. I think if I would have started at the recommended amount, I would have dumped the rest in after the first taste test.

The flavors I have left are unexciting (choc, van, mint). Next time I plan on ordering some of the other flavors that I'm interested in like the fruit flavors. When I ordered my samples, my favorite was strawberry-banana, so those two will definitely be on my list next time around.

dd