Milk Stout Recipie

[cumbrianwolf]

Here is my recipe for your approval:

Milk Stout All Grain 5.4% Vol
OG was supposed to be 1.047, but my mash efficiency has taken it to 1.055 minus the lactose.
23Lt efficiency 87%

Pale Malt 4.071kg
Crystal 120 0.500kg
Chocolate 0.100kg
Roasted Barley 0.085kg

Calcium Chloride 4gm
Epsom Salt (MgSO4) 2gm
Sodium Chloride 5g
Saccharification Rest 90min at 66c

East Kent Golding 35gm 6.05AA Boil 90min

Lactose Flavour Primary 0.5kg

I have a selected: Gervin English Ale yeast, and will let you all know how it turns out.

[Barley Water]

Good, I will be very interested to see how it works out. My daughter likes Left Hand Milk Stout and I plan to do a batch of something similar before she comes in for the holidays. I found a supposed clone on another forum and the stuff looks like you could spoon it out of the glass what with both lactose as well as oats and of course copious amounts of crystal malt. I was thinking that to keep it really smooth I would add the dark grains only for the sparge or maybe get really crazy and do a cold extract. I'll be interested to hear your experience with the style.

[cumbrianwolf]

Must admit it is the first milk stout recipe I have made and will probably be the first one I have ever tasted so I sure hope it is nice. Plus this was a trial recipe to push my brewing water test and amendments as per another thread I have ongoing.

[cumbrianwolf]

Great news it turned out really nice and that was just from a crafty tester pint or two after only 9 days in the barrel.
I would liken the taste to Jennings Sneck Lifter with a added residual sweetness present from the lactose.
Its quite heavy though and rather stronger than planned so definitely not a session beer but a great one for a winter warmer next to an open fire and ideally with a selection of cheeses.

[Barley Water]

Good for you, it's always good to have a hit your first time out with a new style. Yeah, I would expect the beer to be extremely heavy and higher gravity is not necessarily bad unless the stuff just gets too boozy. In my mind anyway that style is not for quaffing but rather after dinner in a snifter. When I make my version I suspect that I'll bottle it rather than putting it into my kegorator since I really can't see having more than on glass in a sitting.

[seymour]

... I found a supposed clone on another forum and the stuff looks like you could spoon it out of the glass what with both lactose as well as oats and of course copious amounts of crystal malt...

I'm not sure which clone recipe you're talking about, but Left Hand Milk Stout does in fact contain Crystal Malt and Flaked Oats. AND Flaked Barley. Fear not.

It's 15.5°Plato and 6.0% abv, so taking into consideration the unfermentable lactose, that tells me they use a very high-attenuating American ale yeast. You've tasted it. It's full-bodied, but not that full-bodied, right?

See: http://lefthandbrewing.com/beers/milk-stout/

[Barley Water]

Yeah I've had it a few times but it's been awhile. I do remember it being pretty sweet and heavy but I'm old and my memory could easily be less than exact. Before I make my version I'll have to snag a couple of bottles and do a little research. Seems like the clone recipe I saw was using a higher attenuating British strain but I don't remember which one it was. I'm a big one for using the same yeast a couple of times if I can because I'm cheap and also because then I can avoid making a starter for the subsequent beers. I also want to do my English IPA and I might be able to use the same strain on both beers, we'll see. On the other hand, if I end up using an American strain I'll likely go with the dry Chico strain, less expensive and easier to use than the liquid stuff and most importantly the results I've enjoyed are good.

[seymour]

Sounds great. For what it's worth: Left Hand uses Wyeast 1272 American Ale II, the Anchor Liberty strain (not Chico.)

[Rookie]

Several months ago I did some experiments using various dark malts to make black versions of light color beers. I used some blackprinz malt to make a black bitter. It ended up nice and black with a very smooth roastiness like a mellow stout. I thought it would go really good in a milk stout and I replaced some of the roast barley in one I brewed for my son-in-law. It was very well received. Next time I'm going to replace all the roast barley with blackprinz.

[Barley Water]

Interesting that you should mention that malt. I was at a homebrew function this weekend and a guy I was speaking with said that Blackprinz was smoother than the dehusked Carafa which is my go to when I want to darken up a brew but don't want the roast flavor. Since I do that quite a bit (for instance yesterday when I made a Munich Dunkel) I would love to hear other's experiences with that stuff; I have never used it myself.

[seymour]

Interesting that you should mention that malt. I was at a homebrew function this weekend and a guy I was speaking with said that Blackprinz was smoother than the dehusked Carafa which is my go to when I want to darken up a brew but don't want the roast flavor. Since I do that quite a bit (for instance yesterday when I made a Munich Dunkel) I would love to hear other's experiences with that stuff; I have never used it myself.

I agree with him. Blackprinz serves the same purpose as Carafa III, contributes just as much blackness but is even smoother and less roasty.

On a similar note, I tasted a Pumpkin Black Ale this weekend. 6% abv, 20 ibu. Pale, Cara 40L Malt, Chocolate Malt, Blackprinz + 20 lbs/bbl pumpkin, no spices added. It was very tasty, not too hoppy, not too roasty, but very dark-coloured.

[Fido97]

Blackprinz - anyone in the UK come across this?

[cumbrianwolf]

Not heard of BlackPrinz malt mentioned. I have used the Carafa III which as the other member posted it offers a smoother and mellow flavour profile and is a great substitute if not a full replacement for most roasted barley recipe requirements.

I must admit it seems our USA counterparts have on offer to them so much more of a selection of malts and adjuncts than what we have over here. I bought a book which just happens to be American based and it has been shelved indefinitely as I cannot obtain such grains.

[seymour]

Don't let it stress you out. Blackprinz and Midnight Wheat are debittered black malts from US maltster Briess, Carafa III is the debittered black malt from German maltster Weyermann, Black Pearl (the coolest of all, but hardest to get) is the debittered black malt from Patagonia Malt in Chile, Belgian malters Dingemans and Castle make debittered black malts too. It appears the English maltsters are the only ones not on the bandwagon (yet?)

Sure there are minor differences, but any version of black malt is only a very small percentage of the overall grainbill and they all serve an identical purpose in the grand scheme of things.

Experienced brewers, like experienced chefs, experience bartenders, experienced gardeners, experienced party-planners, etc, are all about knowledgeable substitutions. Get that book back out, and just make whatever looks good to you, substituting as need be with whatever you've got. It's especially great when your adapted recipe comes out even better, and you can claim it entirely as your own.

[Hanglow]

I wonder if the lack of it is due to the bigger brewers using E150 in the UK to darken beers without adding roast flavour instead