WANTED - Extract Milk Stout + steeped grains recipe

[Cam]

As per title, Im planning on doing a Christmas Milk Stout and and looking for a great thick stout base recipe which I can add too. Did a search but nothing caught my eye. Anyone willing to share theirs? For my last two brews I have steeped grains so all good with that technique.

I did find this through google, thoughts?

1lb black patent malt
3/4lb chocolate malt
1/2lb carapils
1/2lb crystal 80 (English)
1oz cascade 60min
.5oz styrian goldings 60min
.5oz styrian goldings 30min
1lb lactose 13min
WLP002- English Ale Yeast
6lbs light LME
3.5gal boil

[Cam]

Typically, minutes after posting this I came across the following so thinking of trying this. Still interested to see what you guys have to offer.

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/ ... out-clone/

[Barley Water]

A couple of years ago I brewed a Milk Stout using a recipe from that Gordon Strong book (yeah, yeah, I know some aren't exactly enamored with the guy on these forums). Anyhow, it came out really well and I won a metal with it in a very large competition (and it was my first time brewing that style). One thing that I did was to cold steep all the dark grains and I believe that is a key to making a really smooth Milk Stout. I am going to do it again either this weekend or next so I can have it ready for the holidays. What I did was run all the dark grains through a blender so that they were almost like flour then steeped them overnight. Once I got the liquid strained through my spider, I added the now dark extract to the boil about 5 minutes to shut down because the more that stuff gets boiled the more astringency you end up getting. By the way, the recipe posted above looks pretty good but I would use Fuller's yeast rather than the Chico strain as mentioned in the recipe. The Fuller's strain is less attenuating plus you get the added bonus of really good floculation; just be damn sure to leave the beer on the yeast for at least a week otherwise you'll end up with a butter bomb. The beer should end up on the heavy side and just slightly sweet which is why I would rather use the English strain. Anyhow, it's a good choice for the holidays; good luck to you and report back on how it works out.

[Cam]

A couple of years ago I brewed a Milk Stout using a recipe from that Gordon Strong book (yeah, yeah, I know some aren't exactly enamored with the guy on these forums). Anyhow, it came out really well and I won a metal with it in a very large competition (and it was my first time brewing that style). One thing that I did was to cold steep all the dark grains and I believe that is a key to making a really smooth Milk Stout. I am going to do it again either this weekend or next so I can have it ready for the holidays. What I did was run all the dark grains through a blender so that they were almost like flour then steeped them overnight. Once I got the liquid strained through my spider, I added the now dark extract to the boil about 5 minutes to shut down because the more that stuff gets boiled the more astringency you end up getting. By the way, the recipe posted above looks pretty good but I would use Fuller's yeast rather than the Chico strain as mentioned in the recipe. The Fuller's strain is less attenuating plus you get the added bonus of really good floculation; just be damn sure to leave the beer on the yeast for at least a week otherwise you'll end up with a butter bomb. The beer should end up on the heavy side and just slightly sweet which is why I would rather use the English strain. Anyhow, it's a good choice for the holidays; good luck to you and report back on how it works out.

Thanks for the reply. I ended up going with WLP004 - Irish Ale yeast. Does a cold steep make a big difference to a 68deg for 30mins?

[Barley Water]

Well first of all, WLP004 is also a good choice, I just don't have quite as much experience with it as I do with WLP002. It probably doesn't floculate quite as well but it is not all that attenuative which is what you are really looking for in a Milk Stout. I hate to be obtuse but I don't understand your question so I can't answer that one. What cold steeping does is cut way down on the extraction of tannins which gives some darker beers like stout that burnt, astringent flavor. Actually, you want a little of that in a dry stout but I really think smoother is better in a Milk Stout. Mashing dark grains is much like making coffee, the less time the beans are in hot liquid the smoother the resulting cup. That's why for instance coffee made in a percolator is not as good as using a French press (and both of those are more harsh than coffee made by cold extraction).

[Cam]

Thanks for that. You basically answered my poorly worded question. I wondered what the benifits of a cold steep were. I'll steep the grains a bit colder and for longer. Brewing tomorrow so no time now. Thanks for the tips.

[comicbrew]

I would crank back on the black malt and add some torrefied wheat and chocolate malt.

[Cam]

I would crank back on the black malt and add some torrefied wheat and chocolate malt.

Thanks for the reply but I brewed in on Sat night. I'll see how it turns out and maybe change things up next time.

[Cam]

So the brew(night) went fine. Started with steeping the following.

Chocolate Malt Crushed 350g – 30 Mins – 67°C
CaraMunich 1000g – 30 Mins – 67°C
Caramel/Crystal Malt 60L 350g – 30 Mins – 67°C
Roasted Barley 500g – 30 Mins – 67°C

I then added 2.5kg of dark DME
finished with 500g lactose

So using online calculators that should give me a OG of around OG: 1.091 however when I measured it I got an OG: 1.122 ooooffftttt! Whats happened here then? Extracted more of the sugars during the steep? or the lactose added much more sugars than expected?

By the next morning the fermenter was bubbling away like mad so no problems there, made a 1L started with WLP004 - Irish Ale Yeast.

[Barley Water]

I did my Milk Stout yesterday and the O.G. was 1.072 which was what I was shooting for (but I did an all grain batch). I was really thinking that I would need to spoon the stuff out of the glass but I guess compared the the original poster here I'm just a wimp. By the way, since you are steeping grains along with the extract if I were you I would only use light extract rather than the darker stuff. The reason for that is, unless things have changed you never really know how the manufacturer got the extract dark so what you are effectively doing is allowing them to dictate part of your recipe for you. Also, if you come up with a few extract recipes you like then go to all grain, it's really easy to convert the recipes if you use the light extract as the base, use specialty grains to control the color and adjust the flavor as needed. As in all things, YMMV, hope your beer turns out really nice.

[Cam]

By the way, since you are steeping grains along with the extract if I were you I would only use light extract rather than the darker stuff. The reason for that is, unless things have changed you never really know how the manufacturer got the extract dark so what you are effectively doing is allowing them to dictate part of your recipe for you. Also, if you come up with a few extract recipes you like then go to all grain, it's really easy to convert the recipes if you use the light extract as the base, use specialty grains to control the color and adjust the flavor as needed. As in all things, YMMV, hope your beer turns out really nice.

What a GREAT piece of advise! Being very new to brewing (this is my 5th brew) I had never even twigged about the dark extract. I'll definitively use light next time! Thanks for that and I think giving out spoons with this beer might be a good plan hahah.

[Barley Water]

Well I think I have gone and done it now. As advertised, I made my milk stout last week and I must say that it was a very smooth brew day (unlike the disaster I pulled off a couple of weeks before that). Anyhow, as part of the plan, I wanted to test the new dry yeast version of the Fuller's strain which has just come on the market over here. Well, the damn stuff is doing nada so now I have a big problem. I am going to try pitching a couple of packets of Whitbread dry yeast (which I have used before with good success) and see if I can't right this situation although it may already be too late (my standard approach is to lighten up, have a homebrew and things just seem to work out). Needless to say, I am going to be rather upset if I end up pouring this batch. I have been doing this hobby for over 3 decades and I have had a couple of sluggish fermentations but this is the first time I've gotten zip from the yeast. Besides screwing up a nice batch this is also gonna mess up my production schedule; I really need to make a couple of lagers before I get too far into the holiday season (and my bride makes me help her decorate the house etc). I was really hoping that the results of using this new yeast would be good so I could brew nice British beer on a whim and avoid making a starter, oh well, the best laid plans and all that....