Micycle

Recipes 

Hard to find any info that doesn't just say use lactose. I'm interested in using real milk for a milk stout. Anyone done this before? any suggestions?

Coastarine

Recipes 

A milk stout made with real milk is going to be pretty unpleasant. You don't want the fat and protien from the milk, just the sugar. Someone else will hit us with all the science but I think you'll end up with a curdled stout.

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Micycle

Recipes 

I figured that'd be the problem. I've heard stories of people attempting them, but never any success or failure stories.

Yooper

Recipes 

I have no idea, so I'm NOT speaking from experience. But, I've accidently left milk out on the counter overnight. If that is a hint of what fermented milk would taste like, I want no part of it!

I do make cheese, though, so I know that something about cultures. The idea with cheese is that you want enough bacteria to acidify the milk so that it sets up curds. But then, you want it to stop at the right point. If you had something that fermented the milk, I don't know how you'd stop it and it would also cause a lacto infection in the beer.

Someone posted a while back about making a milk wine. That might be worth a read, to see if this is something you're really interested in.

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JKoravos

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I guess I'm wondering why you would want to make a milk stout with milk? Milk Stout is defined by the use of lactose for sweetness, not milk. Even if you wanted to attempt matching the lactose with real milk, the lactose content of milk is about 10g/cup. A typical milk stout would have about a pound (450g) of lactose per 5 gallons. You would need almost 3 gallons of milk to have an equivalent lactose content.

ChshreCat

Recipes 

+1

"Milk stout" is more of a figure of speech than a real definition of what it is. Like a nut brown ale not really using nuts.

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brewt00l

Recipes 

Bilk!

http://www.japanprobe.com/2007/01/31/milk-beer-bilk/


...I'd try mixing some milk with a stout and then report back on how tasty that was

celtic-brew

Recipes 

I'm making a stout with real milk now, only a small 2 gallon tester in case its horrible!
Milk curdles at pH4.6, with beer generally being around more acidic so I've brewed up a porter and then adjusted the pH to 6.0 with bicarbonate of soda. Then I added the milk and its in secondary. I'll let you know how it tastes...

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Drinking: Marstons' Firestoaker, Sharp's Doom Bar

Bottle Conditioning: Newquay Brown Ale

In Secondary: Real Milk Porter

In Primary: Orange Blossom Mead

Planned for the Future: sloe gin

fightingswede

Recipes 

Actually I've had fermented mare's milk several times on travels to Asia. Not bad but a fairly sour taste -- rather reminiscent of the old, old stouts produced in casks. If you go ahead with this, I would definitely recommend skim milk -- the fat could really muck it up.

broadbill

Recipes 

Not sure adjusting the pH is a great idea. Low pH acts as a bacteriostat in fermented food/beverages. Now that you've adjusted the pH to what is a more suitable range for bacterial growth you might have some problems. Also, you just inoculated with milk that already is contaminated with lactobacteria. Not sure if botulism is also a problem-you might be OK with the preservative qualities of alcohol and hops. Not that I would bet my life on it though...