SpanishCastleAle

Recipes 

Several questions.

Is Oatmeal Stout a milk stout? Or is that purely up to the brew master?
How much lactose in a typical 5 gal. batch of Milk Stout?
Is this an amount that makes lactose intolerance an issue? I'm not really lactose intolerant I don't think...but my stomach doesn't like too much milk either.
When measuring gravity...the lactose will show up throughout the whole process...even after fermentation. Is that correct? If so, then can I just subtract out the lactose-gravity-contribution from my readings and then treat the 'adjusted' gravity like a normal brew?

Any help appreciated.

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Early brewers were primarily women, mostly because it was deemed a woman's job. Mesopotamian men, of some 3,800 years ago, were obviously complete assclowns and had yet to realize the pleasure of brewing beer.- Beer Advocate

kevmoron

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1) It's up to the brewmaster. It's only a milk stout if you add lactose.

2) Most people will use 8 oz to 1 lb for 5 gallons

3) I would think that if you are severely allergic, it is best to not drink a milk stout.

4) An easy way around this is to add the lactose with your priming sugar at bottling, and take your grav reading before adding it in.

SpanishCastleAle

Recipes 

Thanks kev.

I'm still researching but I did find one source that said that regular milk has a lactose content of about 50g/qt.

EDIT: Oh yea, I keg but I suppose I could still add it as late as possible. As long as I get a good pre-boil gravity reading I think I'll be OK.

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Early brewers were primarily women, mostly because it was deemed a woman's job. Mesopotamian men, of some 3,800 years ago, were obviously complete assclowns and had yet to realize the pleasure of brewing beer.- Beer Advocate

zoebisch01

Recipes 

I would agree with kev on the abstaining from the Lactose. Although a rough calculation (for 8 oz in 5 gallons) yields around 2.8 grams of lactose per 8 fl oz of beer, which is roughly 1/4 the amount in an 8 oz cup of milk.

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Event Horizon ~ A tribute to the miracle of fermentation.

Brew what you like. Do this, and you will find your inner brewer.

SpanishCastleAle

Recipes 

Thanks guys. I think I'm gonna try my first attempt without lactose and just see how it goes. Then I'll do another in the near future with lactose and compare.

Thanks for the amount of lactose info zoebisch. I can eat cheese and ice cream and stuff...it's just full glasses of milk PLUS all the cheese/ice cream/yogurt/etc. that upsets my stomach a little. It looks like 1/2# in 5 gal. wouldn't be too bad. Just maybe not with pizza.

__________________
Early brewers were primarily women, mostly because it was deemed a woman's job. Mesopotamian men, of some 3,800 years ago, were obviously complete assclowns and had yet to realize the pleasure of brewing beer.- Beer Advocate

Hegh

Recipes 

Eat some yogurt first, if you have problems. It contains bacterial cultures that are able to digest the lactose for you, so no problems when you consume lactose. Can't remember how long the benefits last, but I think it's around 2 days.

Needs to be real yogurt with live/active cultures, though. Frozen yogurt won't work.

For more info, watch the Good Eats episode "Good Milk Gone Bad", season 6 episode 4. Or just search around, I guess...

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Triple Cat Brewery

Primary: Summer RyePA
Tertiary: Strawberry Blond
On Tap: NB's Oatmeal Stout, Eagle Mills Hard Cider, Hefeweizen, Black Lager, Warsteiner Dunkel Clone

"Bravery is not a function of fire power." ~J.C. Denton

SpanishCastleAle

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I do try to eat a cup of yogurt once a week. I knew it was...good eats.

How did I miss that episode? It's the only cooking show I like...I like the etymology/history/science/trivia he gives about the subject food. It's a bit too 'Sesame Street' at times but hey...I grew up watching Sesame Street.

__________________
Early brewers were primarily women, mostly because it was deemed a woman's job. Mesopotamian men, of some 3,800 years ago, were obviously complete assclowns and had yet to realize the pleasure of brewing beer.- Beer Advocate

remilard

Recipes 

You could try replacing lactose with a combination of maltodextrin (or a more dextrinous mash) for body and splenda for not fermentable sweetness.

Sounds like you have a reasonable level of lactose tolerance though so might as well brew it with lactose and try one when you have time to sit on the toilet for a while if you need to. If it causes you problems, I'll drink it.

SpanishCastleAle

Recipes 

Good idea remilard. However, I make a concious effort to not eat any artificial sweeteners. I know...it's pretty much impossible to avoid artificial sweeteners and/or HFCS and/or margarine (or other 'fats' that are more closely related to plastic than food) but that's one reason I try to avoid them...so I can at least limit the intake a bit. But that's a damn good idea though.

__________________
Early brewers were primarily women, mostly because it was deemed a woman's job. Mesopotamian men, of some 3,800 years ago, were obviously complete assclowns and had yet to realize the pleasure of brewing beer.- Beer Advocate

Hegh

Recipes 

You know... If you calculate the lactose content in a 12oz bottle, and have some lactose lying around, you could dissolve it into an equal volume of water/some other beer and see if it causes... problems... If not, you should be fine.

__________________
Triple Cat Brewery

Primary: Summer RyePA
Tertiary: Strawberry Blond
On Tap: NB's Oatmeal Stout, Eagle Mills Hard Cider, Hefeweizen, Black Lager, Warsteiner Dunkel Clone

"Bravery is not a function of fire power." ~J.C. Denton