Sweet Stout Left Hand Milk Stout Clone

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14.2 qts (3.55 gal). I think I figured it out. I'm just going to add a bit of calcium chloride and Magnesium to some RO water. I need to get a pH meter. Man this hobby is expensive lol. Well, when you are just starting out or upgrading anyway.
 
I'm going to brew this in a few days, but I was wondering if the one pack of us05 is enough. Should I put in 2?
 
keezerj said:
I'm going to brew this in a few days, but I was wondering if the one pack of us05 is enough. Should I put in 2?

1 pack is good for 5 gallons. If you run a double batch then pitch 2. The US-05 can be pitched directly onto the cooled wort with no rehydration needed.
 
Did everyone really mash this for 75 minutes? For all the recipes I have done so far it has been a 60 minute mash. Am I reading this correctly with a 75 minute mash?
 
Did everyone really mash this for 75 minutes? For all the recipes I have done so far it has been a 60 minute mash. Am I reading this correctly with a 75 minute mash?

I did a 60 min mash with no problems but the extra 15 min will help to ensure conversion.
 
tipping said:
Which munich malt are you guys using for the recipe? 10,20, or 60? Or something else?

My LHBS carries 10L. I've started using Caramunich lately. You could easily use the 1 or 2 in this. Haven't tried 3 yet...
 
Made this over the weekend. Checked on it yesterday and it smells great! I'm sure the taste is still coming together, but had a bit of a smokey taste to it.
 
I've done two batches with 60 minute mashes and hit my numbers dead on.

Also, this is a beer that can definitely change character over time. My first batch started out very sweet and chocolatey, with just a hint of coffee and roast in the background. Over time, the chocolateliness and sweetness slowly settled down to a lower level, and the roast coffee flavor really came to the forefront, so much so that one of my friends called it "the coffee beer".

It is still by far the favorite beer among my friends that I've made, and most of them are not big into stouts, even sweet ones.
 
How long is everyone leaving it in their primary? 21 days then to secondary? Or moving it sooner?


Brian
 
How long is everyone leaving it in their primary? 21 days then to secondary? Or moving it sooner?

I left my last one on primary for like 2 months before I racked it to keg... god it was so good.

I just finished making a pumpkin pie graff. Either tomorrow or the next day I plan on making a variation of this milk stout. It'll be an Orange Cream stout.
 
Hey guys, had a concern/question that I was hoping someone could cover for me. I am sorry if this has been answered/covered in a previous post on this thread. I tried looking but didn't find anything.

So this past Tuesday my HBC covered Stouts as a beer style. We passed around commercial samples of each category in #13 and talked about brewing tips for the style in general. Many people mentioned to not add the dark grains until the last 10 minutes or so, as they add an unwanted bitterness to the sweet stout. I made this recipe before (mashing all the grains together) and did notice an unexpected bitterness to the beer, but it may have just been in my head too. These specialty grains also aren't "designed" to have extractable sugars in them, so we are mainly looking at the chocolate and roasted barley for color and slight flavor. How many agree with this practice of adding the "specialty" grains at the end of the mash?

The reason I ask is because I added all my grains (except base malt, flaked barley & oats) in one bag. They're mixed together well, so there is no picking or sorting optional. I was thinking of just compensating the sugars I would have gained from those grains with more base malt and adding the bag of specialties at the last 10 minutes for color and flavor extraction. Thoughts? Or should I just add everything to the mash for the 75 minutes?
 
Chris7687 said:
Hey guys, had a concern/question that I was hoping someone could cover for me. I am sorry if this has been answered/covered in a previous post on this thread. I tried looking but didn't find anything.

So this past Tuesday my HBC covered Stouts as a beer style. We passed around commercial samples of each category in #13 and talked about brewing tips for the style in general. Many people mentioned to not add the dark grains until the last 10 minutes or so, as they add an unwanted bitterness to the sweet stout. I made this recipe before (mashing all the grains together) and did notice an unexpected bitterness to the beer, but it may have just been in my head too. These specialty grains also aren't "designed" to have extractable sugars in them, so we are mainly looking at the chocolate and roasted barley for color and slight flavor. How many agree with this practice of adding the "specialty" grains at the end of the mash?

The reason I ask is because I added all my grains (except base malt, flaked barley & oats) in one bag. They're mixed together well, so there is no picking or sorting optional. I was thinking of just compensating the sugars I would have gained from those grains with more base malt and adding the bag of specialties at the last 10 minutes for color and flavor extraction. Thoughts? Or should I just add everything to the mash for the 75 minutes?

I only mash for 60 minutes and don't have any efficiency problems. I also add calcium carbonate to my mash when I have a lot of dark grains. Make sure not to sparge too hot or too much, as you will pull the tannins out o the husks more readily in the dark grains. I've made this several times with great success and it tastes pretty damn close to the real thing too (yeast character is a little off with the dried yeast). I think adding the dark grains at the end is a compensatory technique that works well, but isn't needed if you are careful with you processes. This is my own opinion, take it or leave it as you like.
 
I brewed this up last week - 5 days in, added a few vanilla beans that have been soaking in Vodka to the fermenter.

Cannot WAIT for this to be done
 
brewski09 - I think I will just add them at the end as I am doing BIAB. The grain bed will get disturbed a fair amount when I stir frequently throughout the mash and hoist hte bag out at the end of the mash. Thanks for the advice.
 
I made this Sunday and everything went great, EXCEPT I forgot to add lactose! So I expect it to a little bitter and more like a dark chocolate/coffee, but we will see! Maybe this will give me an opportunity to make one in a week or so and add lactose for the benefit of comparing what the lactose really brings to the table. I will update after all this to tell you anything I notice.
 
nolabrew85 said:
I made this Sunday and everything went great, EXCEPT I forgot to add lactose! So I expect it to a little bitter and more like a dark chocolate/coffee, but we will see! Maybe this will give me an opportunity to make one in a week or so and add lactose for the benefit of comparing what the lactose really brings to the table. I will update after all this to tell you anything I notice.

Add it after the fermentation is complete. Just boil the lactose in a pint of water and add it before packaging.
 
Add it after the fermentation is complete. Just boil the lactose in a pint of water and add it before packaging.

Not that I've done this, but its good info for any future mistakes.

Would he get the same result doing it that way?

I don't know the truth of this but I searched online about beer smith's glitch on handling lactose. I read yeast ferments some of the lactose but lack the beta-galactosidaseto enzyme to fully break it down.
 
insanim8er said:
Not that I've done this, but its good info for any future mistakes.

Would he get the same result doing it that way?

I don't know the truth of this but I searched online about beer smith's glitch on handling lactose. I read yeast ferments some of the lactose but lack the beta-galactosidaseto enzyme to fully break it down.

If that were truly a concern, he could boil and cool it, and add it now, early in the fermentation. I know for sure that some things can ferment lactose, but it happens slowly. But I believe it will turn out exactly the same.
 
Hmm. The airlock is still bubbling. Maybe I could boil the pound of lactose tonight, cool it, and tossed it in. I think that is a better option than me making an entirely new batch of basically the same thing this friday (now I can chill or make something else). What do yall think? I was so disappointed in forgetting about the lactose because the mash and sparge was one of the best I have had.
 
nolabrew85 said:
Hmm. The airlock is still bubbling. Maybe I could boil the pound of lactose tonight, cool it, and tossed it in. I think that is a better option than me making an entirely new batch of basically the same thing this friday (now I can chill or make something else). What do yall think? I was so disappointed in forgetting about the lactose because the mash and sparge was one of the best I have had.

Do it, and expect the beer to come out identical to if you had remembered.
 
Just took a gravity reading after 2 weeks in the primary. I'm at 1.018. Don't know why I over attenuated. I thought I hit all my temps. I was maybe 3 Points short on original gravity. Could that have something to do with it? Do you guys think it will be too dry?
 
Just took a gravity reading after 2 weeks in the primary. I'm at 1.018. Don't know why I over attenuated. I thought I hit all my temps. I was maybe 3 Points short on original gravity. Could that have something to do with it? Do you guys think it will be too dry?

Nope. Mine finished at 1.017. It was fantastic and got rave reviews by stout and non stout drinkers alike. It was so good in fact, that ill never do a 5 gal batch again. Ill only brew this in 10+ gal batches.

Enjoy
 
insanim8er said:
Nope. Mine finished at 1.017. It was fantastic and got rave reviews by stout and non stout drinkers alike. It was so good in fact, that ill never do a 5 gal batch again. Ill only brew this in 10+ gal batches.

Enjoy

Thanks for the quick response. I'm only like 8 beers in on all grain and bought all the stuff for 5 gallon batches and I'm already wishing I had bought the set up for 10 gallon.
 
Thanks for the quick response. I'm only like 8 beers in on all grain and bought all the stuff for 5 gallon batches and I'm already wishing I had bought the set up for 10 gallon.

Ya I just scored this 20 gallon Blichmann boilermaker (with the false bottom) for $200 on Craig's list the other day.

image_zpsdbf77c4a.jpg


A 10 gal batch of this will be my first brew with it. I'm going add orange to half for an orange cream stout
 
insanim8er said:
Ya I just scored this 20 gallon Blichmann boilermaker (with the false bottom) for $200 on Craig's list the other day. A 10 gal batch of this will be my first brew with it. I'm going add orange to half for an orange cream stout
Dude, nice score! Usually you have to pay for one of those with the child.
 
nolabrew85 said:
Hmm. The airlock is still bubbling. Maybe I could boil the pound of lactose tonight, cool it, and tossed it in. I think that is a better option than me making an entirely new batch of basically the same thing this friday (now I can chill or make something else). What do yall think? I was so disappointed in forgetting about the lactose because the mash and sparge was one of the best I have had.

Boil it, chill it and toss it in tonight. Won't make a big difference if any, but you know you want to. It's so obvious!
 
Anyone use marris otter as the base malt for this?

Also what does the flaked barley add exactly?

I havent, but don't see why it wouldn't be good. Might be a little more biscuit flavor.

Flaked barley is used in stouts for added protein to give better head retention and body.
 
Well, ended up at 1.060 but with 5.33 gallons instead of 5, so probably just added a little too much water. Other than that, all went perfectly. Re-hydrating my yeast now, while the wort cools a bit more. hoping for some great beer!
 
It's sweet, but in that delicious sort of way.

On yeast rehydrating, BYO & BBR did an experiment where they had better results not rehydrating. Anyone read this and have thoughts ???

http://byo.com/stories/item/2434-should-you-rehydrate-your-dried-yeast?viewDesktop=true

Funny you mention that, I was just researching that yesterday. I concluded that the results were about the same, so I figured I might as well do it for the higher cell count. I had some free time waiting for the wort to come down to pitching temperature anyway.
 
Funny you mention that, I was just researching that yesterday. I concluded that the results were about the same, so I figured I might as well do it for the higher cell count. I had some free time waiting for the wort to come down to pitching temperature anyway.

I think it's just one of those things. Those who do it, swear by it. Those who don't, swear by it. Those who don't care, swear at those who debate it.

Regardless... the end result = Beer
 
insanim8er said:
I think it's just one of those things. Those who do it, swear by it. Those who don't, swear by it. Those who don't care, swear at those who debate it.

Regardless... the end result = Beer

A fair enough assessment.
 
dave8274 said:
Funny you mention that, I was just researching that yesterday. I concluded that the results were about the same, so I figured I might as well do it for the higher cell count. I had some free time waiting for the wort to come down to pitching temperature anyway.

I think the BYO-BBR experiment actually had better results not rehydrating though. In the end, I tend to use a liquid culture of Cry Havoc that I've been farming for almost 2 years with great success now so my dry pitches are the "oh crap, I forgot I don't have that yeast anymore" variety.

I really don't think you can hurt anything by rehydrating or dry pitching in the end, so this o e is all brewer preference. :cheers:
 
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