desperately seeking a REAL milkshake stout

So I'm at a taproom about a years ago and they have a chocolate milkshake stout...I like stout but to be honest I'm not a fan of roasty burn flavors. Long story short I order it and holy crap was this beer good, it was almost a religious experience. If I didn't know better I would say I was actually drinking a chocolate milkshake. Since then I've looked for recipes and all I get is a general purpose milk stout with an amped up chocolate malt in the grain bill. Now, I know that chocolate malt is named such mostly because of the color and the fact that it kind of tastes like unsweetened bakers chocolate. My question is this/ these....does pale chocolate malt make a better substitute? And does anyone have their own formula or recipe for a beer that actually tastes like a chocolate milkshake? I'm looking for the malty, sweet, chewy chocolate flavors and mouthfeel I experienced that night.



Thanks guys.

I've thought at times what would it be like like throwing over 1lb over lactose in a beer. 2 lb would be interesting, and over 3 pounds of Chocolate malt.

mostly pale malt and a bit of debittered black, 1 lb of lactose in the boil and a few oz of chocolate liquor in secondary should get you in the ballpark

BigfootCounty said:

mostly pale malt and a bit of debittered black, 1 lb of lactose in the boil and a few oz of chocolate liquor in secondary should get you in the ballpark

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Chocolate liquor...that's very interesting. I never even considered that. I was tempted to use the chocolate or chocolate hazlenut drams but thos are a bit agressive

Now what can I use to get me that "thick" feel? Maqybe a half pound of flaked oats or swapping 2row with M.O?.....or both?

Also which yeast? Maybe some 1056 american ale or the whitelabs california?

1728, ferment at 55.

raptorvan said:

Now what can I use to get me that "thick" feel? Maqybe a half pound of flaked oats or swapping 2row with M.O?.....or both?

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Lactose will give you the thick mouthfeel. In fact, that's generally the main function of lactose, since it's actually not very sweet.

I was thinking of also adding some extra light DME at kegging and cold crashing or adding some potassium sorbate.

emjay said:

Lactose will give you the thick mouthfeel. In fact, that's generally the main function of lactose, since it's actually not very sweet.

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or maltodextrin

Ok I got a tentitive grain bill here.

7.5lbs 2 row or marris otter
12oz crystal 60
14oz pale chocolate
6oz roasted barley
8oz flaked oats
4oz debittered chocolate??? If I can find it

What do you think?

I'm thinking maybe steeping the debittered chocolate and/or roasted barley instead of mashing it.

1.5lbs of lactose
1lb extra light DME at kegging
Chocolate liquer at secondary

raptorvan said:

Ok I got a tentitive grain bill here.

7.5lbs 2 row or marris otter
12oz crystal 60
14oz pale chocolate
6oz roasted barley
8oz flaked oats
4oz debittered chocolate??? If I can find it

What do you think?

I'm thinking maybe steeping the debittered chocolate and/or roasted barley instead of mashing it. *

1.5lbs of lactose**
1lb extra light DME at kegging (are you trying to over carb?)
Chocolate liquer at secondary

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*In Gordon Strong's Brewing Better Beer he suggests adding your dark malts during the vaurlauf or with a cold steep instead of the mash if you want to avoid the bitterness that can be associated with darker malts. Just reading this now, so not speaking from experience.

**That's a lot of unfermentable sugar for my taste. Work with your mash temps and yeast choice for body. Again, 1728 is awesome for a good malty beer if you want a clean ferment without esters. Just ferment cold.

Ninkasi's Oatis is awesome with chocolate ice cream. You want milkshake flavor, make one

We've got a milk stout conditioning now that used 1.5lbs of Lactose with 8 lbs of DME. Threw some flaked oats in with the steeping grain (yeah, I know - partial mash would have been better, but it was an experiment) Bottling leftovers were damn good, nice creamy mouthfeel and not too sweet. Good chocolate notes and just a hint of roasty. Kind of reminded me of a Kahlua beer.

raptorvan said:

Ok I got a tentitive grain bill here.

7.5lbs 2 row or marris otter
12oz crystal 60
14oz pale chocolate
6oz roasted barley
8oz flaked oats
4oz debittered chocolate??? If I can find it

What do you think?

I'm thinking maybe steeping the debittered chocolate and/or roasted barley instead of mashing it.

1.5lbs of lactose
1lb extra light DME at kegging
Chocolate liquer at secondary

Click to expand...

I'd skip the roasted barley if you really want anything resembling a milkshake.

And the DME will just ferment, so not sure what its purpose is.

emjay said:

I'd skip the roasted barley if you really want anything resembling a milkshake.

And the DME will just ferment, so not sure what its purpose is.

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If I add potasium sorbate wouldn't that kill the yeast? The purpose of the DME would be to get that malt sugar flavor

If you want the dme to backsweeten the beer, just put it in after it's kegged and chilled and make sure it doesn't warm up. The yeast might still slowly eat away at those sugars eventually though. Potasium sorbate will not stop the fermentation, it just keeps the yeast from reproducing. Just do yourself a favor and taste it before you put in a pound of dme that will not ferment out.

+1 on leaving out the roasted barley. You could also add more crystal malt for a bit more unfermentable sweetness.

I would mash high and use a yeast that leaves the beer a little sweeter than 1056

BigfootCounty said:

I would mash high and use a yeast that leaves the beer a little sweeter than 1056

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Someone mentioned 1728 but unfortunately we are out of it at work.

raptorvan said:

Ok I got a tentitive grain bill here.

7.5lbs 2 row or marris otter
12oz crystal 60
14oz pale chocolate
6oz roasted barley
8oz flaked oats
4oz debittered chocolate??? If I can find it

What do you think?

I'm thinking maybe steeping the debittered chocolate and/or roasted barley instead of mashing it.

1.5lbs of lactose
1lb extra light DME at kegging
Chocolate liquer at secondary

Click to expand...

ok so i edited my grain bill a bit after talking with some other brewers at work...i bumped the 2-row to 8lbs and the crystal and pale chocolate to 1lb each. im going to add coco nibs at secondary and chocolate liquor (if needed) to taste, while conditioning. im gonna mash at 153 or so...that way i can reduce or get rid of, the DME during kegging.

since we are out of the 1728 at work i will go with the white labs version...its a scottish yeast and for the life of me cannot remember what it was called...oh well, its in my fridge. shooting for a new years brew day.

It might help if the collective genius here knew who made this mythical milkshake that you are trying to replicate. I can't believe I'm the first one to ask, because it sounds awesome.

raptorvan said:

ok so i edited my grain bill a bit after talking with some other brewers at work...i bumped the 2-row to 8lbs and the crystal and pale chocolate to 1lb each. im going to add coco nibs at secondary and chocolate liquor (if needed) to taste, while conditioning. im gonna mash at 153 or so...that way i can reduce or get rid of, the DME during kegging.

since we are out of the 1728 at work i will go with the white labs version...its a scottish yeast and for the life of me cannot remember what it was called...oh well, its in my fridge. shooting for a new years brew day.

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why do you insist on roasted barley? It's only going to make it LESS milkshake-like.

Is it really a stout without roasted barley?

FrayedKnotBeer said:

It might help if the collective genius here knew who made this mythical milkshake that you are trying to replicate. I can't believe I'm the first one to ask, because it sounds awesome.

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this recipe is my own. i took an idea and am trying to make it into a genuine milkshake experience.

the beer that started it all was called "chocolate milkshake stout" from a brewpub in downtown detroit called detroit beer co...or detroit brewing co, something like that...honestly i have only been twice. but if im not mistaken, its owned by the same people who own rochester mills brewery.

emjay said:

why do you insist on roasted barley? It's only going to make it LESS milkshake-like.

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im not using roasted barley. i scrapped it after the first grain bill.

There's a description of the milkshake stout on their website. Unfortunately no recipe though.

http://www.detroitbeerco.com/Beer.aspx

I usually use maltodextrine and lactose to have residual sweetness, might be cheating, but it makes for a great chocolate stout.

Im gonna brew this Barbour tomorrow or Thursday. Now, my final...Ishmael question. Should I.mash the flamed oaks in or steep them? Or put them in during the boil and let em roll around for a few minutes?

waltmarkers said:

I usually use maltodextrine and lactose to have residual sweetness, might be cheating, but it makes for a great chocolate stout.

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Err... maltodextrin has no sweetness, and, contrary to popular belief, lactose imparts *very little*. These sugars are instead (properly) used to give beershh

raptorvan said:

Im gonna brew this Barbour tomorrow or Thursday. Now, my final...Ishmael question. Should I.mash the flamed oaks in or steep them? Or put them in during the boil and let em roll around for a few minutes?

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God I hate auto correct... ok. Should I mash my flaked oats with everything else or should I just steep them in the wort?

Mongrel said:

1728, ferment at 55.

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I'm afraid the best I can do is low 60s as I don't have a viable way of keeping a constant temp

raptorvan said:

So I'm at a taproom about a years ago and they have a chocolate milkshake stout...I like stout but to be honest I'm not a fan of roasty burn flavors. Long story short I order it and holy crap was this beer good, it was almost a religious experience. If I didn't know better I would say I was actually drinking a chocolate milkshake. Since then I've looked for recipes and all I get is a general purpose milk stout with an amped up chocolate malt in the grain bill. Now, I know that chocolate malt is named such mostly because of the color and the fact that it kind of tastes like unsweetened bakers chocolate. My question is this/ these....does pale chocolate malt make a better substitute? And does anyone have their own formula or recipe for a beer that actually tastes like a chocolate milkshake? I'm looking for the malty, sweet, chewy chocolate flavors and mouthfeel I experienced that night.



Thanks guys.

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Ok guys...brewday update...so I mashed in at 152/3 I hit my mark right on....had conversion at 47 minutes. Hit my o.g mark almost perfectly...overall the best mash I have ever done. Then the boil came. The first 40 minutes went fine, added the lactose at 30minutes... then my gas started to ease up...I was running on empty. Just as the wort stopped rolling I was posses and kicked my propane tank..lightly and my flame came back...so I spent the next 20minutes shaking my tank...now it is REALLY empty. I forgot to add my hops at the 15 so I pitched at 10, same with the Irish moss. I cooled and racked into the bucket and oh crap...my new brewstsnd and kettle were more powerful than I thought...I was a full gallon shy of 5. So I went to take a reading and oh crap I knocked my hydrometer to the garage floor...and it was my emergency hydrometer cud I broke my first one last week while orginizing my shop. So as a desperate man I rationalized that if my o.g was right on it would only stand to reason that my s.g should be right....had it been 5gallons...so I did it, the one thing no respectable homebrewer will ADMIT to doing...I three a gallon of water in the cool wort and pitched my yeast.



Feel free to give advice...also, when is the best time to add my cocao nibs?

P.s. I'm on my kindle fire so if there are any weird words, it is auto correct...I'm not drunk

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