Question on Milk Stouts and the like....

This may sound very dumb, but reading about lactose used to add milky qualities to mainly stouts would it be possible to use evaporated milk powder? I would imagine that any bacteria that would normally be in milk would have died off in the drying process. The color may look like crap being more opaque but I wonder if we could reach an even creamier body of beer. Now don't make fun of me, I've only been brewing for about 4 monthes!

Lactose is essentially milk sugar which helps add some sweetness to milk stouts. Concern one for me would be providing an equivalent amount of lactose contained in the powdered milk, and two, does the powdered milk still contain any fats that could give off tastes to the beer?
I would play it safe with the lactose and skip the milk powder.

Props for thinking outside of the box, but under no circumstances would I do this. Stick to lactose. You'll thank me when you're not dumping out 5 gallons of nasty curdled beer. (Cottage Cheese Ale, anyone?)

whatsleftofyou said:

You'll thank me when you're not dumping out 5 gallons of nasty curdled beer. (Cottage Cheese Ale, anyone?)

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This sounds like a voice of experience. Please, sir, tell us a story!

LOL nope can't say that I've ever done it, that's just what I picture when I think of putting milk in beer.

Going to try this very soon, I have some carboys available and I think I'll do 3 five gal batches,, one regular, one with Evaporated milk at the beginning of boil, and one at the end. Its not the boiling that will cause the milk to curdle, its the pH change combined with active proteases (rennet) which break down the proteins and allow the casien particles form a gel like matrix (the curd), although when mixed with hot wort it may also form hot break material, in any case it will definitly provide fat but also proteins for the yeast, however I'm pretty sure that with an adequate yeast starter the yeast will suck up all the fat (its been done with peanut butter beers, if you overpitch the yeast will suck up the fat along with everything else,) dunno if enough protein wil survive to actually affect the creaminess of the beer but I'll probably use a dry irish stout as a base to determine level of creaminess/sweetness. However, it is to be noted that lactose can make up anywhere from 40-60% of evaoprated milk by wieght. So I think its definitly worth a go. I'll post pics this weekend, see where it takes me. SCIENCE.

A combination of lactose and maltodextrine can make a very thick beer, and they aren't exactly expensive ingredients. To the OP: I'd go that route if you want something sweet and really creamy. The lactose will add sweetness and body. The maltodextrine will add additional body without adding sweetness.