Enhancing a brew with Milo (drink mix, not whole grain)

Before posting this I searched the forums and was a bit surprised this hasn't come up before. Milo is a chocolate flavoured malt drink mix made by Nestle primarily for Australian markets but is found all over the world.

Ingredients:

Extract of Malted Barley (16%) and Rice or Wheat or Barley (total extract 35%)
Milk Solids
Sugar
Cocoa
Minerals
Vitamins
Soy Lecithin

Has anyone tried enhancing a brew with this? Does anyone see any potential problems that could arise from doing so, considering the ingredients? I'd love to try fooling around with it, especially in a stout

I think you could probably use it with good results. I browsed the site for a bit and it doesn't mention any chemical preservatives.

One awesome note is that it says half of the sugars are from lactose, which is unfermentable by beer yeast and would add an awesome creamy mouthfeel to your stouts. It appears to have just under 2g of lactose per serving though which isn't a lot.

From my calculations an entire can of that stuff should yield about 5.3oz of lactose, and at least several oz of maltose/sucrose.

I would brew a 5 gal stout and split it into maybe 4 carboys. Put half a can of that stuff in one batch, a quarter in another, and an eighth in another. Leave the last one plain for a control.

It's worth a shot! Let us know how it turns out.

I'm really just raising a possibility here, wondering how much fat might be in it. Could that (the amount of fat) have a potentially negative effect on head retention? It just crossed my mind, I don't have the answer, but perhaps someone else does.

Did a quick search and found 23 grams of fat per serving, 17 servings per can (400 grams per can). I really don't know what the effect would be.

Personally, I guess if I was going to brew something with a chocolate flavor / aroma, like a chocolate stout or porter, beyond the specialty malts I would simply use unsweetened cocoa powder.

cvstrat's idea of doing some experimental batches may be the way to go, unless someone else has the firsthand knowledge to tell you that it would be a complete fail.

Thanks for the feedback guys! I'm really excited about this idea and will start experimenting with it as soon as my primary is free. Now I just need to find some 6L carboys... hehe

Well the experimentation has begun! *rubs hands together*



What I decided to do was go with an extract kit first, and if the results were decent enough to continue forward I would try again with a partial mash. I didn't go all-out with equipment like I had intended due to stock limitations at the LHBS and I wanted to start fairly soon, so I ended up getting just two 15L carboys to use with different measurements of Milo in each. I started out with an appropriate kit wort preparation, but decided to leave out additional malt extract since the purpose of this would be to see how the Milo performs. Instead I went with dextrose as the base fermentable.

(btw, For those that aren't familiar with this Aussie treat it smells, tastes, and essentially is hot cocoa with malt)

Milo Stout - Yield: 20L

1.7 kg Black Rock Reserve Miner's Stout kit
1 kg dextrose
10g licorice root @ 20 mins
Fermenter #1: 600g Milo, topped up to 10L (OG 1.057)
Fermenter #2: 300g Milo, topped up to 10L (OG 1.053)

I threw the root in the recipe because I wanted to compensate the possible loss of head retension caused by the heavy amount of milk solids/oil in the Milo and the fact that a portion may stay suspended in the wort after primary. In hindsight I might need to get a secondary for this batch but I'll worry about it later. I happen to love chocolate coated licorice so if 10g happens to be more pronounced than I'm anticipating it won't overpower the beer. BUT... it's an experiment. This was great fun to put together!



I pre-mixed the Milo in hot water to prevent clumping. After about 30 mins of frantically trying to fix an error in my maths, I managed to get the proportions correct without any unnecessary dilution of the wort, adding the right amount of Milo in each and topping up to 10L. The pictures don't do it justice, but the wort prior to pitching looked like molten chocolate! I think it was due to all the suspended solids and oils in it... but gosh it looked yummy



I will let you know how it turns out soon

How did this turn out? I really liked Young's Double Chocolate Stout, but haven't liked ANY dry stouts/porters I've tried. Did this turn out sweet from the lactose?

I was thinking of doing something like this, but dividing fermentables up 3:2 between Milo and caramelised honey for a Winter Milo Braggot and aging it for my cold August birthday. I might add some wheat malt extract powder if people think its a good idea.

For those interested, I'm providing some nutritional info. I'm looking at the "per 100g" of un-made-up powder, so I'll just provide the numbers as percentages of the entire product.

Protein
= 11.9%
Fat
= 10% total
= 6.5% saturated
Carbohydrates
= 64.5% (total)
= 46.4% (sugars)
Dietary Fibre
= 7.5%
Sodium
= 0.09%

The extra protein MIGHT help to counteract loss of head from the fat, but I'm not really up to speed with the science of it.

I opened up a couple of bottles around Christmas. The double batch didn't turn out so great, maybe because of the heavy fat content. Ended up smelling OK but tasting quite rancid. Wasn't even quaffable. Those bottles will be staying in the closet for a long time.

The single batch, however, turned out quite nice. Unusually artificial-sweet aroma, good head retention. Only the faintest cocoa notes though. The taste is very smooth for under 6 months, and yes the lactose from the milk solids made the stout quite sweet, perhaps even a bit sour. Definitely not a session beer. I think I'm going to forget about the entire project for a while and break it out this winter. Hopefully by then the yeasties will be completely finished cleaning up.

Thanks for the testing bud!

Thanks for the info. Maybe I'll give it a miss after all. You may have just saved my 21st birthday. I owe you a brew; let me know if you ever come up to Sydney.

Any improvement to date?

this sounds pretty interesting, I'm keen to know if it improves with age