My first Milk Stout. Brew day suggestions?

Hello All,

I have a Honey Brown Ale that will be ready for bottling in 1 week, but now I'm going to start a Stout for the Winter.

I just ordered the Chocolate Milk Stout from Northern Brewer with the Liquid Wyeast. Will hopefully be able to crack open a test beer on Christmas day.

The reviews for this beer are outstanding, and some have compared it to Left Hand Milk Stout. MY QUESTION IS: Would you guys add anything to this? Perhaps some more hops? Or something else to the short list of fermentables? Any suggestions are welcome. I would love to experiment, but don't want to "destroy the core flavors" of the beer.


SPECIALTY GRAINS: (Steep for 20min or until 170F)
- 0.25 lbs English Extra Dark Crystal
- 0.75 lbs Fawcett Pale Chocolate Malt

FERMENTABLES:
- 6 lbs Dark malt syrup
- 1 lb Lactose

HOPS & FLAVORINGS:
- 1 oz Cluster (60 min)
- 0.5 oz Cluster (30 min)
- 4 oz Cacao Nibs (add to secondary for 2 weeks)

YEAST OPTIONS:
- DRY YEAST (DEFAULT): Safale S-04. Optimum
temperature: 64–75°F
- LIQUID YEAST OPTION: Wyeast #1332 Northwest Ale
Yeast. Optimum temperature: 65–75°F

Ive never used kits so I cant say but heres my take for in the future.

-Ditch the Dark Malt Extract. Use 6lbs light Extract
-use 8oz of roasted barley
-use 12oz Regular English Chocolate not pale
-use 12oz of Extra Dark crystal
-Ditch the Cacao Nibs
- use only 1/2 of lactose 1lb seems a bit much to me but its subjective
-not sure what the IBUs of this kit are but I like to shoot for upper 20s around 28. Personally prefer 60min of Kent goldings and thats all

-White labs London ale yeast (love this stuff)
My recipe 5gallon (Mash Grains)
3lb Pilsen light DME
5lb Crisp Maris Otter
12oz Simpsons Chocolate
12oz Simpsons Extra Dark Crystal
8oz Simpsons Roasted Barley
1/2 lb of lactose in boil
2oz Leaf Kent Goldings (5.4AA) 60min aprox 28 IBU
White labs London ale

ChaosStout said:

Ive never used kits so I cant say but heres my take for in the future.

-Ditch the Dark Malt Extract. Use 6lbs light Extract
-use 8oz of roasted barley
-use 12oz Regular English Chocolate not pale
-use 12oz of Extra Dark crystal
-Ditch the Cacao Nibs
- use only 1/2 of lactose 1lb seems a bit much to me but its subjective
-not sure what the IBUs of this kit are but I like to shoot for upper 20s around 28. Personally prefer 60min of Kent goldings and thats all

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All looks like great advice, but a couple questions? Please keep in mind, I have only done 1 brew so far, so some questions may seem stupid. Be patient with me LoL.

1. why ditch the dark malt for light? This is a stout, so why would you use something that will likely cause a lighter color? Am i wrong about that? Also, I see you tripled the amount of dark crystal. why?

2. Why ditch Cacao nibs? I would like to have a hint of chocolate, so why?

3. The reviews said the lactose was really good, just added a bit of creamy mouth feel, so i'm not worried about that.

4. Would using Kent Goldings as opposed to the Cluster change the flavor? And would it ADD some bitterness? Or be less bitter? Because to be honest, I would not mind adding a litter more bitter to the equation.

To be honest, I really don't feel right about just outright "ditching" anything, especially in such large amounts. Since this is a kit, ditching stuff would essentially be throwing money away. I guess my question should have been more like "what would you ADD to this recipe, if anything?

Brew the recipe as it comes in the kit. It will be fine.... The pound of lactose will make it on the sweeter side. Milk stouts are supposed to be a little sweeter. I just kegged my Chocolate Milk Stout. I like what the coco nibs added to it. Though 2 weeks sounds like a long time. 3 days before I was to add my coco nibs, I poured them in a small bowl and poured vodka over them (hint I learned from here). Let the soak for the 3 days then dumped the whole thing into the fermenter. Let sit for 4 days then racked to my keg, or bottle in your case. Either way you decide to do it it will turn out great!

Here is the thread about the vodka Choclate Milk Stout

I've brewed that NB recipe. It is very good, as is. I would suggest sticking to the recipe, esp if you haven't brewed it, before. That way, if you do decide to make changes, you will have a direction for the next time. Like I said, it is slightly sweet and heavy on the chocolate. Exactly like a milk chocolate stout should be.

WhiteEagle1 said:

3 days before I was to add my coco nibs, I poured them in a small bowl and poured vodka over them (hint I learned from here). Let the soak for the 3 days then dumped the whole thing into the fermenter. Let sit for 4 days then racked to my keg, or bottle in your case. Either way you decide to do it it will turn out great!

Here is the thread about the vodka Choclate Milk Stout

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Thanks for the advice guys.
Question though concerning your post though. You said you let it sit for only 4 days before moving to your keg?
I will have to keep mine in secondary fermentation for at least 2 weeks before moving to bottles I assume right?

Also, what kind of extra flavoring does the whole Vodka thing add? Sounds like a cool idea. Raises the ABV a little bit i assume?

Zandrello said:

All looks like great advice, but a couple questions? Please keep in mind, I have only done 1 brew so far, so some questions may seem stupid. Be patient with me LoL.

1. why ditch the dark malt for light? This is a stout, so why would you use something that will likely cause a lighter color? Am i wrong about that? Also, I see you tripled the amount of dark crystal. why?

2. Why ditch Cacao nibs? I would like to have a hint of chocolate, so why?

3. The reviews said the lactose was really good, just added a bit of creamy mouth feel, so i'm not worried about that.

4. Would using Kent Goldings as opposed to the Cluster change the flavor? And would it ADD some bitterness? Or be less bitter? Because to be honest, I would not mind adding a litter more bitter to the equation.

To be honest, I really don't feel right about just outright "ditching" anything, especially in such large amounts. Since this is a kit, ditching stuff would essentially be throwing money away. I guess my question should have been more like "what would you ADD to this recipe, if anything?

Click to expand...

1. You get Color and Flavors from the Chocolate malt and the Roasted malt. Dark malt already has roasted barley in it but it gives you less control over the final product. Light extract in this case wont make it lighter more then enough dark malts in their. The Extra Dark Crystal adds sweetness body and also a nice caramel flavor. Taste some its awsome
2. Regular Chocolate malt I find provides more then enough dark chocolate flavors
3. 1/2 to a pound is ok personally i use 1/2 a pound and prefer to get my sweetness from the crystal
4. what are the IBUs of the finished kit? Since cluster is usually around 7% AA im assuming it would be more bitter then the kent goldings. Milks stouts shouldnt have much hops. The Cluster is fine I just love my Kent goldings is all.
Anyways its a kit so just follow it. I was just giving you ideas for the future. Ive never done kits and just used our very nice recipe forum and also created my own using the book Designing great Beers. I suggest picking that up.

ChaosStout said:

Anyways its a kit so just follow it. I was just giving you ideas for the future. Ive never done kits and just used our very nice recipe forum and also created my own using the book Designing great Beers. I suggest picking that up.

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I think I will pick up that book! Maybe I'll ask for it for Christmas

Thanks for the advice. You DEFINITELY gave me lots of ideas for the future. This surely will NOT be the last Milk Stout I brew. I plan on having 1 or 2 brews every winter! Thanks again!

Zandrello said:

I think I will pick up that book! Maybe I'll ask for it for Christmas

Thanks for the advice. You DEFINITELY gave me lots of ideas for the future. This surely will NOT be the last Milk Stout I brew. I plan on having 1 or 2 brews every winter! Thanks again!

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No Problem. Thats what its all about helping each other. One of the best parts of home brewing is learning about all the different malts, tasting them and learning how they are used. For along time I used Crystal/cara 60 in my stouts but lately ive been using the cara/crystal 75-80. Im not sure which I prefer yet. I will say when I comes to stouts I only get English malts for them hehe. Also Designing great beers contains alot of tech stuff that even I dont get but Its great for ideas about what kind of hops and malts to use and in what proportions

Zandrello said:

Thanks for the advice guys.
Question though concerning your post though. You said you let it sit for only 4 days before moving to your keg?
I will have to keep mine in secondary fermentation for at least 2 weeks before moving to bottles I assume right?

Also, what kind of extra flavoring does the whole Vodka thing add? Sounds like a cool idea. Raises the ABV a little bit i assume?

Click to expand...

No dude, I let it ferment for 3 weeks. I added the nibs for the final 4 days of the 3 weeks then transfered to keg.
You won't even notice the vodka. It's just a couple ounces mixed with 5 gal of beer.