Sweet Stout recipe feedback

As my second batch is fermenting in the swamp cooler, my thoughts turn toward the future, which I think holds a sweet stout. I want something my wife will like, which means malty, not hoppy, sweet, and maybe chocolatey. I'd like this stout to be something you'd drink on a winter night in place of hot cocoa without actually including cocoa. After poring through nearly a dozen sweet stout recipes, here is what I've come up with for my own 5 gal recipe:

4lbs Dark LME
1.2lb Pale LME
1.2lb Wheat LME
.25lbs Black Patent Malt
1lb Chocolate Malt
.75lb Crystal Malt 60L
.75lb Roasted Unmalted Barley
.4lb Oats, Flaked

1oz Goldings, US at 60min
.5oz Fuggles at 5 min

1 Whirlfloc at 15 min
1lb Lactose at 5 min

Safale US-04

I'm considering adding some vanilla extract a week before bottling, but haven't decided.

3-4 weeks primary, then bottle.

4 oz Brown sugar to prime.

So, what do y'all think? I have very little ego, so feel free to suggest away regarding any part. Also, could someone Beersmith this for me so I can get an estimate of target OG? Looking forward to the feedback!

Sounds yummy. What do you think the ingredients will run you? I want to do a stout in the future.

Not sure yet about the cost. I've not had the time to price everything out at the LHBS or online but will do so soon and post.

Edited to add: I converted DME to LME to save $, and the total comes out to $48.55, not including priming sugar or Whirlfloc tab because I already have those.

I modified the hops, settled on a yeast, and added oats to the original posted recipe.

Still interested in 1) a Beersmith analysis and 2) any suggestions, critiques, improvements, additions, subtractions, modifications, etc.

*bump*

I'm interested what a beersmith says about this, looks great!

With those those two 1 oz additions, youre looking at a relatively hoppy stout. Especially with the German Magnum at 14 or so aa. I havent run the math but have you considered your ibus on this one. Given what you said in the OP not sure this is what you want. I'd consider dropping the Magnum and going with only the EKG for the 60 min addition.

joyceman said:

With those those two 1 oz additions, youre looking at a relatively hoppy stout. Especially with the German Magnum at 14 or so aa. I havent run the math but have you considered your ibus on this one. Given what you said in the OP not sure this is what you want. I'd consider dropping the Magnum and going with only the EKG for the 60 min addition.

Click to expand...

Noted, agreed, and done. I also reduced the original LME total, switched the amber LME with pale LME, and reduced the amount of black patent. If I want higher ABV, I'll probably up the dark LME further.

Thanks for the feedback so far. Bad news, the wife didn't like the Left Hand Milk Stout I brought home as a sample, so this one will likely be just for me.

New total cost estimate, before tax, is $34.52.

I brewed this recipe in April and at this time may be the best Sweet Stout I've ever drank.

SPECIALTY GRAIN
0.5 lbs English Chocolate Malt
0.5 lbs Weyermann Carafa III
FERMENTABLES
3 lbs Amber malt syrup (60 min)
1 lbs Lactose (60) Min
1 oz Willamette (60 min)
3 lbs Amber malt syrup (15 min)
Wyeast 1945 NeoBrittania

Steeped grains at 150 degrees for 30 minutes.
2 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, and 4 weeks bottle conditioning. This beer gets better with age.

O.G 1.054
F.G. 1.017
ABV 4.9%

I don't see anyhthing in your recipe about full boil, standard partial boil, or partial boil with late extract addition. The hop utilization will be affected by all this, according to some of the experts.

Sorry for the miscue. I edited the post and added the information.

wordsmith said:

As my second batch is fermenting in the swamp cooler, my thoughts turn toward the future, which I think holds a sweet stout. I want something my wife will like, which means malty, not hoppy, sweet, and maybe chocolatey. I'd like this stout to be something you'd drink on a winter night in place of hot cocoa without actually including cocoa. After poring through nearly a dozen sweet stout recipes, here is what I've come up with for my own 5 gal recipe:

4lbs Dark LME
1.2lb Pale LME
1.2lb Wheat LME
.25lbs Black Patent Malt
1lb Chocolate Malt
.75lb Crystal Malt 60L
.75lb Roasted Unmalted Barley
.4lb Oats, Flaked

1oz Goldings, US at 60min
.5oz Fuggles at 5 min

1 Whirlfloc at 15 min
1lb Lactose at 5 min

Safale US-04

I'm considering adding some vanilla extract a week before bottling, but haven't decided.

3-4 weeks primary, then bottle.

4 oz Brown sugar to prime.

So, what do y'all think? I have very little ego, so feel free to suggest away regarding any part. Also, could someone Beersmith this for me so I can get an estimate of target OG? Looking forward to the feedback!

Click to expand...

I just brewed this recipe with some small adjustments. I used 6lb light LME instead of the first two ingredients and switched half a pound of the chocolate malt for chocolate wheat.

Messed up my boil off guess and ended up with about 6 gallons of wort. OG was 1.074 @ 76 degrees. Pretty damn high! Not sure if that's normal for a stout or not, but I suppose there is a lot of unfermentable lactose in there too.

Looking forward to this one!

Just checked the gravity after 2 weeks in primary and its at 1.031! Seems way too high to me, but then again I dont really know!
It tastes absolutely incredible, even without it being cold or carbonated, it was delicious and I can see this turning into an incredible beer.

Just wondering if anyone thought I should re-pitch another packet of s-04? Or just leave it another few days and see if the gravity is still going down? I just thought that unlikely after 2 weeks.

2 weeks is pretty quick for a higher grav stout. Id give it a another week or so. You should shave a couple of those points off.

Did you use any software to estimate your final gravity?

yeah I threw it into iBrewmaster and the estimated FG is 1.018

However, I had to set effiiciency to 99% for it to get up to OG 1.074, which makes me wonder about the accuracy.