Sweet Stout Left Hand Milk Stout Clone

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Gonna order the ingredients to make this BIAB. Living just a few miles from Left Hand I'm really excited. Read through most of the post but just in case I missed something wanna make sure: Is the original recipe still the standard? And are there any tricks I need to know?
 
I followed the recipe and checking FG tomorrow. Should be a great beer! Very excited. How long do you guys keg condition?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew and I don't care for the new format so much.
 
I brewed this beer recently and stayed true to most of the recipe but I had to use flaked wheat because I could find flaked barley. The beer tastes good, but has practically no head. Carbonation is deliberately low (I used 70 gram corn sugar for a 5 gallon batch) which I'm perfectly fine with, but the lack of a head is disappointing. Any idea what went wrong? In a previous oatmeal stout I brewed I aimed for the same (low) carbonation and the beer head a very decent head, more stable than most commercial beer.

Thanks!
 
I brewed this beer recently and stayed true to most of the recipe but I had to use flaked wheat because I could find flaked barley. The beer tastes good, but has practically no head. Carbonation is deliberately low (I used 70 gram lactose for a 5 gallon batch) which I'm perfectly fine with, but the lack of a head is disappointing. Any idea what went wrong? In a previous oatmeal stout I brewed I aimed for the same (low) carbonation and the beer head a very decent head, more stable than most commercial beer.

Thanks!

Wait, you added 70 grams of lactose to carbonate the beer?

If that's the case, that's the problem. You have no carbonation because lactose doesn't get processed by yeast to create co2. I carb mine at 1.8vol and creates a great cascade and head. It does die down to a nice lacing after a few minutes but freshly poured, it's pretty.
 
insanim8er, that was a typo. I used 70 gram of corn sugar for priming, not lactose. Thanks for replying.
 
insanim8er, that was a typo. I used 70 gram of corn sugar for priming, not lactose. Thanks for replying.

Ok good... You never know with this site. I saw a forum where the guy put a packet of no rinse sanitizer in his beer thinking it was priming sugar.

I've seen posts where a guy put 2.5 gallons of squirt soda (for a grapefruit hef) to prime his beer—he had bombs.

Anyway, what's your temp at, and as asked above how long has it been?

General rule is

1 - week primary
2 - weeks secondary (if you actually use it)
3 - weeks bottle (at 68-70f)

I haven't done the calculation as to what volume 70 grams will give you for 5 gallons, but you really want to be around 1.8vol for this beer. (IMO)
 
Ok good... You never know with this site. I saw a forum where the guy put a packet of no rinse sanitizer in his beer thinking it was priming sugar.

I've seen posts where a guy put 2.5 gallons of squirt soda (for a grapefruit hef) to prime his beer—he had bombs.

Wow! That's some Extreme Homebrewing ;)

Anyway, what's your temp at, and as asked above how long has it been?

General rule is

1 - week primary
2 - weeks secondary (if you actually use it)
3 - weeks bottle (at 68-70f)

I didn't use secondary. The rest is as you describe, though temperature is not regulated and may be a bit higher during the day (I live in sunny Israel, and it's already spring time here). It's been two week since I bottled the beer.

I haven't done the calculation as to what volume 70 grams will give you for 5 gallons, but you really want to be around 1.8vol for this beer. (IMO)

Yes, this is what I was aiming for. I used Beersmith and referred to the standard carbonation for a Sweet Stout. I like the level of resulting carbonation and don't need more. It's only the missing head that bothers me...

BTW, the beer is not really sweet. I wonder if I should have put more than a pound per gallon to get a more distinctive sweet taste?
 
Gonna order the ingredients to make this BIAB. Living just a few miles from Left Hand I'm really excited. Read through most of the post but just in case I missed something wanna make sure: Is the original recipe still the standard? And are there any tricks I need to know?

I've brewed it a few different ways and to me, I'd say switch the amounts of roasted barley and chocolate. I used 1lb chocolate and 12oz roasted barley in the batch that I would consider the closest.
 
Wow! That's some Extreme Homebrewing ;)

BTW, the beer is not really sweet. I wonder if I should have put more than a pound per gallon to get a more distinctive sweet taste?

I don't really consider LHMS to have a sweet taste. Too me, I'd describe it as a very light roast with some creaminess, but not really sweetness. I think a pound is about right. If you want a little more sweetness, a trick I use is to boil down the lactose separately until it's a thin syrup and then add it after the boil. It seems to concentrate the flavor a bit. I'm not sure why, but it made a noteable difference to me.
 
Just an FYI for anyone looking to brew this:

I toured Left Hand this past weekend. In their malt room, I noticed no C-60. I did see a lot of Great Western C-75. It might be something worth considering.
 
Just an FYI for anyone looking to brew this:

I toured Left Hand this past weekend. In their malt room, I noticed no C-60. I did see a lot of Great Western C-75. It might be something worth considering.

C60 should be a fairly close substitute still. I wish I had access to some good north american malted c75 in bulk. It's so much cleaner than the c80 for some reason when I have used it.

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Holy crap! What sweet nectar! Chilling this and then hooking up the co2. Looking to carb low and slow. Suggestions?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew and I don't care for the new format so much.
 
Holy crap! What sweet nectar! Chilling this and then hooking up the co2. Looking to carb low and slow. Suggestions?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew and I don't care for the new format so much.

Put it on nitro! :rockin: Next time you make this, try 4 - 5oz toasted cocoa nibs in the secondary for a week.
 
Just finished doin this BIAB. Hit 1.060. Pretty close for only my third BIAB and my first stout. I'm so pumped for this beer. When it's done I'll head a couple blocks down the road to the brewery to get some for a side by side test.
 
Put it on nitro! :rockin: Next time you make this, try 4 - 5oz toasted cocoa nibs in the secondary for a week.

Brewed this a week ago and added 4oz of dark chocolate covered cocoa nibs in the boil for 5min. Going to be delicious.
 
How long do you guys keg condition and at what temp?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew and I don't care for the new format so much.
 
I am taking it to a huge camp out and I have showed major self control. I have in the fridge but I don't know if that is the best way to condition it.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew and I don't care for the new format so much.
 
I am taking it to a huge camp out and I have showed major self control. I have in the fridge but I don't know if that is the best way to condition it.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew and I don't care for the new format so much.

I do that with mine... It gets better with some age
 
My batch was off the chart good! This is now in the rotation.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew and I don't care for the new format so much.
 
I've got all the ingredients but flaked barley in my cabinet. Will it make a drastic difference if I leave this out?


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I've got all the ingredients but flaked barley in my cabinet. Will it make a drastic difference if I leave this out?


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I think it will. You can sub in flaked oats or some wheat malt though as they should do pretty much the same thing.


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I've got all the ingredients but flaked barley in my cabinet. Will it make a drastic difference if I leave this out?


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I wouldn't make it without it. It absolutely contributes to the mouthfeel that you'd expect from an actual Left Hand Milk Stout. Head retention as well. Flavor-wise, you'll still be very close but it won't quite seem the same. I'm using 10oz currently.
 
Sounds like I'll be making a trip back to the store soon. Thanks for the advice.


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This is my first time converting a recipe from all-grain to extract/steep, so let me know if things seem off at all. The IBU's and color are a a bit high relative to the OP's AG recipe. Also I left out the Munich malt and flaked oats since they need to be mashed. I suppose you could add a bit of Munich LME to make up for it, but the amount is nearly negligible (9oz). Anyways, here's what I came up with in ProMash:


Left Hand Milk Stout Clone

A ProMash Recipe Report


Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Extract (Lbs): 8.88
Anticipated OG: 1.065 Plato: 15.96
Anticipated SRM: 43.0
Anticipated IBU: 24.3
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts
----------------

Evaporation Rate: 15.00 Percent Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 5.88 Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.055 SG 13.68 Plat

Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Extract SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
56.3 5.00 lbs. Muntons DME - Light England 1.046 5
8.5 0.75 lbs. Roasted Barley America 1.003 450
8.5 0.75 lbs. Crystal 60L America 1.004 60
8.5 0.75 lbs. Chocolate Malt America 1.003 350
7.0 0.63 lbs. Flaked Barley America 1.003 2
11.3 1.00 lbs. Milk Sugar Generic 1.006 0

Exract represented as SG.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.35 oz. Magnum Whole 14.00 20.4 60 min.
1.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Whole 4.75 4.0 10 min.


Yeast
-----

White Labs WLP001 California Ale



Anyone make this version?
Any luck?
Looking at making a stout for the wife and she really likes this LH MS.
 
I have only made the all grain version and I have to say it is one of the top 3 beers I brewed. My wife almost kicked the keg by herself! Thanks for the reminder, I need to brew this again!
 
Has anybody tried brewing this without the lactose and at a higher mash temperature? I brewed this with a few changes in the grain bill but also put vanilla and bourbon in the secondary, I think it will be better without it, now I want to try this on nitro!
 
Some have reduced the lactose but if you eliminated it entirely it wouldn't taste the same. I'm sure it would still make a really good beer though.
 

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