Sweet Stout Left Hand Milk Stout Clone

Just fully carbed up a neopolitan version if this. Added 4 Oz cocoa nibs soaked in vodka and 2 Madagascar vanilla beans plus 1 Oz of strawberry extract. It came out very good despite the artificial strawberry (last time I used real strawberries the beer became very dry and tart with only strawberry aroma). It honestly tastes like ice cream. Can't keep it away from my wife!

Wow, this is good stuff. I added 2 cups cold brew coffee during kegging, first pours today taste great! Coffee aroma, lots of chocolate with a coffee finish. Very happy with this brew.

I made a 6 gallon batch of this, only upping the pale malt by a pound. It is juuuuust about carbed in the keg and very smooth. One of my BMC friends asked for a glass after a shot glass sample. Submitting for BJCP judging this weekend.

Bottled this up on Sunday. Was at 1.022, hydro sampled was super good. Super roasty and that awesome mouthfeel you get from the lactose. Going to be hard to wait for the carb to come up. I'll probably sneak one this weekend

I want to make this for sure! Has anyone subbed the 2 row for Maris otter?

Madmannvan said:

I want to make this for sure! Has anyone subbed the 2 row for Maris otter?

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Actually yes I did. I made this on my Picobrew for the second brew on the machine. Just got finished kegging all 2.5 gallons of it and the sample tastes amazing. I also used US-04 for the yeast and not the usual US-05. Can't wait for it to carb up because this will for sure go fast. Finally making good beers thanks to the Picobrew!

Brewed this one last night. With Maris otter in place of the 2 row. Everything went great, hydrometer sample tasted amazing. I threw a little fuggle in with the EKG hops at ten mins. And pitched some white labs 002 that I had washed and made a starter with. Excited to have this one in a keg.

How long are people doing primary and secondary on this one?
Can I just keg after fermentation is complete?
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The only time I did a secondary was when I added cold brewed coffee other than that I have always kegged after fermentation was complete

Even the wife digs this beer (that's a rarity).

So with everyone ending up in the 1.060-1.070ish range, this is to include the gravity of the lactose right? Beer smith projects my OG at 1.056. I've matched the recipe and can't figure out why its giving me the low number. Want to brew it this weekend, but want it to be on par.

Yes, OG includes lactose. What does BS report for expected OG if you delete (or change amount to zero) the lactose?

This will be my first stout and my Christmas beer by the fire.Really looking forward to this one! Is it really grain to glass in 3 weeks kegging.I thought stouts take longer

Ok...so i got it figured out. My equipment settings were off. With lactose now its giving 1.063. It is estimating my FG at 1.008 but obviously that is telling me the lactose is fermenting when its not. Still, that seems low even adding the points for the lactose thats still there in the end. Is BS just expecting too much? I appreciate your quick response LLBeanJ also!

Double-click the lactose ingredient inside the recipe and check the "not fermentable" box. That should increase the expected FG. Also, what yeast are you using? If it is a high attenuator, you will need to increase the mash temp to get the expected FG to be where you want it to be. Or use a different yeast. I like WLP028 Edinburgh Ale for this one, but any neutral strain will work.

Anyone brewed this with WLP005 British Ale? Bought it and thought I would give it a try.

Just brewed this on Thursday. 3 days of fermentation at 68 degrees Fahrenheit and we hit 5.7%. We used Nottingham yeast however...is this yeast supposed to work this quick? The krausen has already completely dropped! When I use S-04 usually the top of the carboy is messy for about a week!

Yeah, Notty seems to run about 3 days in my system.

I'd also think you'll get good results for this style IMHO.

3-3.5 days for 5.7% sounds about right for notty. It may have dropped a few more points by now too.

Kegged mine today gravity went from 1.06 down to 1.022 so 5% and the sample tastes great. Can't wait for this to be carbed up in a few days. Thanks for the recipe!!

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3 days in the kegorator at its already amazing, I'm sure it will only get better with time. This one may get out into the regular rotation. Thanks OP

Well we drank half a glass of this straight outta the cold crashed fermenter. Tasted great green!

Ok.... So there was a 1lbbag of corn sugar next to my lactose and I added the wrong bag what are the repercussions of this besides it being uber strong? It still tasted pretty great but what can i expect? Anything I can do to make it better?

Brewbrewbeans said:

Ok.... So there was a 1lbbag of corn sugar next to my lactose and I added the wrong bag what are the repercussions of this besides it being uber strong? It still tasted pretty great but what can i expect? Anything I can do to make it better?

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Depending on your system you will either have a super dry (and delicious) stout or a relatively regular medium finished gravity (and delicious) stout. I don't think this recipe "needs" the lactose but it is a milk stout so...

You can always just boil the lactose up with a little bit of water and add it at bottling if you don't like the "barrel sample"

brewski09 said:

Depending on your system you will either have a super dry (and delicious) stout or a relatively regular medium finished gravity (and delicious) stout. I don't think this recipe "needs" the lactose but it is a milk stout so...

You can always just boil the lactose up with a little bit of water and add it at bottling if you don't like the "barrel sample"

Click to expand...

Thanks brewski! That sounds like a good idea. I'll have a taste once fermentation is complete but I'll probably end up adding the lactose as you said. I'm kegging. It shouldn't be a problem as the lactose isn't fermentable anyway right?

brewski09 said:

Depending on your system you will either have a super dry (and delicious) stout or a relatively regular medium finished gravity (and delicious) stout. I don't think this recipe "needs" the lactose but it is a milk stout so...

You can always just boil the lactose up with a little bit of water and add it at bottling if you don't like the "barrel sample"

Click to expand...

Thanks brewski! That sounds like a good idea. I'll have a taste once fermentation is complete but I'll probably end up adding the lactose as you said. I'm kegging. It shouldn't be a problem as the lactose isn't fermentable anyway right?

brewski09 said:

Depending on your system you will either have a super dry (and delicious) stout or a relatively regular medium finished gravity (and delicious) stout. I don't think this recipe "needs" the lactose but it is a milk stout so...

You can always just boil the lactose up with a little bit of water and add it at bottling if you don't like the "barrel sample"

Click to expand...

Thanks brewski! That sounds like a good idea. I'll have a taste once fermentation is complete but I'll probably end up adding the lactose as you said. I'm kegging. It shouldn't be a problem as the lactose isn't fermentable anyway right?

brewski09 said:

Depending on your system you will either have a super dry (and delicious) stout or a relatively regular medium finished gravity (and delicious) stout. I don't think this recipe "needs" the lactose but it is a milk stout so...

You can always just boil the lactose up with a little bit of water and add it at bottling if you don't like the "barrel sample"

Click to expand...

Thanks brewski! That sounds like a good idea. I'll have a taste once fermentation is complete but I'll probably end up adding the lactose as you said. I'm kegging. It shouldn't be a problem as the lactose isn't fermentable anyway right?

You could say that again!

Let me guess, you're on mobile and got a posting error? Ignore the error.

And yes, lactose is unfermentable by beer yeast. Though some of the bugs may be able to eat it...

Yup, mobile app. And thanks, I'll let you guys know how it turns out!

Brewbrewbeans said:

Thanks brewski! That sounds like a good idea. I'll have a taste once fermentation is complete but I'll probably end up adding the lactose as you said. I'm kegging. It shouldn't be a problem as the lactose isn't fermentable anyway right?

Click to expand...

I brewed mine and the addition of 1lb lactose made it too sweet for my taste. Anyone else has this problem? I kegged it so it is possible lactose is not completely dissolved so I get more sugar from the bottom.

55x11 said:

I brewed mine and the addition of 1lb lactose made it too sweet for my taste. Anyone else has this problem? I kegged it so it is possible lactose is not completely dissolved so I get more sugar from the bottom.

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It is a pretty sweet beer, I can only drink one or two of these at a time. Not sure about the undissolved lactose when did you add it? After fermentation? I always add it to the end of the boil, no problems with it dissolving and I know it is sanitized that way.

Lactose should be added during the boil, but should definitely be before the last 5 minutes. I generally do it around 10. As long as it has time to fully dissolve and sanitize.

I agree that adding to the boil is best but if you forget then you forget.

I've had versions of this beer with anywhere from a half pound to 1 pound lactose per 5 gallons. It's personal preference. I do like a little less unless the base beer is really dry then it can have more and be fine. Also, I like to add cocoa nibs which are super bitter and offset the sweetness.

I have noticed it a bit too sweet at times too. I have started adding a bit more base grains when I make it. Make it a bit stronger and less sweet

Try dropping your mash temp a little (and make sure your thermometers are calibrated). My brewing got a lot more reliable when o got a good thermometer.

brewski09 said:

Try dropping your mash temp a little (and make sure your thermometers are calibrated). My brewing got a lot more reliable when o got a good thermometer.

Click to expand...

sweetness is definitely from lactose, not from unfermented sugars.
and to respond to previous posters - I don't think it matters when you add lactose since it is not digestible by yeast anyways. So end of the boil, during fermentation, or just before kegging/bottling should yield the same result. It's just that 1 lb of lactose produced beer that is way too sweet, sweater than Left Hand Stout for sure.

55x11 said:

sweetness is definitely from lactose, not from unfermented sugars.

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Except the finished gravity of this beer varies wildly if you read the posts, sometimes by over 10 points. If you mash low and the underlying beer is dry then the 1# tastes pretty close. I prefer less for sure, but side by side it's pretty close with the low mash. There was also some debate on the quantities of roasted barley and black patent a while back which would change the final beer profile substantially to me as well. In the end I always make sure my thermometer is calibrated before any all grain brew day.

I ended up taking brewski's advice except I used some beer to boil the lactose instead of water. I also ended up making some cold brew coffee and dumping it into the keg. It came out amazing! Ended up at about 7% ABV due to the corn sugar addition. Coffee taste is a bit overwhelming. I might do a bit less next time unless it mellows out nice in a couple weeks (which I've heard will happen when adding coffee). Cheers!
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If anyone in Portland, OR is interested in trying a coffee version of this, I made it with a local brewery 1.5 Barrel batch and it will be pouring at the Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer and Donut Festival March 12. Put it on your calendars. Stuck to the main recipe and added 5lbs of cold pressed coffee to 1.5 barrel. Single-farm Honduran coffee, really smooth. I see above Brewbrewbeans says the coffee was overwhelming. Hmm, we really wanted the coffee to be bold, not subtle, but it will sit for 5 weeks before being poured so I think it will come out just right.