Dolce de leche??

[1971hemicuda]

Ok, so, I was thinking of doing something slightly different for my next stout. I'm thinking Dolce de leche stout. A form of a milk Stout

Dolche de leche
Made by combining sugar and milk to create a Carmel spread through the maillard reaction.

However, I don't want to use milk because of the fat, I just want to use lactose. So, I'm thinking of using lactose and DME to create a brewers version of dolce de leche.

.4 lbs of lactose
.4 lbs of DME
64 oz water

Then I'll perform my long boil to Carmelize the sugars.

The maillard reaction requires amino acids, which are normally attained by using milk. Does DME have amino acids in it?? I know we always talk about caramelizing the wort so I'm assuming so will be just fine.

Thoughts?? Anyone have experience doing this?? Is there a better way to go about this?

 

[ajdelange]

One of the broad problems associated with extract brews is low FAN from which I guess we could conclude that DME would be low in amino acids. But caramelization doesn't require amino acids - just heat. The Maillard reactions do as you noted. If you want the Maillard products you might try adding in some yeast nutrient. Many of these contain DAP, urea and yeast hulls. The DAP and urea are obviously nitrogen sources but are they the right kind of nitrogen sources for the products you want? The way to find out is to give it a shot. I'm recommending that you add the lactose, DME and yeast nutrient to the wort and boil away to darken the wort. I doubt that anything different would happen if you put that much sugar in 2 qts of water and boiled that but as I don't know I do not recommend that.

 

[1971hemicuda]

I guess my thought was to create a traditional "style" dolce de leche spread, which highly condences milk and sugar. 1 qt of milk with 1 cup sugar boils down to about 6 oz. It will darken and develop flavor the longer you let it boil in condensed form. Which is why I am using the 64oz of water.

I think I'm going to do as you suggested and "just do it"

It will cost 6 bucks in ingredients and 2 hours of my time. With the experiment! I'll update with results

 

[AdamEltro]

Did you give it a try mate?

 

[casualbrewer]

This kind of like boiling sweetened condensed milk in the can for a while?

 

[1971hemicuda]

I never got around to trying to make it with just lactose and sugar. ...time. Time is always the problem

I did, however, find "Fat Free Sweetened Condensed Milk". I got 3 cans, used my slow cooker, and put it on low for 6 hours. Just take the labels off the cans and let them sit in the hot water.

Its more of a caramel sauce that REAL dolce de leche. Part of the things with the real stuff is the maillard reaction creates some pretty interesting flavors. You don't get that this way. basically yours just caramelizing the sugar in the can. Pretty tasty! I still need to put it in a stout, or porter, but its delicious to eat on pretty much anything