Milk Stout: How much "deep roasted" in the grist bill is too much?

[Silver_Is_Money]

If using (for example) roughly 5.75 gallons to the fermenter after the boil and cooling as the nominal batch size, how far can one push the addition of the "deep roasted" grist bill components (such as: chocolate, dark chocolate, black malt, patent malt, roasted barley, Carafa, etc...) before enough is enough and one has gone over the edge in this regard?

 

[Kent88]

I'd recommend something like a debittered black malt, Perla Negra, or Blackprinz for a milk stout.

As for a percentage, I don't know exactly. Look at a few recipes around here and see what they're using.

 

[bigringking]

Silver,
Not sure what you think is over the edge but I have about 12.5% of Chocolate Malt and Roasted Barley in my Milk Stout:
Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
14 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 58.3 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 2 5.2 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 Grain 3 5.2 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 4 5.2 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 5 5.2 %
0.75 oz Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 17.0 IBUs
0.55 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 7 -
2.10 oz Challenger [8.90 %] - Boil 10.0 m Hop 8 11.3 IBUs
2 lbs Milk Sugar (Lactose) [Boil for 10 Sugar 9 8.3 %
2.0 pkg Irish Ale Yeast (White Labs #WLP0 Yeast 10 -
2 lbs Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 11 8.3 %
1 lbs Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 12 4.2 %

This is my 3rd time brewing it and it produces a black, black stout. But it is still really smooth an not at all bitter or harsh.

Ed

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

This is my 3rd time brewing it and it produces a black, black stout. But it is still really smooth an not at all bitter or harsh.

Ed

I have to admit that this recipe looks very tasty! Are you concerned at all with regard to the potential for a stuck mash due to all of the flaked in it? What is your water mineralization level? How many gallons are you sending to the fermenter? I'd like to scale this to my equipment and batch size.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Man. Sometimes I'll throw in 4lbs of chocolate malt and a lb of roasted malt to make it super thick.

 

[bigringking]

I have to admit that this recipe looks very tasty! Are you concerned at all with regard to the potential for a stuck mash due to all of the flaked in it? What is your water mineralization level? How many gallons are you sending to the fermenter? I'd like to scale this to my equipment and batch size.

I have not had a stuck mash with this grain bill. I have a 72 QT Coleman Extreme cooler with a 3-tube copper manifold I made myself. Two things I do to help avoid stuck mashes are using Rice hulls and what I call 'conditioning' my grain. I spray the grains with a spray bottle - a lot - the night before to soften the grain husks. I'd guess I use 3-4 oz for this 10 gal batch. I don't know if that fits the technical definition of conditioning but it seems to work for me. And with the Rice Hulls I think I added a half pound for this bill.

My water is:
Source Water Data:
Calcium (ppm) 5
Magnesium (ppm) 5
Alkalinity as CaCO3 60
Sulfate (ppm) 25
Chloride (ppm) 60
Sodium (ppm) 74
Water pH 8.65

I ended up with 11.75 in the fermenter. I usually get 10 gallons into the keg. I added 4 ounces of Sumatra whole beans to one of the fermenters this time to give it some coffee flavor and aroma. We'll see how that turns out. I read that the lower acidity beans are better and Sumatran is supposed to be typically lower in acidity.
I think I have attached the recipe in Beersmith if you can use it. If not I can post the whole recipe here. Just hit me back.

View attachment mothers-milk-stout--6-11-17.bsmx

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Would this recipe for 5.75 to 6 gallons to the fermenter be over the limits for deep roasted, or for any of the other ingredients?

8 Lbs. Briess 2-Row
1 Lb. Briess Victory
1.25 Lbs. Briess 60L Caramel
1 Lb. Briess Chocolate
1 Lb. Briess Roasted Barley
1 Lb. Flaked Barley
1 Lb. Flaked Oats
1 Lb. Lactose