Belgian chocolate Stout critique/help

[Odbrew]

Hi all, I am trying to create a beer for SWMBO. She wants a clone of alabash black but with the sweet finish of left hand milk stout And a bump up in mouthfeel and head retention.

5 gal all grain
OG 1.072 FG 1.014
IBU 32.9 Color 49.2 SRM

8lbs 14.4 oz 2 row Belgian
1 lbs 2.3 oz chocolate malt
14.6 oz Dark candi sugar
11 oz torrified wheat
9.1 oz golden naked oats
3.7oz roast barley
3.7oz black patent
11 oz lactose


1 oz northern brewer @ 60 min
1 oz glacier @ 15 min

Mash at 154 for 60min
Batch sparge 168

I had planned on adding lactose ,should I and how much? Any yeast recomendations? lastly as for a hint of cherry what is the best way to go about this? Mainly does this appear to be a drinkable brew? Thanks

 

[Odbrew]

bump?

 

[bethebrew]

bump?

I'd ditch the lactose. Milk stout? Not something I want to do.

Otherwise your recipe looks great. Although I would add a little Special B because it's special. 6 oz.

Yeast - Wyeast Abbey Ale II 1762.

A hint of cherry? Let's not get crazy here.

 

[Odbrew]

hmm I didn't even consider special b, I could split the batch cherry and not. she likes the full body and finish of milk stouts, any other way to replicate that? I added gno for body.

 

[wonderbread23]

Couple of things. The lactose is fine, if that's the full bodied and sweetish beer you're going for, then do it. The issue I see is with the candi sugar. This will add flavor, but also considerably dry and thin the beer out which seems to go against what you're trying to do by adding lactose. You can get similar flavors from a combination of high lovibond crystal malt (special B comes to mind). That would be my preference.

 

[Odbrew]

ill give special b a try, any recommendations on the amount? I have no experience with special b that I know of lol.

 

[mrphillips]

Looks real good to me! Not to heavy on any grain, loving the lactose, and the candy sugar will give it a little octane...might even make it an imperial stout (if there's such a thing).

What hops/amount are you adding? Just curious.

 

[JR_Brewer]

About the cherry flavor, first I'll state that it already appears to be a nice complex beer, I'm not sure you'll need it. However, if you go down that road, here's my 2 cents.

My only experience with cherry was with a cider. I used Montmorency cherry concentrate (available at grocery stores for ~$12 per 12 oz bottle). After some research here on HBT, it seemed to be the best choice. I used it post-primary to bottle condition in order to try preserve the cherry flavor - if you put it in prior to primary, I believe most of the flavor will ferment out.

The big difference you'll have with a stout is that it's going to mask the flavor. With my cider, the cherry comes through very clearly at about 3-5 oz of concentrate per gallon. With a stout, you'll need more; however this poses a problem in that it will probably exceed your priming sugar needs. Do you plan to bottle condition or keg?

 

[Odbrew]

sorry for the very delayed reply, I plan to keg this fella

 

[bethebrew]

ill give special b a try, any recommendations on the amount? I have no experience with special b that I know of lol.

I would do 6 oz or so in 5 gallons of the Special B.

 

[JR_Brewer]

sorry for the very delayed reply, I plan to keg this fella

Ok, that's good, you won't have to worry about bottle bombs if you decide to back-sweeten with cherry concentrate. Have you brewed yet? What did you end up going with?

 

[Odbrew]

I plan on brewing this after I get back home in jan-feb. And I think ill substitute the candi sugar with special b and try it without the cherry extract first. But with a measured sample I should be. able to add extract to taste and scale up from there if that's what she so desires correct? and thanks for all the advice ill be sure post how it turns out.

 

[bethebrew]

I plan on brewing this after I get back home in jan-feb. And I think ill substitute the candi sugar with special b and try it without the cherry extract first. But with a measured sample I should be. able to add extract to taste and scale up from there if that's what she so desires correct? and thanks for all the advice ill be sure post how it turns out.

Sure, you could add a little cherry extract at bottling and even vary it a little then. A drop in one bottle, two drops in the next, etc. lol. Vanilla beans the real ones soaked in vanilla extract or vodka is pretty killa in a stout as well. Vanilla is kind of a flavor enhancer, low levels are interesting. Can be added right at bottling. Maybe keep some without any cherry or vanilla.

Keep us posted.