Brewers Best Milk Stout - Make it better & Knowledge

[RobbieOByrne]

Recently got a deal on two Extract Kits. One was BB Milk Stout Extract Kit. I was hoping some of you with some experience and a few of you Old School Brewers (OSB) would offer advice and in-depth reasons why I should or shouldn't use a part of a recipe.

Original Recipe Ingredients

FERMENTABLES
3.3 Ib. Special Dark LME
3.3 Ib. Light LME
.5 Ib. Lactose
.5 Ib. Maltodextrin

Specialty Grains

8oz. Caramel 120L
4oz. Roasted Barley
4oz. Dark Chocolate

Hops
.5oz Magnum
.5oz Cluster

Yeast
1 Sachet

Times

- 20 min Grain Steep

- Start add all LME, Lactose, Maltodestrin, Magnum Hops.

- last 10 min add Cluster Hops.


ABV 5.5-6 abv



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My goals

- Deeper more pronounced flavor
- kick it up a notch on the ABV
- Maintain hops bitterness level


My ideas and questions

- Double the Chocolate.
Q. Why the is chocolate always dark chocolate?

- Add a bit of vanilla, I believe it will increase the "milk" part of the flavor.

- Add organic brown sugar and/or honey and/or 3.3 Ib LME.
@. What kind of flavor profile will I be looking at for each?

- What else would you recommend?


Thanks for all the advice and information.

 

[McGarnigle]

The simplest way to do this is too add less water and make it a 4 gallon batch. Everything will stay in balance. Fewer bottles, of course.

Vanilla or brown sugar won't necessarily kick it up a notch or anything. Brown sugar can add a molasses taste to it.

I don't see how vanilla will increase the milk part of it. The milk is really just unfermentable lactose which makes it sweet and creamier (sweeter = fuller body).

Why dark chocolate? Because milk chocolate sucks

 

[DGibb]

Q. Why the is chocolate always dark chocolate?

Because the milk solids and other fats in the milk chocolate don't play well during fermentation and beer-making.

 

[FlyBoyKnight]

I agree with McGarnigle. Keeping everything in balance is key with this recipe (I think). I just made this recipe and it was phenomenal by itself so I'd try to keep everything in the proportions that the recipe says.

You could either reduce the batch size (4 gallons vs 5 gallons) using the same BB kit or you could use some brewing software (brewer's friend, beersmith, etc) to scale up the recipe (maybe 6 gallons) and still only make 5 gallons.

Adding cane sugar / corn sugar would increase the alcohol content without adding any flavor components (if that is all you are after).

Adding brown sugar or honey can be used to increase ABV as well (while keeping body about the same) but they would also add a molasses or honey flavor to the profile.

That said, since the hop flavor / bitterness is almost undetectable in this recipe, I think adding extra grains and malt extracts to the mix (without adding hops) would give it a deeper / richer / more chocolaty flavor with higher ABV while, for the purposes of my pallet, keeping the hop bitterness the same. The deep flavor of this beer is the highlight so I think adding extra malt would be ok with respect to hop balance but others, with pickier/more experienced pallets, might not agree.

As for the chocolates, all of the "chocolate" flavor comes from the type of roasted / kilned barley used. The darker "chocolate" grains + the lactose (sugar from milk) is what gives this beer it's creamy / chocolaty combo flavor.

 

[RobbieOByrne]

Wow great information! Thanks a ton! I'll be cooking it up here tomorrow, i'll just go without any changes to ingredients and see how it goes, maybe a pinch of cane sugar.

 

[JayMcD-in-VB]

I realize this is an old post, but I recently brewed this kit. I added 5oz Gambrinus Honey malts to the steep and 16oz of rice syrup solids to the boil. Ended up with about 8.4% ABV and a nice smooth taste. Probably some sort of sacrilege, but most of my friends think it is better than the Irish stout that starts with G.