Brewing an Irish Coffee Milk Stout

[MrSpiffy]

It's been forever since I last brewed a beer... way too long! I had a kit sitting around, so I decided to go ahead and brew it up. It's an extract/specialty grains kit for an Irish stout. But, I wanted to tweak it a bit to really make it interesting.

Kit ingredients:

• 2 containers Briess dark malt extract (6.6lbs total)
• 8oz Chocolate Malt
• 8oz Roasted Barley
• 2oz East Kent Goldings hops
  
• White Labs WLP004 Irish Ale yeast

The kit had instructions to steep the grains for 45-60 minutes, and add the hops at 60min and 10 min left in the boil.

As for adjustments:

I had some lactose sitting around, nearly 1lb, so I just added that in the last 15-20 minutes of the boil to give the beer some additional body and sweetness.

Since the kit sat around for a while, I tossed the original milled grains and got fresh grains. I still used the 8oz of roasted barley. But, I substituted Carafa III for the chocolate malt to keep the bitterness down.

Lastly, at the recommendation of the shop owner, I added 1lb of white wheat to add even more body and maltiness to the beer. And I'll be adding some cold-brewed coffee in secondary. Probably 16oz of cold-brew using 4oz of coarsely-ground coffee beans.

On a side note, the yeast had also expired, so I built it back up with a 2-step starter. It really needed it!

We'll see how this turns out. I'm not normally an extract brewer, but I'm excited to try it when it's ready!

 

[oakchips]

Sounds great, should have a full body - I like to throw a vanilla pod in my stouts - not sure it would go with the lactose though - a more experienced brewer would know??

 

[MrSpiffy]

I could see a little vanilla enhancing the lactose a bit. Might give it a try. Thanks!

 

[redllama]

Lactose and vanilla should work well in there. I personally use Crisp Pale Chocolate in my stout's. Lots of flavor with less bitterness. I also just throw all my hops in at the beginning of the boil.

 

[MrSpiffy]

Just racked into secondary with some cold-brewed coffee and a pair of vanilla beans. A tiny sip of the leftovers was really tasty.

Details on the cold-brew:
I used 4oz of Peet's Big Bang medium roast whole-bean coffee with about 14oz of water, refrigerated for about 3 days. I poured in what I could. It's amazing how much water those beans soak up. Ended up with maybe 8-10oz of actual coffee in the carboy.

OG in the fermenter was 1.065. FG into secondary was 1.027. ABV is approximately 5%, almost exactly.

 

[MrSpiffy]

Finally got off my butt and bottled this beer yesterday. Tried a sip, and it's really promising. I think it's going to be really delicious! Now, I just have to be patient until it's carbonated... *sigh*