Chocolate Milk Stout

[BoozHound]

Hey folks,
Need some help on a chocolate milk stout recipe that I got from my local brewshop in Atlanta. The following is the recipe I used:
Boiled ~6-7 gallons
11 lb Dark LME
1 lb lactose
1.5 lb American chocolate
12 oz Crystal 80L
6 oz American Roasted Barley
4 oz American Black Malt
1 oz warrior hops @ 60min
1 oz nugget hops @ 5 min
Pitched 2 packs Safale US-05

The fermentation was pretty active and seems to be still going a little bit after a week and a half. Took a reading with my hydrometer and it doesn’t seem to be dropping as much as I thought it should. According to Brewer’s Friend calculator, OG should be 1.083, FG around 1.029. But after 1.5 weeks its at ~1.045. I just thought the fermentation would almost be over?

Next question, how long should I plan to keep it in primary/secondary? I’ve heard 2 Prim/4 Sec all the way up to 2 Prim/9-12 MONTHS secondary. Since this is a higher gravity brew where do you think it should land?

And lastly, I wanted to infuse coffee into the brew. Can you go through the best ways to do that? I’m going for a Left Hand Milk Stout or a Wake & Bake (Terrapin) type beer.

Thanks!!

 

[JR_Brewer]

Sounds like you've got a stuck fermentation. Here's a great write up on that: Stuck Fermentation 101

As far as how long to keep it in the fermenter, you keep it in primary until fermentation is done (and in your case, once you've fixed your stuck fermentation). There is a debate on the value of secondaries, so a lot of brewers here have given them up. However, if you choose to secondary a regular beer, 2-4 weeks will be fine. If you are doing something special in your secondary (fruit, oak chips, etc) it will depend. In this case, I would search the forum for advice on that technique and you'll get a good feel for the length of secondary.

I've never infused coffee, so I defer to the experts. But remember, you can always add more flavor when you're spicing or infusing; you can't remove flavor once it's in there so be conservative!

Good luck