cocoa nibs- coconut- milk stout?

[Redtab78]

I am interested in brewing a coconut stout, and plan on adding a few nibs in to the secondary, but was tossing up the idea of adding some lactose to the end of the boil, and was wondering if this would be too much sweet for a stout? I would be using the left hand milk stout clone recipie found on here, but adding 1 bag of unsweetened coconut to the mash, as well as 1 bag of toasted to the secondary along with my nibs.

 

[m_c_zero]

Lactose does add some perceived sweetness but not a lot (depending on how much you use). I recently brewed 5 gallons of a coffee stout that I added 8oz of lactose to. The base stout was pretty sweet already and I really didn't notice much of sweetness boost after adding the lactose. It did wonders for the body of the beer though.

As for the coconut, if you want the flavor to come through I would highly recommend holding off and add them in after fermentation. Toast them in the oven and then toss them in at secondary. The coconut flavor will really carry through.

 

[bbohanon]

For a milk stout, I usually toss a lb in per 5gal batch..Lactose is basically an unfermentable sugar addition so depending on your yeast, it will help keep the "sweet" in your stout post fermentation which is preferable in my experience with brewing milk stouts.

Lactose is not like corn or cane sugar so it does not add as much sweetness as you might think it would.
Its really a beer body builder as well as adding that creamy-ness in the beer which is nice to get in a milk stout as well.
I honestly would not even brand a stout a milk stout without lactose additions in it..

I am a HUGE fan of milk stouts and would always toss in lactose when making one (unless I am brewing for the lactose intolerant which I usually never am).

As for the coconut addition, I would stick to the previous posters suggestions..toast that coconut and drop it in post fermentation..

TASTE OFTEN once you add nibs/coconut additions! Once you get your desired taste profile with the additions, pull them out of the beer and keg/bottle it.

Don't just chuck em into your beer and leave it a week before tasting it or you might find its a bit too much chocolate or coconut..I speak from experience on this one.

Good luck!

 

[Redtab78]

This might be a dumb question, but does anyone gring down the cocoa nibs and use in a hop sack, or just soak in vodka and then let them free float?