I apologize if this has been asked before (I imagine it has), but I guess I just want someone's opinion on what I'm thinking.
My friends and I have brewed two batches from kits with surprising success. For this batch we want to try and add a little of our own. I'm starting with a Brewer's Best milk stout kit (an extract kit for a 5 gallon batch), and want to add some more chocolate and some cherries to it. I bought some frozen tart cherries (couldn't find any fresh), and from what I've read ~1# of cherries per gallon of beer is good. For chocolate I was thinking of just adding some cocoa powder (about 4 ounces as the kit already has dark chocolate grains).
I'm thinking brew as the kit's instructions say, and after 2 weeks in primary rack onto the fruit in secondary.
My question is should I add something like lactose to keep the sugar in the cocoa and cherries from making the beer too dry? I'm looking for a heavier beer with a subtle yet noticeable cherry flavor, I'm just worried that it'll be a little over the top. The kit comes with 1/2# of lactose for a 5 gallon batch, will more than this be necessary? Thanks, and cheers!
My friends and I have brewed two batches from kits with surprising success. For this batch we want to try and add a little of our own. I'm starting with a Brewer's Best milk stout kit (an extract kit for a 5 gallon batch), and want to add some more chocolate and some cherries to it. I bought some frozen tart cherries (couldn't find any fresh), and from what I've read ~1# of cherries per gallon of beer is good. For chocolate I was thinking of just adding some cocoa powder (about 4 ounces as the kit already has dark chocolate grains).
I'm thinking brew as the kit's instructions say, and after 2 weeks in primary rack onto the fruit in secondary.
My question is should I add something like lactose to keep the sugar in the cocoa and cherries from making the beer too dry? I'm looking for a heavier beer with a subtle yet noticeable cherry flavor, I'm just worried that it'll be a little over the top. The kit comes with 1/2# of lactose for a 5 gallon batch, will more than this be necessary? Thanks, and cheers!
