Help with Imperial Milk Stout Recipe

[thebrewski]

I am trying to make an imperial milk stout that is close to the one from the Lakewood Brewing Company in Dallas, TX. It's called the Temptress. It's a very good imperial milk stout with chocolate, coffee, and vanilla tastes. I'm not sure if I should use caramel 80 or 60 and what the reason would be for one over the other. And if my amounts are good.

The rough draft recipe I have so far is:

12 lbs - 2 row pale malt

1 lb - flaked oats

1 lb - Caramel 80 or (Caramel 60??)

1 lb - Briess chocolate malt

1 lb - English roasted barley (maybe 12 oz instead of 1 lb)

1 lb - lactose

2 tbsp vanilla extract

1 oz - northern brewer hops or (uk Kent Golding or fuggles)

Not sure which would be best

 

[max384]

This is the subforum for completed recipes, not for asking questions/seeking advice.

The subforum you're looking for is the recipes/ingredients: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/

You'll get a lot bigger response being in the correct place. I hit the report post button explaining it is in the wrong subforum; so hopefully a mod will move it for you and you'll get more responses.

 

[Pappers_]

Trying to get my mind around an imperial sweet stout. I like Kent Goldings in a bittering addition for a sweet stout I make.

Were you thinking of adding the vanilla extract to the wort (pre fermentation) or to your finished beer before bottling/kegging? I just did a stout with vanilla and I chopped up a handful of vanilla beans, soaked it in vodka, then added it to the beer in secondary. Let the beer sit for two weeks then bottled.

 

[thebrewski]

Ok, I'll probably use east kent goldings then. I was going to add the extract to the bottling bucket during bottling. But I could do beans too. How much vodka do you soak them in and how long? Also do you add the beans and all of the vodka to the secondary? Could I just add it straight to the primary after 2 weeks of fermentation and then wait 1 week for bottling?

Do you think it would be better to use caramel 80 or caramel 60?

 

[insanim8er]

What ABV were you hoping for?

I make the all grain left hand milk stout clone with fantastic results. It's around 6% if you hit your numbers. I came up with a really high efficiency on a batch (due to issue with my mill over crushing) It landed at about 8.5% and was fantastic.

I agree with the EKG and I'd consider cutting down the roasted barley. You don't want it to be too roasted. Also LH brewer suggests half the barley to chocolate. I'm not sure how you're doing your hop schedule, but keep your IBU low. let the bitterness of the roasted barley and chocolate shine through. Your oats may be on a the higher side than what I would do, but I don't think you'll have much issue with a lb.

How were you planning on mashing this? Depending on that, you may want to cut down the oats a bit... Are you wanting a heavier full body stout?

Caramel 60 = Lighter color, more of a full caramel flavor - great for stouts
Caramel 80 = Darker color, you'll get more of a bitter sweet caramel flavor

 

[thebrewski]

I am hoping for around 8-9% ABV. I have been told the same thing on the roasted barley so I will probably use 0.5 lb of it. I also will go with caramel 60 to get more of a solid caramel flavor because I figure the chocolate malt and barley will give some bittersweet taste too. Plan on just using 1 oz of hops at 60 minutes for a little bittering.

I will mash at 152-153 for 60 minutes. Then batch sparge at 170 for 5-10 minutes. I'm hoping to get a good body stout out of this. I may make a gallon batch with the second runnings for a brown ale just for fun.

Thanks for the advice so far!

 

[thebrewski]

So after running everything through BeerSmith I have made a few changes to hit my numbers. My recipe now looks like this:

13 lbs 2 row Pale malt
1 lb flaked oats
1 lb Caramel 60
1 lb Chocolate Malt
0.5 lb roasted barley
1 oz Columbus hops 60 min
1 oz Horizon hops 15 min
1 lb lactose 10 min
2 tbsp vanilla extract at bottling or maybe vanilla beans to secondary

I changed up the hops because these are the hops southern tier uses in their creme brulee stout which I like the flavor of.

The numbers I'm trying to hit are: ABV: 8-9%, IBU=50, SRM=30

 

[insanim8er]

My personal opinion is to go lower on the IBU. I'd target around 25.

as far as the vanilla goes. I'd make a tincture and add it to taste at bottling/kegging. Or at the very least, I'd only use vanilla bean after fermentation. Split one or two beans, soak them in vodka for a minute or so to sterilize, then toss them into the fermenter (or if you secondary rack onto them) Then let them sit a few days and take samples until you've hit your flavor profile.

I think the tincture works best because you have better control, but it can take time to make. I wouldn't worry about doing the extract especially if it's artificial vanilla. You definitely want to add it after fermentation though.

 

[thebrewski]

Should I mash this stout at 155 to add to the body and sweetness?

 

[insanim8er]

Should I mash this stout at 155 to add to the body and sweetness?

Ya you can do that. You get additional sweetness and body from the oats and lactose.

I generally mash at about 153.

 

[toddnaud]

any updates? how did it turn out?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[thebrewski]

I wound up brewing an imperial red ale instead because I had just brewed an extract milk stout so I figure I'll wait another month or so before I brew this up. Will let you know then.