Lactose meadPA? Anyone tried it?

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Has anyone experimented with adding Lactose in Mead? If show how and when did you add it and how was the outcome? I been wanting to try to create something along the lines of a Milkshake IPA mead so a Milkshake MeadPA. Was thinking about following denards receipe he has for a Hopped mead but add lactose with it.
 
Not tried sweetening a mead with lactose because it would change the character of the mead too much and highlight the lactose rather than the honey, wouldn't it? What I have been experimenting with is using whey (with lactose ) as the liquid with which I mix the honey. There is about 20 points of lactose in the whey. I make cheese and so most of my whey is "sweet" (ie cultured and soured with bacteria) and not "acidic" (soured with lemon juice or vinegar) and from a gallon of milk I can get a hefty pound of cheese (about 20 oz) and about 7 pints of whey. Zero waste.
 
Has anyone experimented with adding Lactose in Mead? If show how and when did you add it and how was the outcome? I been wanting to try to create something along the lines of a Milkshake IPA mead so a Milkshake MeadPA. Was thinking about following denards receipe he has for a Hopped mead but add lactose with it.

I recently did an experiment with OB honey, OYL-052 and lactose trying to end up with a creamy, peachy-apricot mead. Taste test after primary fermentation was a little disappointing. I did not get nearly as much stone-fruit character from the OYL-052 (the "Conan" strain) as hoped but the yeast was a little lethargic both in the room temp pack and then in the small starter I made. Fermented at 72F, OG about 1.060. The OB honey is a California origin and while it is wonderful to taste I've noted across several batches using it that when fermented dry it finishes with a distinct orange acidity and back bitterness, almost like if using orange peel which seems to be dominating the early taste result.

As for the lactose, I used 0.25 lb in a 1.2 gal batch added in the primary and it is sweet at that level but not cloying. It does lend some milky creaminess but not a lot though that effect may be diminished somewhat by the acidic flavor of the fermented OB honey I used. I decided to split the batch for aging, one split as is and the other for wood aging.

Hops would not have been a nice addition to this particular blend.
 
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