Lactose or not??

[Pumpkin-King]

First of all hello to everyone. This is my first post but I have been following this forum ever since I started wanting to brew a couple of months ago. This site has been my go-to!

So for my question. I am going to be brewing a Blueberry Cream Porter from Austin Homebrew this weekend and have a question about the cream part. I am wanting this to have a creamy mouthfeel, similar to a vanilla porter or maybe even a milk stout in creaminess and sweetness.

The recipe is as follows (mini-mash)

1-3/4 lb Pale Ale Malt
3/4 lb Caramunich Malt
3/4 lb Flaked Spelt
1/2 lb Chocolate Malt
1/4 lb De-Bittered Black Malt
1/4 lb Caraaroma Malt

4 lb Extra Light DME

1 oz Progress hops at 60 min
WF tablet at 15 min

White Labs English Ale 002 Yeast

At secondary add 2oz Vanilla Extract Powder

At kegging add 2oz Blueberry Flavoring


The reviews sound very promising but I really want to make sure my wife loves it too.

Would adding some lactose at the boil and maybe some fresh blueberries in addition in the secondary maybe help
me achieve this??

Thank you so much for your help in advance!!

 

[Hello]

Wow. That sounds good and I don't really do fruity beers. I'd say the lactose will give you some sweetness but if you are trying to achieve mouthfeel then maybe that will be great. Maltodextrin will help with mouthfeel too.

 

[Pumpkin-King]

Wow. That sounds good and I don't really do fruity beers. I'd say the lactose will give you some sweetness but if you are trying to achieve mouthfeel then maybe that will be great. Maltodextrin will help with mouthfeel too.

Thank you for your reply! From what I have read oatmeal and maltodextrin will add smoothness while lactose will add smoothness and sweetness.

The don't know what quantities to use. 1/2 lb of the one I choose? 1lb?

 

[pstrohs]

With that grain bill you will not need maltodextrin. Also WLP002 is a low attenuating yeast so you will already have some residual sugars. I would add 4-8 ounces of lactose to get that creamy mouthfeel.

 

[Pumpkin-King]

Thank you both for your replies. I think I'm on the right track now I can't wait to try this brew! This is my third attempt at brewing so I'm very appreciative of the help. Have a great New Years guys!

 

[Hello]

Pstrohs' advice sounds good. Keep your thread updated, I'm curious about the results.

 

[Pumpkin-King]

I sure will! I'll be brewing this this upcoming weekend so maybe I can post a pic or two.

 

[Pumpkin-King]

Hey guys! Sorry it has taken me so long to get back here to share my results. Sometimes life just happens when you have a two year old!

So I have had the Blueberry Cream Stout in the keg for right at around a month now, and carbed for around 3 weeks. I have mixed feelings about this brew.

On the one hand, the mouthfeel results are to my liking, and the lactose was a great addition! The porter style and flavor come through very nicely.

Now to the not so great. I realize now that I will never use another "fruit flavoring" in a beer that I brew, the taste is not at all what I expected. When you take a sip, the blueberry smell hits you first which is quite nice. Then you have a good porter flavor which is followed by "oh how nice, fake fruit!" Although my wifey actually really enjoys it, this alone has kind of ruined my love for this batch. I will however maybe brew it again in the future with real blueberries or even simply with vanilla to see the difference.

Thank you all for helping me decide what to do with this batch. I appreciate your input!

 

[Pumpkin-King]

One more thing I wanted to share are my projects I've been working hard on! Hopefully these will make brew day a little easier going.

Homemade Counter-Flow Wort Chiller and Magnetic Stir Plate, also homemade!

Anyway thank you all again and have a great evening!

 

[M4rotku]

Just a general comment, not quite related: Be sure to warn people if you share this beer that it has lactose in it. As a lactose intolerant person, I have generally been pretty good about watching out for milk products. I would never, however, have thought to encounter lactose in beer until i started looking into homebrewing. That much pure lactose could seriously mess with a guest's digestive system, and with your toilet. I always like to advocate for people to warn before sharing lactose-infused beer.

Sent from my C5155 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Pumpkin-King]

Not a problem at all. That's very true! A friend that works with me is lactose intolerant and I always warn which beers he can try when we get together. Thank you for the thought though!


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