Oatmeal Coffee Cream Stout Question

[wyobouldering]

I've been contemplating an alteration to an oatmeal stout that infuses lactose and espresso into a five gallon batch prior to kegging. I remember reading a recipe for it somewhere, but can't find it again now that it's fresh in my mind. Therefore, perhaps some of you folks can throw some experience or educated conjecture my way. My questions revolve around two areas really:

1) Is adding espresso and lactose when kegging advisable at all? and
2) How much espresso and lactose respectively should be added to a five gallon batch?

If anyone has any thoughts, I'd appreciate any feedback.

 

[Rhoobarb]

I have nothing to offer right now; I just wanted to bump this up to the top of the reading order b/c it deserves an answer.

That said, I think there was an issue of BYO that addressed the use of coffee in brews. I'l try and dig it up. I've only used lactose recently, in an Imperial Russian Stout. That was in the last twenty minutes of the boil. It is still in the secondary and will be there for awhile.

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(added 6/25): Maybe this will help: http://***********/feature/1020.html

 

[wyobouldering]

thanks for the reply. I wound up having a friend that roasts his own coffee beans to roast me an espresso blend, using a 2 to 1 ration of decaffeinated beans so as not to mix too much of a stimulant with a depressant. I brewed ten ounces of espresso and dissolved 4.5 ounces of lactose into the solution and added it to the keg before racking. The finished product turned out quite nicely. It wasn't as creamy as a typical milkstout, and the espresso blended nicely with the full bodied stout. It has become a favorite of my neighbors, and will definitely be replicated in the future.