Imperial vanilla coffee milk stout

[FunkyAl]

Hi everyone, I recently bought my first brewing equipment after wanting to do it for so long, but only having the time since COVID means I’m now working from home.

I bought the northern brewer kit and made a fairly drinkable beer from an extract kit. Thanks to the forum I’d already decided on building a kegerator and set about it.

moving on quickly, I’ve bought another keg and I decided to do a whole grain beer and bought a few from Brewstore.

The next one I’m doing is their imperial stout, but I want to modify it. It’s the 11l all grain kit and I’m thinking of adding lactose (200g) to the fermenter, coffee beans (50g- whole) and a vanilla pod (Soaked in JD for one week) after fermentation and left in for around 48 hours.

please can you tell me if this sounds a good idea?
Also, thanks to forum, it’s an absolute goldmine if info.

 

[Leon103]

Personally I would aim for more coffee and more vanilla. I have always found it hard to get the vanilla to come through and my last coffee stout had 225g in it

 

[samale]

Or you could try adding vanilla essence at the bottling stage.

 

[FunkyAl]

Thanks for the advice, I’ve Got vanilla bean paste which may work. I’ll add a teaspoon at at time and adjust according to taste.

 

[AlDaviz]

The coffee,
I use ground and 100g For 23-25L batch that I leave after the boil In a bag to infuse into the wort. And stand for 20 mins. The Coffee comes through excellent

 

[FunkyAl]

Thanks AlDaviz, I’ve finished the brew today and I’m happy with how it’s gone so far. I think I’m going to split it into different versions. Added lactose near the end of the boil, so going to try coffee in a third, vanilla in a third and coffee and vanilla in the final one.

I didn’t see your message until I’d finished, so coffee will prob be added after fermenting.

fingers crossed it turns out good. I’vetasted the wort and can already tell it’s going to be a big beer.

 

[terrym]

I'm one who always says brew any kit as it comes first time, or at the very least part of it, then decide if you like it and if you do, how do you want to modify it, if at all, the next time you do it. And if you dont like it, you haven't wasted any 'extras'.