'Legendairy' Milk Stout

[RZH]

Here's the recipe:

Thoughts please! :)

At the moment I'll probably use US-05 on this as I don't really want any yeastiness and even though it's a high attenuator it should still finish fairly high and retain sweetness.

However, I'll probably be brewing this one in the new year, which means I may have my stir plate built. My sister asked my what a wanted for Christmas and I handed her a parts list for a stir plate and sent her an eBay link to a 2l flask. If I get it built in time I'll be using liquid yeast for the first time - thinking WLP002 or WLP004.

Possible concerns for me:

• *Too much crystal? I want it sweet and 'caramely' but don't know if this will be too much.
  
• *Again, too much choc? Though I do want it nice and choccy.
  
• *Too much flaked business? Will this cause issues with stuck sparges/gumminess. I do want it nice and creamy. I've read that 10% is a good amount.
  
• *Not enough hops? Although I want no hop flavour, I'm aware a certain level of bitterness is required to balance the sweetness.

All thoughts welcome :)

 

[RZH]

Anyone? :)

 

[rodabod]

I like how you've added Munich. Is the aim to get things a bit biscuity/malty?

The amount of crystal doesn't sound unreasonable to me. I'd try and go for that WLP002 / Wyeast 1968. It's great, and would suit this brew.

 

[clibit]

Looks fine to me, crystal, oats, IBUs, yeast all OK.

My only comments would be about the dark roast grain make up. 6% choc, 2.7% midnight wheat and 1.3% roast barley. It'll work, but will be more like a porter, I think. Malty and chocolatey, maybe a little heavy. That may well be what you want. If you want more bitter dark roast, up the RB, or/and add black malt. If you want less heaviness, reduce or drop the Munich.

 

[RZH]

I definitely want the roasted characteristic, I could add an extra 200g roasted barley and drop the same amount in Munich? I do also have some black malt sitting around.

 

[clibit]

Yes that makes sense. Takes the roast barley to about 4%, still about half the percentage that Guinness has. But Guinness doesn't have chocolate - or crystal or Munich. I'm not really sure what to advise tbh, cos you are aiming for caramelly, chocolatey and roasty. It's about getting a balance that suits you. I have studied stout recipes to develop my own stout recipes. Checked out ingredients for stouts I've drunk.

Guinness is just pale malt with about 8% roast barley, I think, and flaked barley, and is easy to drink. What will big chunks of crystal, chocolate and Munich do to that? It will obviously be much more dense, and rich. Not a session beer. A heavy porter really. I've made rich malty beers I've really liked, like red ales with lots of crystal and Munich, and a little roast barley. But I've not added a lot of chocolate as well as those, so I'm not sure what that will be like. So I can't say yay or nay. I would think of a stout you want to base it on, and work from there. What is it about that stout you like, and what characteristics would you like to change?

 

[rodabod]

This is a very good beer:

http://www.wildbeerco.com/beers/millionaire/

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/wild-beer-millionaire/308039/

 

[clibit]

I think the nearest I've got to your recipe is this

Maris Otter Malt (84.39%)
Crystal 80 (5.06%)
Chocolate (4.22%)
Roasted Barley (4.22%)
Black Malt (2.11%)

It was great. And it would have stood some Munich, it was pretty light bodied actually, the US05 attenuated pretty well.

 

[RZH]

Good idea, thanks.

Milk Stout by Left Hand brewing is probably my favourite stout, it comes in special 'Nitro' bottles so that obviously influences the drinking a lot. It's also extremely smooth and drinkable for its ABV.

As such, I found a clone recipe and I've built mine around that. A clone of a clone if you like! I've upped the dark malts significantly - 8% roasted barley now. Was just a bit scared of using too much and it dominating everything. Should be more than enough malty sweetness to balance it. I've binned the Midnight Wheat off as I don't think I'll need it.

Recipe now looks like:

Pale Malt, Maris Otter (62.3%)
Roasted Barley (8%)
Munich (5.0%)
Crystal 130 EBC (5.0%)
Chocolate Malt (5.0%)
Flaked Oats (4.0%)
Flaked Barley (4.0%)
Lactose (6.7%)

Not sure what will come out, but I think it'll be tasty. Recipe formulation is still something of a dark art to me!

Thanks for all of your continued help!

 

[clibit]

I can't make any accurate predictions either, I've not used lactose, but it's looking like an interesting recipe.

 

[RZH]

What's the worst that could happen?! :whistle:

 

[clibit]

What's the worst that could happen?! :whistle:

Absolutely! :thumb:

 

[W0nderW0man]

How did it turn out?