Milk Stout Recipe (my first ever stout)

[cheshirehomebrew]

Hi all, here is the revised recipe I posed in another thread (link attached) and wanted some feedback.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/milk-stout-help-and-advice-needed.78406/#post-774713

I haven't brewed a stout before and I wanted to go with the old fashioned milk stout (as my dad called it) which I love but haven't had in years, I do love the bitter stouts as well and if this is a goer I might just make a bitter version too.

So here goes I would love to know what people think and I welcome all comments/advice regarding this, after all that's why I joined up in the first place.

Maris Otter - 2kg
Rolled Oats - 1kg
Crystal Malt (30) - 750gms
Flaked Maize - 500 gms
Lactose - 400gms
Chocolate Malt - 250gms
Roasted Barley - 250gms

Cascade hops - 10gms @ 60mins, 10 gms @ 30 mins and 30 gms at 5mins.

Batch size is 25 litres, bitterness comes in at 25 IBU's.
Am still playing with the mash temperature as I usually brew as cool as possible, however as its a sweet stout I was thinking of pushing this to 68 C but fermenting at 16 C.

EBC is 59.9, SRM says 30.4

Cocoa nibs, liquorice, coffee and vanilla may go in as additions once fermentation has taken place, and I hadn't planned on dry hopping unless anyone can suggest otherwise.

Thanks in advance

 

[Clint]

What IBU does that lot give? I'd be tempted to leave the extras out and see what the basic gives you.

 

[MyQul]

Mate, you're like a kid in a sweet shop. If this is your first stout I'd definately leave the cocoa neibs, liquorice coffee and vanilla alone. Id also leave out the flaked maize. There's no reason why you cant put it in but I dont recall ever seeing a stout reciepe with it in. You could also leave out the oats, although they do give a stout a creamy smooth texture.
As for the hop additions. Stouts are primariy grist driven. You dont need loads of late additions unless your making an American stout. One bittering addition at 60 mins will do the job
I made a sweet stout last week. Its almost done fermenting so I had a taste last night and it's lovely. Have a look at my reciepe

post 223 https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/myquls-brewday.60803/page-12

 

[ACBEV]

I agree with MyQul, for a first stout, its far to complicated. I did look at your other thread a few days ago and your recipe poked me in the eye for being out of kilter for me (proportionally), not enough base malt and a high percentage of some adjunts. You can brew a really good stout with a simple grist and add to it over time, with simple additions, then you'll know which bits work and you like.

My simple rule of thumb when designing recipes is... At least 65% base malts and limiting other ingredients to a maximum of 10% per ingredient. I only break this rule if I feel its really needed.

In English stout I really dislike using roast barley to any extent, traditionally it was rarely used, so I don't use it much.

For your recipe I would do away with the oats/maize and bring the base malt up to 3.5kg, swap the roast barley for chocolate malt and forgo the Cocoa nibs, liquorice, coffee and vanilla (this time).

 

[cheshirehomebrew]

Thanks everyone that's been a great help. I have brewed it now pretty much to the above grain bill, however I pulled the roast barley back to 200gms and added them in 20 minutes from the end, to lessen the impact of how harsh it can be.

There are no other additives going in this time around, its currently fermenting away nicely should be another 8 or so days till I can transfer to a carboy, but it smells good and looks good too, will no more once its transferred.

 

[cheshirehomebrew]

quick update on this, as its all bottled now. It tasted nice when I caught some of it as I syphoned into bottles. however the fermentation was only 4 days and I was expecting at least 10.

Was this anything to do with the higher temperatures I brewed at, I usually brew at around 62, this time it was around 68 degrees so am thinking not as much grain protein was converted to sugars, if so then it wont be very carbonated in the bottles

 

[stan.distortion]

Mate, you're like a kid in a sweet shop. If this is your first stout I'd definately leave the cocoa neibs, liquorice coffee and vanilla alone. Id also leave out the flaked maize. There's no reason why you cant put it in but I dont recall ever seeing a stout reciepe with it in. You could also leave out the oats, although they do give a stout a creamy smooth texture.
As for the hop additions. Stouts are primariy grist driven. You dont need loads of late additions unless your making an American stout. One bittering addition at 60 mins will do the job
I made a sweet stout last week. Its almost done fermenting so I had a taste last night and it's lovely. Have a look at my reciepe

post 223 https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/myquls-brewday.60803/page-12

A variant of that stout from earlier in that thread (occums razor) was my second try at AG, its only a few days in the bottle at the mo and I'm already blown away by it Made 2 gallons split into 2 demijohns with US-05 in one and S-04 in the other and was surprised by how much difference there is between them. The 04 batch is just a little too sweet at the mo 'cos the priming sugar is still in there but it should turn out really smooth while the flavours in the 05 batch are much more crisp and defined.

 

[MyQul]

A variant of that stout from earlier in that thread (occums razor) was my second try at AG, its only a few days in the bottle at the mo and I'm already blown away by it Made 2 gallons split into 2 demijohns with US-05 in one and S-04 in the other and was surprised by how much difference there is between them. The 04 batch is just a little too sweet at the mo 'cos the priming sugar is still in there but it should turn out really smooth while the flavours in the 05 batch are much more crisp and defined.

Glad you like Occums Razor. I really like US-05 for stouts but I prefer an English yeast for other English dark beers like porter or mild

 

[rank_frank]

you're bottling after a 4 day fermentation? What was your OG and FG? How did you know that the fermentation had finished?

 

[ACBEV]

you're bottling after a 4 day fermentation? What was your OG and FG? How did you know that the fermentation had finished?

My thoughts exactly! If the beer was in the FV for only 4 days, that is a very short time, whether its finished or not. I would have left it at least 14 days, before considering bottling.

 

[cheshirehomebrew]

No I left it in there for around 12 days or so but there was very little krausen after 4 days and it seemed to stop bubbling and producing CO2 from day 5, plus there was a ton of trub after 4 days and it didn't seem to increase in depth over the remaining 8ish days it was in there. Once in the carboy it didn't drop very much out either.

 

[rank_frank]

depending on the OG and temperature a lot of the fermentation might've been done in the first few days but it could carry on for some time afterwards. I've got a beer in my fermenter at the moment. It took 6 days to drop from 1.074 to 1.021 but a further 13 days later it's still going slowly and down to 1.010. I usually wait until the SG hasn't changed for 3 days to decide that fermentation is over.

What was your OG and what was your FG when you bottled?

 

[Zephyr259]

Was this anything to do with the higher temperatures I brewed at, I usually brew at around 62, this time it was around 68 degrees so am thinking not as much grain protein was converted to sugars, if so then it wont be very carbonated in the bottles

I was wondering if you took gravity readings, as I was curious about your efficiency and your grain bill has a heap of adjuncts and non-enzymatic malts so I'd have been worried about getting fully conversion. Also you really need these to confirm it's done, airlock, krausen and sediment can be a guide but none are definitive since buckets leak, krausen falls before it's done and sediment will compact over time even as more fines settle.

Not important but just a terminology nit-pick, starches are converted to sugar, not proteins.

Fermenting hotter will increase the speed, most of my standard abv beers look done in 3 - 4 days but will drop another couple of points before going static. 68F / 20c is a good temp for getting esters from an English yeast, what yeast did you use in the end?