Milk Stout In A Keg For 8 Months?

[mattcarty]

hey

sorry if this is already in the archives, searched but no luck so please answer or point me in the right direction with hot linky goodness

when i used to bottle i would do a stout 6-8 months before winter so it was a nice drop by the time the cold kicked in

was thinking of doing the same with one of my spare kegs. is there any problem with kegging a milk stout now and leaving it in the keg till winter? never done a milk stout before and i didnt know if the lactose changed the shelf life at all or how long a beer can stay in a keg.

any tips etc would be great.

oh recipe BTW based on recommendations from other AHBers and recipes i have seen around the place came up with this little ditty

1 can muntons irish stout
750grams LDME
250grams dextrose
500grams lactose
1.5 kg coopers light liquid ME
50grams Goldings hops
safale SO4 yeast

any suggestions on recipe also appreciated.

cheers
carty

 

[boingk]

Looks alright to me, although I'd probably ditch the dextrose as theres already a lot of malt.

When were you thinking of adding the goldings?

- boingk

EDIT: By the by, just cracked a porter I did about 8 months ago. Awesome stuff. Age it up, it'll be grand.

 

[manticle]

hey

sorry if this is already in the archives, searched but no luck so please answer or point me in the right direction with hot linky goodness

when i used to bottle i would do a stout 6-8 months before winter so it was a nice drop by the time the cold kicked in

was thinking of doing the same with one of my spare kegs. is there any problem with kegging a milk stout now and leaving it in the keg till winter? never done a milk stout before and i didnt know if the lactose changed the shelf life at all or how long a beer can stay in a keg.

any tips etc would be great.

oh recipe BTW based on recommendations from other AHBers and recipes i have seen around the place came up with this little ditty

1 can muntons irish stout
750grams LDME
250grams dextrose
500grams lactose
1.5 kg coopers light liquid ME
50grams Goldings hops
safale SO4 yeast

any suggestions on recipe also appreciated.

cheers
carty

I would also leave the dextrose and maybe look at steeping a little choc malt black malt and /or roast barley.

Also when are the 50 g of hops going in? Are they bittering hops as that's quite a bit if you include the IBU of the kit (may be what you want - just worth considering). Some bittering is probably a smart thing given the potential maltiness.

As far as I'm aware, the lactose should be fine to age. I know you have to keep it in the fridge when you buy it and I know that it doesn't ferment out but I'm fairly certain it ages well. Never heard anything to the contrary.

 

[mattcarty]

to be honest hadnt thought much about the hops, the only reason im adding them is cause they are left over from another berw and someone suggested using them in a stout, any suggestions on when to add them or how much to add?

i will leave the dextrose out and maybe should i add less LDME say 500g? just dont want to overdo it too much if you guys think it will be too malty

cheers
carty

 

[manticle]

Nohing wrong with a malty stout. Your inclusion of a pale malt is a good thing too.

As for the hops - it does depend on how bitter you like things and you should have some bitterness to offset/balance the sweetness. Are you at the point where you do boils and add hops (apart from just finishing hops).

Absolutely not wishing to be patronising or insulting by asking this but do you understand how hops additions work and at what point they provide different things (bittering, flavour, aroma etc)? If you don't happy I'm happy to provide relevant info.

 

[mattcarty]

hey

not a huge fan of really bitter stouts, i like guinness but wouldnt want one much more bitter than that. dont really know how the hop additions really change but i have done a few recipes that require boiling and hop additions at different times and flame out etc, but not really knowing what i was doing just following the recipe

cheers
carty

 

[Wisey]

S-04 is a yeast not many like.

US-05 is a yeast I've had good results with - but maybe a lager yeast to take the edge off the flavours, my amber beers with lager yeast seem to strip all flavour - so in a stout with strong flavours this would make a subtle heavy beer?

 

[manticle]

You understand the basic principles though?

Early additions in a boil that's anything over around 40 minutes will provide mainly bitterness.
Additions around the middle 30 - 20 minutes out from end of boil) will provide flavour.
Additions toward and at the end will provide aroma (say 15 - 0 minutes out from end).

Obviously it's not cut and dried - additions that are mainly bitter may also provide some flavour, additions that are mainly flavour may also provide some bitterness or some aroma. There is crossover like a big venn diagram.

Bitterness is a great way to balance up sweetness (and vice versa).

The malt and the lactose will provide a good amount of sweetness so some bittering hops will be a good idea. EKG are quite low in alpha acid (which will be responsible for the bittering compound). However the muntons kit will be prebittered so you will need to work with that. From what I've found it's something between 25 and 30 but my findings were vague.

In addition, some of the specialty grains that you could steep that are appropriate for a stout can provide dryness and roastiness that will balance out the sweetness.

To make it less complicated I would try the following. Like any brew, if the results are not perfect (and they usually aren't) you figure out why and tweak the next one. This should give you a tasty extract/bits stout though with hints of coffee, chocolate, sweetness and roastiness.


Extracts: 1 can muntons irish stout
750grams LDME
500grams lactose
1.5 kg coopers light liquid ME

Grain: 50 g choc malt
100g roast barley
50 - 100g black malt

25g total EKG at intervals suggested below.

Method:

Crack grain or buy grain cracked
Soak in 4L hot water for 30 - 60 minutes. Try and keep temp around 70 for duration of soak if possible. Actual temp is not integral (best to be hot though) but good to maintain within~ 5 degrees C either side.
Strain liquid into pot. Rinse grain with similar amount hot water (total 6-8 litres). Discard grain.
Bring liquid to boil, add 400-600 g ldme.

Add 15g EKG, boil a further 40 mins (bittering hops)
add 10g EKG, boil a further 15 mins (flavour hops)

Add other malt extracts (dry and liquid) stir to dissolve.
Add 10g EKG boil a further 5 mins, (aroma hops).
Take off heat, stir in lactose.

Add to fermenter

Top up to desired level with cold water, allow to cool to 20-22 degrees

Stir vigorously

Add rehydrated Safale s-04.

 

[boingk]

Theres a champ graph going on around here somewhere, but I'll summarise it crudely with words until somone pops it up.

All characteristics can be derived from hops; aroma, flavour and bitterness. This is done with boiling in a malt/water solution. The characteristics all come in at different times - aroma peaks around 5 minutes, flavour around 20 and bitterness around 60.

So, for a good Goldings flavour burst boil for 20 minutes.

- boingk

 

[glaab]

Theres a champ graph going on around here somewhere, but I'll summarise it crudely with words until somone pops it up.

All characteristics can be derived from hops; aroma, flavour and bitterness. This is done with boiling in a malt/water solution. The characteristics all come in at different times - aroma peaks around 5 minutes, flavour around 20 and bitterness around 60.

So, for a good Goldings flavour burst boil for 20 minutes.

- boingk

 

[mattcarty]

ah cool thanks for that!