Next brew, Sippa's Brooding Cow (Milk Stout)

[Sippa]

So I have designed an all extract milk stout recipe, this will be the next brew as I want a nice stout for the cold weather.

1kg Dark LME
1kg Amber LME
1kg Wheat LME

Speciality grains

0.1kg Crystal
0.2kg Choclate malt
0.1kg Roasted barley

Adjuncts

0.5kg Lactose

Hops - 7 litre boil

10g Northern brewer @ 30min
10g Northern brewer @ 20min
40g Northern brewer @ 10min

OG 1.056 FG 1.023 IBU 24.6

1187 Wyeast

What you all think?

 

[pipsyboy]

Newbie alert.

Why is this all extract when there are grains?

 

[JWB]

Hi Ya Sipper

Ive tried a few stouts like your recipe but they always seem to turn out too thick and sweetish for my liking. With a FG of 1023 its gunna be sweet believe me!

How many Litres do you intend to make?

With 3 kilo of Malt extract I guess you need something like 25 or more litres?


maybe someone out there has the answer?


Cheers


JWB

 

[Cronessa]

Newbie alert.

Why is this all extract when there are grains?

There is only 400 grams of grains going in (as opposed to typically about 5kgs for an all grain) and they are not put through a proper mashing process like a partial mash or all grain mash.

The grain additions are used to impart some colour / flavour and a good way to pimp up a kit.

 

[Alex.Tas]

Newbie alert.

Why is this all extract when there are grains?

also, what separates this from a kit brew is that Sippa is using three tins of extract - rather than any kit cans (coopers lager, stout, heritage IPA etc).
The difference between tins of extract and tins of kits is that kit tins have some form of bitterness inside them.

So when you brew and all extract beer, you need to add hops to the beer to isomerise (convert) the bitterness from them.
What cronessa says above is also true.

either way, never stress about asking what may seem like a silly question, i guarantee you that at one stage or another every brewer didn't know the difference until they found out for themselves! If people give you grief about it, then their advice isn't really worth listening to anyway.

Back on topic, while I agree with JWB's statment that 1023 will be a high FG, using half a kilo of lactose wont add a huge ammount of apparent sweetness, in my personal opinion. I added half a kilo of lactose into a recipe of mine in Ian's spreadsheet and it bumped the gravity 8 points. I don't reckon 8 points of gravity gained from lactose would equal 8 points of gravity from something like cane sugar. All this is from personal experience rather than hard science mind you.

edit: clarified a bit better

 

[Sippa]

It is only a 21 litre batch.


All sugars have a relative sweetness. Relative sweetness is measured using sucrose as the control. Sucrose has a relative sweetness of 100, dextrose is around 75, fructose is 110 where Lactose has a relative sweetness of 16. In terms of how much sweetness Lactose adds it is quite low so it will add only a slight sweetness in relation to the added gravity.

 

[Sippa]

Just did this brew last night, It came out at OG 1061 which is a little higher than expected. Tasted a little as you do just to get a feel for the bittering imparted, I think Northern Brewer Hops will be a match made in heaven for this brew! initial taste gave that fresh spearmint hint of bitterness which matches the roasted, choc malt flavours nicely!

Can't wait to try it finished, will have missed most of winter to enjoy it through but I like stout anytime, just especially in the cooler months.

 

[Sippa]

Oh yeah I ended up using 1084 Irish ale yeast as the LHBS did not have 1187 at the time.