I’m looking to brew a sweet/milk stout but have never done one before. I’ve had pretty good success with doing a dry stout with maris otter, roasted barley, flaked barley, chocolate malt and black malt. How should a sweet stout recipe be different from a dry stout recipe. I was planning on adding lactose but wasn’t sure how much to add? Would adding in a crystal malt be helpful and if so what lovibond? What about honeymalt?
Thanks!
Lactose would be the defining ingredient differentiating a sweet stout from others. Being a mostly unfermentable sugar, it leaves the beer with a fairly high FG and some sweetness. The best ones IMO are balanced with a decent amount of roast and moderate IBU to offset any excess sweetness. I don’t brew them often (mostly as a base to add coffee beans) but here is what I did on the last one:
5.5 gallons
1.060
30 IBU Kent Goldings - 60 mins
82% 2 row
7% Crystal 80
6% Black Patent
5% Chocolate malt
1 lb lactose
WY 1028
Mash 151F/60 mins @ 5.6 pH
Hold 64F for 3 days, then warm up slowly to 70F until FG
The last time I brewed a sweet stout I used Blackprinz instead of roast barley. To me it tastes a lot like roast barley but is a lot mellower.