When should I add lactose...

…to the boil. Brewing a cream stout this weekend. Thanks in advance.

I add mine on bottling day with the priming sugar.  That way I can figure out if I want to add a little or a lot.  If you add it in the boil before fermentation, you don’t know where your final gravity is going to be at, so why would you want to guess.  That’s my humble opinion.  After you brew the same recipe a few times, you might get a feel for how much you like.  But you can safely add on bottling/kegging day without risk of overcarbonation or off-flavors, so why not.

I’m with Dave.

Recipe is out of Jamil’s book, but it doesn’t specify when to add it. The OG is listed at 1.060, finishing at 1.024

I fall into the last 15 minutes of the boil category.

But Dave’s advice may be better for you. Ive brewed my Sweet Stout enough times to know how much I like.

Me too, because I made a milk stout recently, adding it to the boil and I had a tough time reconciling the high final gravity.

Makes sense to me too. Thanks Dave

I am thinking about making a cream ale, and it suggests that I put 8 oz of lactose and boil it with the beer.  But, after reading this I should just mix it with the priming sugar then boil it and then bottle?  Newbie here…

First off, never heard of adding lactose to a cream ale. Bad idea IMO. Cream ale is a style that is well attenuated and has a light drinkability. Lactose does the opposite - it makes beer full bodied and sweet. It’s basically the ‘sweet’ in a sweet stout. Regardless, I add it in the boil.

Good advice.  Lactose isn’t needed in a traditional cream ale.  It’s called “cream ale” meaning like it’s the “best ale” or “cream of the crop ale”, not because it has actual milk sugar in it.

Agreed.  A cream ale should be light and crisp.  Sounds like whoever added the lactose to the recipe fell for the myth that it should be “creamy”.

Dave, that’s the first time I’ve heard that explanation.

The OP refers to a cream stout not a cream ale.

Good catch.

This thread was resurrected from four years ago.  The highjacker said only “cream ale”.  My more recent response was to him, not to the OP.

DOH!  You mean we’re supposed to read before replying?

Holy cow. I didn’t even catch that Dave.

Ha! I didn’t realize it was a resurrected thread that got redirected…oops

Yeah, I was responding to mattmartin3053 who resurrected the 5 yr old thread today - he asked for advice on lactose in cream ale.

My bad for resurrecting it. I was just looking for some advice and came across this post. I’ll create a new thread next time

Well, in that case…we were right!