Sweet Stout

Can a Sweet Stout be achieved without adding lactose? I am creating my first sweet stout and was wondering if this was possible. According to BeerSmith, I will hit all the numbers for a Sweet Stout per BJCP, but there is no way to calculate the sweetness of it. The characteristics of the Dry Stout and Sweet Stout are close, so is the sweetness of the beer really the deciding factor between the two?

Grain Bill (for 5 gal.):
6.75 lbs Dark LME
1.00 lbs 60L Crystal Malt
1.00 lbs Chocolate Malt
0.25 lbs Black Patent Malt
0.50 lbs Roasted Barley

Using Wyeast #1084 Irish Ale yeast.

If I need the lactose, when is it best to add?

Bump

Not sure about sweetness of the finished beer but add lactose at secondary because I added it in primary and it made it hard to tell sg and fg. Adding it after its done letting the yeast do its thing makes it much easier to test to see if its finished.

while the characteristics of a sweet and dry stout are close (SRM, IBU, etc) , there is a noticeable difference when it comes to the sweetness (think Guinness vs Youngs Double Chocolate). Similar brews but u can def get more roasted flavor out of the Guinness.. Most sweet stouts ive seen usually have a FG around 1.020, although BJCP says they can go as low as 1.012. Dry on the other hand need to go to 1.011 minimum to be considered correct to the style.

I usually add my lactose in the last 15-20 minutes of the boil, kinda of like a late extract addition, just to kill any germs or bad things that might be in it and also make sure its completely dissolved. Since it won't ferment theres no reason to boil it the entire time.

zmanzorro said:

Can a Sweet Stout be achieved without adding lactose? I am creating my first sweet stout and was wondering if this was possible. According to BeerSmith, I will hit all the numbers for a Sweet Stout per BJCP, but there is no way to calculate the sweetness of it. The characteristics of the Dry Stout and Sweet Stout are close, so is the sweetness of the beer really the deciding factor between the two?

Grain Bill (for 5 gal.):
6.75 lbs Dark LME
1.00 lbs 60L Crystal Malt
1.00 lbs Chocolate Malt
0.25 lbs Black Patent Malt
0.50 lbs Roasted Barley

Using Wyeast #1084 Irish Ale yeast.

If I need the lactose, when is it best to add?

Click to expand...

To your first question, no. You can have everything else in line and you'll come out with a stout, but not a sweet stout. Ditto above on adding the lactose at 10-15 minutes left in the boil. Depending on how sweet you want it, 1 lb. is a good starting point.

Steve

yso191 said:

To your first question, no. You can have everything else in line and you'll come out with a stout, but not a sweet stout. Ditto above on adding the lactose at 10-15 minutes left in the boil. Depending on how sweet you want it, 1 lb. is a good starting point.

Steve

Click to expand...

Actually you can. In Ray Daniels book "Designing Great Beer" he looks sweet stouts that made the second round of the NHC in 93 and 94. Granted there were only 2, but neither included lactose or any other sugar to sweeten. You can't make a milk stout without lactose, maybe that is what you were thinking.

As far as when to add lactose I think it might be a personal choice, Just remember that if you add it to the boil depending on when you add it, it affects hop utilization.

To keep a high FG without lactose, all I can think is: mash high and use 5% CaraPils. Of course, that doesn't help with an extract recipe.

Extract does make it tough. Crystal malt adds a certain level of non fermentable sugars. The darker the crystal the less fermentable it is, I believe, but am not 100% sure.