Bottling a coffee stout with Lactose? Many questions

[cletushomebrewing]

Hi guys,
So my brew buddy and I are bottling up our Coffee Stout tonight, it was loosely based on the Founder's Breakfast stout all grain recipe with no coffee in the boil but instead added to secondary with some Mexican cocoa nibs. OG was 1.070, final gravity of 1.018.. In the interests of experimentation, we are going to do half with normal bottling sugar and half with lactose....
My questions is ......is this a good idea? And in using the lactose for bottling, do we also use bottling sugar as well? I don't want a overly sweet beer.
Anyone else done this? When I do a search, I see a few people who have added lactose to the boil but not bottled with it? thanks for help.

 

[nicklepickles]

dont bottle just with lactose. Lactose is an unfermentable sugar, so no carbonation would be made. Bottle with a mix of lactose (to taste) and dextrose or glucose (standard amount).

 

[wilconrad]

Lactose will gives your beer added body & sweetness because the yeast won't eat it (it's unfermentable). It won't work for bottling, because the yeast won't eat it (and thus no C02 will be produced). You can add the lactose at bottling to experiment, but you'll still need priming sugar as normal (dissolve both together and add).

 

[cletushomebrewing]

Thanks Guys. Now the question will be how much? Any suggestions.

 

[jimmy-blue-eyes]

5 gallons? Priming sugar 5 oz....lactose...6 oz....

 

[wilconrad]

I've used 1lb of lactose in a 5gal batch of milk stout in the past, turned out well. I'd recommend that ratio.

 

[rocketsan]

I've used 1lb of lactose in a 5gal batch of milk stout in the past, turned out well. I'd recommend that ratio.

Me too. That's my go to amount for 5galons


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[jimmy-blue-eyes]

My mentioned ratio was from a kit I made in the past, thought I might try more lactose in the future, so go with the other guys on 1lb of lactose.....but 5oz of priming sugar is plenty for a 5 gal batch.

 

[wilconrad]

Yes, 5oz of priming sugar is definitely plenty for a stout. You may want to back that down a little as stouts are not typically highly carbonated. 4-4.5 oz may be a better target, you can use an online calculator to dial it in if you like.


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[cletushomebrewing]

Thanks for everyone's help. we did half the batch with .5 lbs of lactose....pretty sludgy stuff, but I think it will be nice. The coffee was more pronounced that expected so I think it might be very nice

 

[rgregoryirving]

Sorry to bump an old thread. Cletus, how did the batch that you added lactose to turn out? I'm looking to brew a coffee stout and I'm toying with adding lactose and I am just hoping to get some thoughts/advice.

Thanks in advance.