Milk stout, also known as sweet stout, can be traced back to the practice of blending milk and beer in the United Kingdom in the late 1800s. Milk stouts today don’t use milk but they are brewed with lactose (milk sugar) added to the boil instead. Lactose is an unfermentable sugar and gives the final beer some residual sweetness, hence the name sweet stout.
This recipe has been a favourite in our family for a long time, many people don’t like their milk stouts this sweet though. If you’re in that boat then you could try reducing the amount of lactose, lowering the mash temperature down to 65° or 66°C or upping the bitterness a little to make it seem less sweet. I wouldn’t try all three at once though. The lactose addition could be lowered down to as much as 250g (so it is 5% of the total grain bill).
Brew Size
28L boil volume, 23L fermenter volume, 19L packaged
Recipe assumes 70% efficiency
Adjust recipe based on your system
Grains
3.5kg Ale Malt (Gladfield, Malteurop, Bairds, Bestmalt, or even substitute for Maris Otter)
0.36kg Medium Crystal (or Caramalt)
0.36kg Light Chocolate
0.36kg Flaked Barley
0.12kg Roast Barley
0.5kg Lactose (add to the kettle with 5-10minutes remaining in the boil)
Hops
50g Golding @60min (or aim for ~33IBU)
Yeast
Nottingham (or your favourite English yeast – S-04, Windsor, Verdant etc)
Brew Steps
Adjust water to reach mash pH of 5.3
Mash at 67° for 60mins (mash thickness of 2.7L/kg)
Sparge and run off into kettle
Boil for 60mins adding hops and adjuncts per recipe, as well as any chosen kettle fining and yeast nutrient
Chill and transfer to the fermenter
Aerate/oxygenate by your preferred method
Pitch yeast when wort is below 20°C
Ferment at 20°C. When beer is between 1.020 and 1.026, let it free rise to 22°C
Let the beer sit at terminal gravity for a few days at 22°C if possible.
Crash, condition, package and enjoy
Vitals
OG: 1.052
FG: 1.014
ABV: 5.0%
IBU: 33
EBC: 74