04 February 2010

All-Grain Milk Stout

I just had a long brew day. This was my first all-grain brewing experience, and I feel like it turned out pretty well, although I'll definitely change a few things in my next batch. Lots of fun, and hopefully the beer will taste amazing.

Here's the recipe I used.

7.5 lb Maris Otter malt
2 lb Chocolate malt
1 lb Crystal 20L
2/3 lb lactose
1 oz Northern Brewer (60 min)
1 oz Fuggles (30 min)
1 vial White Labs Irish Ale Yeast (WLP004)

(Note about that "2/3 lb lactose." The second beer I ever made was an Oatmeal Stout and I didn't have a scale at the time. I wanted to use about a quarter pound of lactose and eyeballed it. Today I weighed what I had left, shrugged, and decided to use it instead of the pound of lactose I bought yesterday.)

I ended up with a FG of 1.042, which was on the low side, but it came about because I had some temperature control problems. I think I understand the small glitches in my process, and I'll definitely do better next time.

What am I making next? Not sure. Maybe a witbier, or maybe I'll try my hand at another IPA.

(Update 2010-02-22: Measured final gravity at 1.010. Should be an ABV of around 4.2%)

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