Milky NEIPA Lactose Indecision

[gerald8_kop]

Hey

Having done my first ever all grain (Totally Tropical by James Morton - currently cold crashing) I wanted to do something similarly interesting and hoppy but different enough to feel like I'm experimenting and learning (as I'm obviously an artisan of pale ales now ).

Don't think I I've ever had a NEIPA milkshake or similar but do have a love for milk stouts so I thought I'd sate my curiosity with this recipe:

Brewfather 19L Batch

What do we think to the lactose as a percentage of the grain bill? It seems pretty restrained as I've seen others of up to 15 percent but I don't know enough to gauge to what extent the oats will compensate/compliment it being only a 4 percent addition. I'm not wanting my first attempt to be anything extreme but I'd be disappointed if I couldn't tell that it was in there.

Should I run with the recipe and use it as a future point of reference? Would upping the amount of lactose run the risk of imbalance? Would going with 4 percent and then adding more at bottling if desired be more sensible?

Thanks!

 

[gerald8_kop]

Perhaps I should add that the original recipe suggested the option of adding vanilla too but I removed that since it seems a bit of a faff for now and would make deciphering the effect of different variables that bit harder.

Don't know if it's removal would open the door to adding more lactose with vanilla being sweet.

EDIT: Saying that, a lazy search on youtube suggests it's easy enough. If I did 12L without, and 5L with then how much would suffice - half a bean?

 

[strange-steve]

With regards to the lactose, I recently brewed a chocolate milk stout with 500g of lactose which was about 9% of the grain bill. I've only just had a sample of it and you can definitely taste the lactose in it. It's not especially sweet, even with a high FG of 1.022, but it does add a load of mouthfeel. So if you wanted to go a bit higher than 4% then you definitely could, just bear in mind the impacts that will have.

I also added vanilla to mine and I took a very easy option, I chopped 2 pods into a little vodka, left it overnight, dumped the lot into the FV after primary fermentation, andeft it for about 10 days. It didn't really add much to be honest, the flavour was very subtle to the point I added some vanilla extract when I kegged it.

 

[gerald8_kop]

With regards to the lactose, I recently brewed a chocolate milk stout with 500g of lactose which was about 9% of the grain bill. I've only just had a sample of it and you can definitely taste the lactose in it. It's not especially sweet, even with a high FG of 1.022, but it does add a load of mouthfeel. So if you wanted to go a bit higher than 4% then you definitely could, just bear in mind the impacts that will have.

I also added vanilla to mine and I took a very easy option, I chopped 2 pods into a little vodka, left it overnight, dumped the lot into the FV after primary fermentation, andeft it for about 10 days. It didn't really add much to be honest, the flavour was very subtle to the point I added some vanilla extract when I kegged it.

Okay thanks. Might round it up a bit then.

As for vanilla I think you actually replied at the same time as I was editing my post.

'EDIT: Saying that, a lazy search on youtube suggests it's easy enough. If I did 12L without, and 5L with then how much would suffice - half a bean?'

Consensus seems to be 2 pods per 5gal so I thought half a pod for 5L would be fairly in keeping unless you encourage me to use an entire one.

 

[strange-steve]

Consensus seems to be 2 pods per 5gal so I thought half a pod for 5L would be fairly in keeping unless you encourage me to use an entire one.

You could try that, but as I say vanilla is a very subtle flavour. Of course if you find you want more then you could do as I did and just add a little vanilla extract at bottling. It's easier to add flavour than to remove it so a light touch is often better with flavourings.