My Milk Stout Brings All The Boys To The Yard - 2025

Today I’m brewing a beer that I really love, and haven’t brewed recently, my Golden/Blonde Milk Stout. I’ll be donating this beer to pour at a local homebrew festival in February. If I’m remembering correctly, this beer took bronze at Beehive Brew-off for Spice Herb and Vegetable Beer at least two years in a row, but I’m pretty sure it was actually three years in a row. It was also a crowd favorite at our club booth at the Mountain Brewers Beer Fest in Idaho.

One of the things I love about this beer is that the color looks like a pale ale, but the flavor and aroma are straight up rich and roasty stout due to the coffee toddy and the bomb tincture. It tastes and smells so different from how it looks, it’s a complete mind f’ beer. It leans sweet and malty, but not cloying. Today’s version has a couple minor tweaks compared to the last version. I’m using Proximity Pale Malt instead of Maris Otter, which will likely result in a little less malt-derived perceived sweetness. I'm also toasting the flaked oats, something I've always wanted to try but apparently never planned far enough ahead. The maillard reactions that occur when toasting oats is said to give you more complexity including some nuttiness that you don't get without it. More info on the process below. I’m using LalBrew® House Ale for the yeast. House Ale is described as follows:

LalBrew® House Ale is a next-generation performance yeast strain that is extremely fast and incredibly clean, making it the perfect versatile house strain to meet your brewing needs.

Selected by our partner Escarpment Labs (ON, Canada) for its superior fermentation performance, this strain allows brewers to achieve greater efficiency with faster fermentations, shorter maturations, high stress tolerance, excellent repitchability, and quick cleanup of off-flavors like acetaldehyde and diacetyl.

LalBrew® House Ale is suitable for a wide range of beer styles, including IPAs, Blond Ales, and Stouts, due to its neutral fermentation profile.

• Faster fermentations – to save time and space.​ 
• Shorter maturation times – accelerated clean-up of diacetyl and acetaldehyde.​ 
• High stress tolerance – capable of handling difficult fermentations.​ 
• Excellent repitchability – genetically stable and proven consistency in key brewing parameters.​ 
• High FAN uptake – more stable final product.​ 
• Neutral flavor profile – Versatile for a wide range of ales

Finally, I’m reducing the mash temp slightly because I think it could benefit from a little more restrained sweetness. Also, I tend to shoot for more tailored water profiles nowadays, so this will use the Amber Balanced (7-17 SRM) profile from Beersmith. Hopefully this beer is as well received here in Florida as it was in Utah and Idaho. Here’s the recipe as I’m brewing it today:

Target OG: 1.070

Target FG: 1.020

IBU: 19.1

ABV: 6.4

8.75# Proximity Pale Malt

1.00# Flaked Oats (either toasted or untoasted)

1.00# Gambrinus Honey Malt

1g BrewTan B (Mash)

0.75 # Lactose (10 min)

3.0 ml Hopshot (60 min)

14g EKG (10 min)

28g EKG (0 min)

Wyeast Yeast Nutrient

4.66g BCAA (10 min)

Whirlfloc

LalBrew House Ale

Zinc Buddy

Coffee Toddy (at kegging)

The Bomb Tincture (at kegging)

Mash at 152F, 90 minute boil, ferment at 61F, raising temps to 66F over the course of a week.

Toasted Flaked Oats Instructions

As mentioned above, toasting the flaked oats can add a layer of complexity to your beers. Joe Aruscavage was a member of my homebrew club back in Utah, and employed this technique in most of his beers that called for flaked oatmeal, including his award-winning Oatmeal Stout. I'd always wanted to try it myself, but most brewers will recommend you do it a few days in advance as the character from the toasted flaked oats improves when left out to breath over a few days. In my case, I always forgot to do it a few days ahead of my brew day, so this is my first time trying it. Here's the process I'm using:

1. Set oven temp to 325F
2. Use a cookie sheet and spread the oats out into an even layer. You can optionally line the pan with parchment paper which can make it a little easier to remove the oats after you're done toasting.
3. Transfer the pan to the oven and set a timer for 10 minutes. 
4. After 10 minutes, remove from the oven and give it a gentle stir with a spatula. Spread it back out evenly and put it in the oven for another 10 minutes.
5. After 10 minutes, remove it again and give it another stir before returning it to the oven for the final 10 minutes (30 minutes total).
6. Remove the pan and let it cool.
7. Transfer the oats to a fine mesh, paper bag, or even a grain sock. Being in Florida and the multitude of little critters we have, I put mine into a fine mesh paint strainer bag. Allow them to breathe/off-gas for at least three days, and up to a week before brewing. 

Note: The aroma coming off the toasted oats was pretty amazing. Similar to oatmeal cookies but without sweetness and additional spices. I'm really excited to see how this impacts the finished beer.

The Bomb Tincture Instructions 

6 oz Vodka - Any decent one will do

1 Vanilla Bean, split and scraped, chopped into 1/4” pieces

3 oz Cacao Nibs - I prefer TCHO Roasted Cacao Nibs

1. Mix the vodka and vanilla bean (and parts) in a tight sealing jar like a jelly jar or mason jar. Shake every day, several times, for 7 days. 
2. Add the nibs for another 4 days, continue to shake everyday.
3. Strain the nibs and vanilla out of the dark extract. I have a stainless steel pour over coffee filter that I like to use. Discard solids.
4. Place the extract in the freezer overnight.
5. In the morning, carefully scrape out the fat cap that may have formed and discard. I don’t usually get a fat cap with TCHO nibs, it just depends on the fat content.
6. I use the entire tincture in this beer and add at packaging along with Coffee Toddy.

Coffee Toddy Instructions

I like to use Ethiopian beans for the toddy because I never seem to get the dreaded green pepper character with them. For this batch, I decided to go with Ethiopian Guji Wush Wush from a local roaster named Day of the Dead (D.O.D.) Coffee Roastery. D.O.D describes this coffee as follows:

Sourced from the Guji region of Ethiopia, these beans are meticulously roasted to perfection, resulting in a vibrant and aromatic cup of coffee. With notes of floral jasmine, ripe berries, and a hint of citrus, this medium roast is perfect for any coffee enthusiast looking to elevate their morning routine. Enjoy the unique taste of Ethiopia with every sip of our premium Guji Wush Wush coffee.

Flavor Notes: Berry, Strawberry, Red Wine, Jasmine, Dark Chocolate

For 5 gallons of beer you’ll need:

3 oz fresh coarsely ground beans

3 cups RO or filtered water

1. I usually bring the water to a boil in a microwave safe measuring cup for sanitizing as well as driving off O2, then chill.
2. Add the chilled water to a French press then add ground coffee and cold steep in the fridge for 24 hours.
3. Add to beer at packaging.

Water Profile

Target Water Profile
Ca	Mg	Na	SO4	Cl	HCO3
50	10	15	75	63	40

To 11 gallons of RO/distilled water, add the following salts:

• 2.6g Gypsum
• 4.3g Epsom salt
• 5.4g Calcium chloride
• 2.3g Baking soda

Brewing Notes

Mash pH was low so I added 1/4 teaspoon of chalk after the initial pH reading. I waited about 15 minutes then took another reading and it was at 4.98. I added about 1/8t of chalk then took another reading after about 15 minutes which read 4.99. Rather than risk overdoing it with the chalk, I decided to leave it as is. In hindsight, I should have checked pH before adding an acid to the mash. No other issues with this brew session. I chilled down to about 54F then let it sit for 15 minutes before transferring to the fermenter. By the time I got yeast pitched and wort oxygenated, the temp was 62.8F. 

Session Readings
Beginning mash pH	4.85
Ending mash pH	4.98
1st running gravity	21.4 (1.087)
Pre-Boil gravity	11.2 (1.0 44)
Pre-Boil pH	4.98
Post-Boil gravity	17 (1.068)
Post-Boil pH	4.92