So i brewed a brewers best milk stout kit (with some extras, recipes below) and, like always, it just doesnt feel right. The flavors are really close (though i detect *something* off but don't have a refined enough pallette to really describe it... i desperately need to get in touch with some local homebrewers so they can provide me feedback) but the mouthfeel is all wrong. It's thin and runny. I'll try and provide all the info about the brew:
1.25 oz Chocolate
8 oz Crushed Caramel 120L
4 oz Dark Chocolate
4 oz Roast Barley
Steeped 25 minutes @ 150 F
3.3 lbs Briess Special Dark LME + 3.3 lbs Pilsen Light LME (Full 60 minute boil)
.5 lbs Lactose (60 mins)
1/2 oz Millenium 17.4% (Bittering, 60 mins)
1 Tsp. Irish moss (15 mins)
1/2 oz Willamette 6% (10 mins)
3 gallon boil, dilute to 5 gal after cooling (boil kettle icebath method)
Nottingham Ale Yeast (wetted in 2 cups warm water + maybe 1/2" teaspoon table sugar)
OG: 1.094 FG: 1.024 ABV: 9.3% (via online calculator...Palmers book doesnt have a comprehensive enough chart! LoL)
Fermented at 65-70 F
Fast and violent primary fermentation- if i recall, it was just 3 days till airlock stopped. Was moved to a secondary on the fourth day and sat for two (maybe it was three?) weeks [Stupid brew journal didnt get the date recorded it seems]
5 day cold conditioning
Kegged. Attempted to simply carbonate at 6 PSI, 38F as per charts for 3 days but it simply wasn't picking up carbonation. Moved to 40 psi for a day and a half, 20 psi for two days, and now backing down to 6 psi to let it stabilize.
Issue #1: Couldn't get any head at all until it had sat under 40PSI for a day and a half. I still have to pour directly to bottom of the cup and now i generate a LOT of head that settles about 80% down to liquid. The foam is relatively sturdy (will hold up a bottle cap) but not stable (will absolutely break down before the glass is empty)
Issue #2: Mouthfeel is all wrong. Theres no body. No creaminess. It feels thin and runny.
Suspicions:
Suspicion 1: high abv should contribute to it being a bit runny, right?
Suspicion 2: (Listening to the Brewstrong mouthfeel episode right now) Over-carbonated. Positive that this is the case, but when i tried it before it was properly carbonated it was still thin feeling.
Suspicion 3: Too little lactose
Suspicion 4: Too little malt
So, does it sound like i'm on the right track with my suspicions? Does the recipe look solid? What tweaks would you recommend? I was also very concerned by the fermentation: 94->24 in three days-- is there reason to be concerned with that?
Thanks for all your feedback!