Beer Forum

So I'm brewing my first milk stout and I also used beersmith for the first time ever.

My og including the 2 lbs of lactose was 1.092. It didn't seem like beersmith accounts for the unfermentability of lactose in estimating my final gravity. It estimates it at 1.02 but that seems like my attenuation would have to be crazy high to account for the lactose sugars.

I'm wondering how many gravity points a pound of lactose will raise the gravity and how I can get beersmith to calculate it correctly. My current gravity reading is 1.03 is that good for 1.092 starting and 2 lbs of lactose?

Also I was thinking about putting some vanilla extract in the beer at bottling. I used the eyedropper method with a hydrometer sample and the vanilla extract just seemed dull and not a fresh vanilla that I am going for. Does anyone have suggestions for getting that fresh vanilla flavor and aroma?

I have seen 1.030 bandied about as a number before. At 2 lbs in 5 gallons, that's .030*2/5 = .012. So you started with a fermentable gravity of 1.080, and you have finished at 1.018, something like 77.5% ADF. The way to get Beersmith to do this correctly is just to leave it out of your recipe in Beersmith, and mentally subtract that 0.12 whenever you compare your actual reading to what Beersmith predicts.

I suggest a tincture made from a whole vanilla bean in bourbon, added to taste at packaging for your vanilla.

siwelwerd wrote:I suggest a tincture made from a whole vanilla bean in bourbon, added to taste at packaging for your vanilla.

Thats a good Idea!

Do you split the vanilla bean when making the tincture or just let it be?

You need to split the beans, scrape out the pulp, and then add it all to the bourbon (hulls and all). Just run it all through a strainer when you add the tincture to the keg.

how long does the vanilla need to get into solution for a tincture?

Taste it as you go. Couple days to couple weeks depending.

Unless you are making 10 or 15 gallons, 2 pounds of lactose is WAY WAY WAY too much. You're going to have a final gravity of like 1.030. Yuck.

1lb/5 gal is the 'standard'...