This will be my entry for the Thornbridge/Waitrose Great British Homebrew challenge. I’m a bit last minute with this brew, but it should be ok in time for the 31st July deadline. I’m hoping that someone will put me straight if I’m wrong here, but I’m thinking the lactose puts this beer into the Specialty Beers category; as it contains a “non-core brewing ingredient at a level intended to impart a distinctive and discernible flavour or character“. It’s my first attempt at a sweet stout, and after having tasted the wort, I decided that the amber malt has added a subtle biscuit flavour, and hope this carries through into the finished beer. For this reason, I’m calling this a Malted Milk Stout.
Original Gravity (OG): 1.057
Final Gravity (FG): 1.024
Alcohol (ABV): 4.4%
Colour (EBC): 85
Bitterness (IBU): 27 (Average)
3.23kg Pale Ale Malt (Golden Promise)
0.52kg Roasted Barley (de-husked)
0.44kg Pale Crystal Malt
0.37kg Flaked Oats
0.27kg Amber Malt
0.23kg Lactose – Milk Sugar
30g Amarillo (leaf) (8.7% Alpha) @45 minutes from the end (boil)
Safale US-05 Ale Yeast (dry) 1pkt of 11.5g
Strike temp of 80C, 12.4L liquor for 4.83kg grain. Mashed in at 69C (single step infusion). Mashed for 75 minutes. First runnings 1.090. Sparged at 76C 18.0L liquor. Didn’t take a reading for pre-boil wort. 60 minute boil.
At 15 minutes from the end of the boil, I added the milk sugar to the copper (which I had dissolved into 1/2 litre of boiled water), along with the immersion chiller and protofloc.
I’m not sure what the final gravity will be, and the FG should (hopefully) finish a lot higher that the 1.012, but BeerSmith didn’t seem to account for the lactose, neither did it seem to adjust the FG when I raised the mash temp. Hopefully it’ll finish nearer 1.018 and the 5.2% abv stout that I’m shooting for. Edit: It finished much higher – yet still within the BJCP style guidelines – at 1.024, making this a 4.4% beer. Tasting good!
I collected 19L of wort, post boil, with an OG of 1.057. Pitched the dry yeast at 20C.
29/06 1.038
02/07 1.033
05/07/1.024
09/07 1.024 – bottled 18L / batch primed with 78g sugar.
broadfordbrewer 
By the sounds of it, that is going to taste lush!
It better had! It’s a totally made up recipe, so there is a decent chance it’ll smell like wet dog.
So glad you tagged Lactose in your post. I’ve been planning on writing an article about added lactose to Stouts & Ales, so I’ll get back to you for some more info once I get writing.