YooHoo In My Mouth?

(Milk Stout Recipe)

I like to try to brew beers that take me out of my comfort zone.  This time I made a milk stout.  

To be honest, I don't know much about milk stouts...or stouts in general.  It is by far my least favorite style of beer.  I'm sure it has to do with me not giving them a chance, so this is my experiment to find what I like and what I don't like.

When I brew beers that I'm not sure if I will like or not, I only brew one gallon batches.  That way I don't waste five gallons of beer that I really don't like (though I would still drink it).  

This is my one gallon milk stout experiment process.

Here are the ingredients ready for brewing.  I have never used chocolate malt, roasted barley, or lactose before.  I'm very interested in what flavors these will bring to the beer.

After milling the grain, the smell was very strong of chocolate.  I was very surprised.  It smelled like a Baby Ruth bar!

The mash was so dark.  I'm used to a mash that is amber in color or lighter.  The smell was wonderful!

After an hour, it was time for the grains to come out.  Once again, the wort was as dark as midnight,

The recipe called for Fuggle hops.  These give of a very earthy flavor and smell.

When doing only a one gallon batch, very little hops are needed.

I usually only use dry yeasts when doing one gallon batches.  US-05, a very general ale yeast used for many different style beers. 

The final result.  

I am very excited to bottle/try this one!  Sarah mentioned that it smelled like I was baking brownies during the boil.  That's got to be good right?  We will see.