Milk Stout is not a complicated beer to brew, but it rewards attention to detail. Pale malt forms the base of the mash here, and Challenger 7% carries the hop character through to the glass.
Recipe at a Glance
Recipe at a Glance
| Style | Milk Stout |
| Batch Size | 5 gallons (19L) |
| Boil Time | 60-90 minutes |
| Original Gravity | 1.044-1.060 |
| Final Gravity | 1.010-1.016 |
| ABV | 4.5-6.0% |
| IBU | 30-45 |
| SRM | 30-40 (opaque black) |
| Difficulty | Intermediate (all-grain) |
Brew Day, Step by Step
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1
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Mash · ~60 min Mash the grain bill, led by Pale malt, at a steady temperature to build the fermentable sugars this style needs. Sparge slowly so you do not lose efficiency. |
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2
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Boil · ~60-90 min Bring the wort to a boil and work through the hop schedule, starting with Challenger 7% . This is also where you will add any fining agent for a clearer finished beer. |
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3
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Ferment · 20C (68F) Pitch Wyeast 1318 London Ale III once the wort has cooled to fermentation temperature and hold it steady. Primary fermentation is the most active week, do not rush it. |
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4
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Condition · 4 weeks at 12C (54F) Rack to secondary (or leave in primary if your recipe calls for it) and let the beer round out at a cool, steady temperature. This step does more for the final flavor than people expect. |
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5
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Package · 1 day, then wait Bottle or keg once gravity has held steady for a few days in a row. Give it time to carbonate and, for bigger styles, additional time to mellow before your first taste. |
That’s the shape of brew day and the weeks after it. For the exact grain bill, hop schedule, and full step-by-step instructions with amounts, use the recipe card below.
What You Will Need
Sourcing your own ingredients locally is always fine, but if you want to skip a homebrew store trip, here is what’s in stock in our shop right now:
- Base and specialty grain: Grains & Adjuncts (e.g. Briess 2-Row Brewers Malt – 10 LB, Crushed)
- Bittering and aroma hops: Brewing Hops (e.g. HopUnion 6I-E91H-F8YE RiteBrew – Cascade Pellet Hops – 1 oz)
- Yeast: Brewing Yeast (e.g. LalBrew Verdant IPA Brewing Yeast (2 Pack) – Make Beer at Home)
- Secondary fermenter for conditioning: Fermenters & Carboys (e.g. FastRack 5 Gallon Hedpak with Cap (Pack of 2) | BPA-free)
- Priming sugar for bottling: Priming Sugar (e.g. Brewer’s Best Carbonation Drops 9 oz)
- General kit and tools: Homebrew Equipment (e.g. PERA 4 Pack Bottling Bucket Plastic Spigot)
- Pour it right when it’s ready: a tulip glass shows off the color and holds the aroma better than a straight pint glass
Serve It Right
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A Milk Stout is best served in a pint or tulip, it fits the body and carbonation of this style better than a straight pint glass. Here is one from our shop: |
Ingredients & Gear for This Batch
Grain / Adjuncts |
Hops |
Yeast |
Fermenter |
Priming Sugar |
Equipment |
Full Recipe: Grain Bill, Hops, and Instructions
Milk Stout
Equipment
- 1 Large stockpot or kettle
- 1 Fermenting vessel (bucket, carboy, or conical fermenter)
- 1 Airlock and stopper
- 1 Thermometer
- 1 Strainer or colander
- 1 Funnel
- 1 Hydrometer (optional but recommended)
- 1 Bottles or keg for bottling/kegging the finished beer
Ingredients
For the Mash – Liquor 13.5 Litres (23¾ Pints) – Mash Time 1 hr – Temperature 67°c/153 °F
- 9.2 lb Pale malt Quantity 4.2kg
- 10½ oz Chocolate malt Quantity 300g
- 10½ oz Medium crystal malt Quantity 300g
- 7 oz Roasted barley Quantity 200g
- 7 oz Flaked barley Quantity 200g
- 7 oz Special B malt Quantity 200g
For the Boil – 27 Litres (47½ Pints) – Boil Time 1 hr – 15 mins
- 1 oz (Hops) Challenger 7% When to add – At start of boil (IBU 21.7)
- ⅓ oz (Hops) Golding 5.5% When to add – For last 15 mins of boil (IBU 3.3)
- 1 tsp Protofloc Other – When to add – For last 15 mins of boil
- 10½ oz Lactose sugar Other – When to add – For last 10 mins of boil
To Ferment – 20°C (68°F) – Conditioning 4 weeks at 12°C (54°F)
- 1 Wyeast 1318 London Ale III
Instructions
- Heat 13.5 liters (23.75 pints) of water in a large pot or kettle to 67°C/153°F. Add all the grains and stir well to ensure that there are no dry pockets.
- Maintain the temperature at 67°C/153°F and let the grains mash for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour, strain the liquid (wort) from the grains into another pot or kettle using a strainer or colander. This is the first runnings.
- Sparge the grains with 27 liters (47.5 pints) of hot water at 77°C/170°F. This is the second runnings.
- Bring the combined wort to a boil, add 1 oz of Challenger hops and boil for 1 hour.
- Add 1/3 oz of Golding hops, 1 tsp of Protofloc and 10.5 oz of Lactose sugar at the last 15 minutes of the boil.
- After 1 hour and 15 minutes of boiling, cool the wort to 20°C (68°F) as quickly as possible. You can use an immersion chiller, a counterflow chiller, or a heat exchanger for this purpose.
- Transfer the cooled wort to a sanitized fermenting vessel and add the Wyeast 1318 London Ale III yeast. Seal the fermenter with an airlock and stopper.
- Ferment the beer for 26 days at a temperature of 20°C (68°F).
- After fermentation is complete, bottle or keg the beer and condition it for 4 weeks at 12°C (54°F).
- Enjoy your homemade Milk Stout!
Get the fermentation temperature right on Milk Stout and most of the rest of the process takes care of itself.
What Makes Milk Stout the Style It Is
There is nothing exotic about the roots of Milk Stout, it grew out of practical brewing choices, local ingredients, and the tastes of the people drinking it.
What you get in the glass is a beer that leans on pale malt and challenger 7% , with a finish shaped by Wyeast 1318 London Ale III. Get the fermentation temperature right and the rest of the process is mostly patience.
Style Characteristics at a Glance
- ABV: 4.5-6.0%
- Bitterness: 30-45 IBU
- Color: 30-40 (opaque black)
- Serving temp: 50-55F (10-13C)
- Glassware: a pint or tulip
- Food pairings: oysters, red meat stews, chocolate desserts
Common Questions
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes, the grain bill and hop schedule scale linearly with batch size. Just make sure your equipment, mash tun and boil kettle both, can actually handle the volume you are scaling to.
What is the biggest mistake homebrewers make with this style?
Rushing the schedule. Pulling a beer off yeast too early or skipping conditioning time is the most common way to shortchange a recipe like this one.
Can I substitute a different yeast strain?
You can, but expect the flavor profile to shift. Stick close to the same yeast family (English ale, American ale, Belgian, lager, etc.) if you want a result close to what this recipe is aiming for.
Keep Exploring
Once you have this one down, here are a few more homebrew recipes worth trying next:
Browse the full homebrew recipe collection for more styles, or if you are just getting into the hobby, start with one of our homebrewing starter kits for new brewers.
This recipe is for adults of legal drinking age. Please brew and drink responsibly, and always sanitize your equipment thoroughly to avoid infection.
