specific gravity too high to bottle?

I recently brewed the Brewer's Best Milk Stout, which uses LME plus lactose and maltodextrin. The original gravity was 1.060, which is within the specs for offered in the instructions. Now after about 1 month in secondary, the beer is is holding steady at 1.030, which is apparently too high (specs indicate 1.020 - 1.024). I'm nervous to bottle in case they will explode. I tried adding some dry ale yeast (Safale US-05) to try and kick the fermentation on, …
Category: Mac

Vegan option for lactose?

I have been vegan since 2000. So lactose is out for my brews. What would be a good substitute? I have seen people suggest maltodextrin as it is an unfermentable sugar, but it doesn't add any sweetness. Others have suggested adding an artificial sweetener to add some sweetness. Which basically means adding two things to get the effect of lactose. Anyone have any other ideas or experiences?
Category: Mac

Is this final gravity too high?

I brewed a Chocolate Oatmeal Milk Stout with an OG of 1.062. After 2.5 weeks of what seemed like active fermentation, it's only at 1.030. It's been at that for a week. It tastes like a it will be a good stout, but the FG seems high. There is 1 lbs. of lactose in there, which might be the reason the gravities are higher. Any ideas? Thanks.
Category: Mac

Amount of lactose (or milk?) to make a real 'Cream Ale',

So I'm brewing the recipe below for my wife. (She wanted a "fruity" beer.") It was listed on beersmith.com as "Strawberry Cream Ale". I asked at the LHBS, and they confirmed what I thought, in that there was no lactose, so this isn't a true 'cream ale'. It's in the mash right now, and I was wondering, is there a way to make this into a true cream ale? How much lactose should be added for a 5 gallon batch? …
Category: Mac

I need some clarification on the use of Lactose

I am going to try to brew a Russian Imperial Stout with the intent to have something more along the lines of a High Gravity/Desserty type beer similar to Bells Batch 9000. I am using a kit recipe and modifying it with a little less hops, adding cocoa and vanilla bean with bourbon and american oak with lactose for body/sweetness. I am very familiar with alcoholic fermentation because I make wine for a living. I will be kegging this beer …
Category: Mac

Dissolving Malt Extract for priming

I have a stout I'm going to be bottling soon and unlike past recipes I've brewed which have called for corn sugar for priming, this calls for dry malt extract and lactose. Typically I've dissolved my corn sugar in a small amount of sterilized (boiled) water to easily introduce it and I'm wondering if there's anything special I should do in this case?
Category: Mac

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