Looking to use brown sugar (priming) for an oatmeal stout recipe...any thoughts, experience, or constructive criticism? (using lactose too by the way)
I did it a few times. In my experience it won't make a difference what kind of sugar you use with the amount you will nee for priming. Especially in a stout. Cheers
Priming with flavorful sugars comes up from time to time and the general consensus seems to be that you don't use enough sugar at priming to get recognizable flavors and unusual sugars makes nailing down proper carbonation levels more difficult. I have tried bottling with DME, corn sugar, and table sugar. DME takes longer than corn sugar and table sugar, and I sense no differences between corn and table, besides price. Table sugar is cheaper, so for the last 4 years, when I have bottled, I used table sugar. I do read claims of people who prime with honey or molasses and say that it gives their beers an interesting twist, so I won't dismiss the possibility. For me, it's easiest to think of priming as a process for carbonating the beer, which means that I rely on earlier parts of the process for flavoring.
As said above, don't bother. I'd play around with some black strap molasses before brown sugar. I'd heat it up and add it to primary a week before bottling. I'd see how this tastes before adding lactose, and would generally lean away from lactose in an oatmeal stout anyway. Who knows, maybe the two will play nicely together. Maybe mix some molasses and molasses in a glass of water/milk before going towards the beer.
I've done it numerous times, great results Unfortunately made some nasty ways... So for now I'll work through my stock of 90% GMO corn sugar plus the brown sugar, then... maybe look into agave or stevia sugar!
Why would you lean away from lactose in an oatmeal stout? Also what is the difference carbonation wise between molasses as compared to sugar(brown, table, ect.)
The mosture content is higher in molasses and brown sugar than it is for table sugar. This adds uncertainty to the actual amount of sugar you are using to prime your beer. You might find some websites that give some guidance on how much to add, and then from there, you'll need to dial it in.
