I need recomendations for my oatmeal stout recipe

My oatmeal stout seems to have finished aging and it tastes good. however I want to tone down the coffee after taste (it is not strong, but would like it more mild). I want to change the recipe as little as possible and did not know whether or not I should take out some of the chocolate malt or the roasted barley. I do not want to loose much color or other flavors. What would you recommend I do? I was thinking about taking out 2 oz of chocolate and 4 for the roasted barley. Which malt contributes more of the coffee after taste?

My goal was to make an extremely smooth, full bodied, and mild stout that is slightly more dry then sweet. thanks for any advice.

Recipe:

Pale ale malt (WILL CHANGE TO MARRIS OTTER NEXT TIME)
15 lbs

Briess Flaked Oats (WILL ADD 6 OUNCES NEXT TIME)
2 lbs, 0 oz

Briess Flaked Barley
2 lbs, 0 oz

Briess Roasted Barley (300 l)
2 lbs, 0 oz

Crisp Chocolate Malt
0 lbs, 12 oz

Briess 2 Row Caramel 60
0 lbs, 12 oz

Target, German Pellets
2 oz @ 60 mins

Wyeast Labs Irish Ale
2 ea

OG 1.050 (mash at 152)
SRM about 35
FR 1.012

I'd tone down either the roasted barley (say, take 8oz off) or the chocolate malt (bring it down to 6-8oz) to drop the roast a bit. Also, have you worked with MO before this? It might bring things a bit sweeter than the 2-row iteration.

smagee said:

I'd tone down either the roasted barley (say, take 8oz off) or the chocolate malt (bring it down to 6-8oz) to drop the roast a bit. Also, have you worked with MO before this? It might bring things a bit sweeter than the 2-row iteration.

Click to expand...

thanks I did not know that about marris otter I switched for the nutty/bready character

What i should have asked was which contributes more to the coffee after taste? (chocolate (500l) or roasted barley (300l))

For coffee, I'm inclined to say the chocolate contributes it more, but I'd wait for others to chime in as well, just in case .

Regarding the MO, this thread had some good info on its comparison vs. 2-row.

reduce the roasted and pick up debittered belgian black... it'll drop a huge amount of astringent coffee taste and not sacrifice color.

Agreed. I think the coffee flavors you're picking up are coming from the Roasted Barley. I'd reduce that a smidge. In fact, I'd reduce the RB until you get the percentages for Roasted and Chocolate malt down to 10% of the grist combined (1.5 lbs).

I'd also omit the flaked barley and add more pale malt. Let the flaked oats take center stage.

For that matter, I'd omit the flaked oats and use Fawcett's Oat Malt. You'll have to reset your mill to get a good crush, but DAMN they make nice oatmeal stout.

Cheers,

Bob

have brewed a couple of oatmeal stouts, with 1.5 lbs of roast barley...it's a lot of coffee/roast flavor.

as bob and others have said, reduce both chocolate and barley down, and you'll be good

Bob, could you elaborate more on your choice of Oat Malt over flaked oats? My oatmeal stouts have used flaked oats (10-20%) and honestly I couldn't say I noticed it in my beer. I'm also considering Golden Naked Oats too, but would like your opinion on the oat malt. Thanks!

I find oat malt gives a different flavor than flaked. I think, unit for unit, the oils and stuff imparted by the oat malt are more profound than flaked. There's also no runoff issues, because oat malt has lots of husk material to aid lautering.

Golden Naked Oats are a completely different flavor than either flakes or malt. I've never really used them, so I can't speak to them specifically.

Cheers,

Bob

Flaked Barley adds a lot of body...I'd keep it for sure. I agree with the above. You have too much roasted barley. Half - 3/4 lb of each is plenty. Also, try white labs Burton ale yeast