Recipe input on these extra ingredients?

There were a few errors on an order for my recent batch and ended up with a bunch of extra ingredients.

I do extract w/specialty grain steeping in 5 gallon batches, so if I end up with multiple batches here, that's alright. Here goes:

2 lbs English Roasted Barley
1 1/2 lbs Caramel 120L Malt
2 1/2 lbs Flaked Oats
1/2 lb Chocolate Malt
2.5 oz Chocolate Extract

Basically all I'm missing is yeast, extract, hops, and potentially adjuncts. I've got a double chocolate oatmeal coffee stout going now, so I'd like to avoid any redundancy, but I'm not opposed to other styles of stouts or really any beer style. I'm also not opposed to plus up this current stock with other grains to make a new batch.

First, put the flaked oats in your breakfast cereal cupboard. You'll get nothing useful from them without mashing them. But they make great oatmeal with the addition of some dried fruit and sweet spices, so you're not losing money.

Second, I love this game. You've got dark beer ingredients, so we'll start there.

You can make a nice Porter or Brown Ale with that list. 4-5 oz. 120L Crystal, that 1/2 lb of Chocolate, some pale extract, and 20-30 IBUs nets you 5 gallons of Brown Ale you'll be proud of. For Porter instead, add 2-3 ounces of Roasted Barley.

You could net 5 gallons of solid, simple Stout with 4-5 ounces of Crystal, a pound of Roasted Barley, and enough pale extract and hops to get to 1.050 and 30 IBU.

Go Belgian - 4-5 oz of Crystal, 2-4 oz of Roasted Barley, enough pale extract for 1.060, enough Continental hops for 20-25 IBU, and a strain like Wyeast Ardennes will net five gallons of funky goodness.

Cheers,

Bob

Could you elaborate on the oatmeal being useless without mashing?

I think I'll poke around some Belgian recipes. Would these ingredients lend themselves well to a Dopplebock?

Ungoliant said:

Could you elaborate on the oatmeal being useless without mashing?

I think I'll poke around some Belgian recipes. Would these ingredients lend themselves well to a Dopplebock?

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Flaked grains of all types must be mashed in order to gain anything useful from them. Simple as that, I'm afraid.

I strongly encourage you to brew more - a LOT more - before you attempt something like Doppelbock. Get some basic brewing under your belt before you go to extremes. I don't intend to rain on your parade; I want you to be successful, and Bock is a hard beer for even experienced brewers to brew.

Slay some goblins before you go after a Balrog.

Cheers,

Bob

Fair enough. Thank you for the honest input so far. This stout I'm brewing is literally my 4th batch.

I was asking about the flaked oats in regards to the science behind how mashing is the only way to yield what you need out of it, more out of curiosity than doubt.

There are variety of factors. First is that the flaked grains need the enzymes present in pale malt to break down their starches. They have a LOT of starches. When you start to dissolve the flakes in hot water, the starches are released. If you don't break them down enzymatically, they do nothing but add haze. They're also fatty; those fats can improve mouthfeel, but they also kill foam retention. Finally, unless you break down the starchy glop, it makes for difficult lautering. Pale malt has husks which are crucial in filtering the sweet worth during sparging.

There's more of course. But it's beyond the scope of this thread.

Okay so would it be accurate to say that steeping oats for 30 minutes doesn't cause the starches to be released, and even if it did a 90 minute boil won't break them down properly?

Yes, you would need to do at least a partial mash to convert the starch in the oats into fermentable sugar, otherwise you will have starch left over in your final beer.

Fantastic. I'll look into adjusting for that.

So I would do a partial mash with the grains that would usually be used for specialty grain steeping?

Yes and add about 1.5-2 lbs of pale 2-row malt. The pale malt is what has the enzymes to help break down the starches. You could also use Maris Otter, Vienna, Munich, or Pilsner malts.

EDIT: Those aren't the only malts you can use instead of pale 2-row. I just listed them so you didn't think pale 2-row was your only option.

Ungoliant said:

Okay so would it be accurate to say that steeping oats for 30 minutes doesn't cause the starches to be released, and even if it did a 90 minute boil won't break them down properly?

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Steeping does cause the starches to be released. That's why quick-cook oatmeal turns to glop when you pour boiling water over it. The enzymes in the malt convert the starches into sugars which the yeast can eat.

Cheers,

Bob

Okay, now I'm tracking like a Betamax.

Nice.

I've seen several recipes that use a half pound or less of oatmeal in the boil just for the mouthfeel, not for any sugars.

Most recently was a Saison, which is often cloudy anyway.