Yeast for Oatmeal Stout

oswegan · 01-12-2009, 08:11 PM

Going for a smooth mellow taste.

Fermentis S04 or S05?

or

White Labs Irish Ale or California Ale?

Thanks!!

**DeathBrewer** · 01-12-2009, 08:22 PM

irish ale yeast will add a small amount of diacetyl, which can be very pleasant in a stout if not overpowering. california ale and US-05 are very similar strains that will make a nice, smooth, pleasant ale. not much experience with s-04.

**mmb** · 01-12-2009, 08:23 PM

I've used both S04 and US-05 on batches of Oatmeal Stout. S04 is my go to dry.

Freezeblade · 01-12-2009, 08:24 PM

+1 on S-04 or the Irish Ale yeast, I'm not big on S-05 or the Cali yeast, they just don't have enough character for me. IMHO

oswegan · 01-12-2009, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeathBrewer

irish ale yeast will add a small amount of diacetyl, which can be very pleasant in a stout if not overpowering. california ale and US-05 are very similar strains that will make a nice, smooth, pleasant ale. not much experience with s-04.

what does diacetyl taste like?

I'm going for a real smooth flavor like Ninkasi Oatis.

zman · 01-12-2009, 08:37 PM

I use Nottingham for Oatmeal Stouts have had pretty good success with it

**DeathBrewer** · 01-12-2009, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oswegan

what does diacetyl taste like?

I'm going for a real smooth flavor like Ninkasi Oatis.

diacetyl tastes somewhat buttery...it works well with a creamy oatmeal head.

i use it in my irish rye stout, recipe is in my pull-down menu.

menschmaschine · 01-12-2009, 08:42 PM

I used S-04 on an Oatmeal Stout that was delicious. The attenuation was lower than I would have liked, but that was my fault (mash temp high). No experience with S-05.

**Reverend JC** · 01-12-2009, 08:52 PM

I love S-04

For my personal preferences I stay away from everything that can leave diacetyl. Even for beers where the style states its "acceptable", I'm out. That slick, just at cheap microwave popcorn slickness is no good.

CBBaron · 01-12-2009, 09:08 PM

Short answer is Yes.

The long answer is it depends on what you want from your oatmeal stout.
An American style oatmeal stout is usually large roasty and uses a clean yeast like US-05 or Cali Ale.
An English style will be a little lower OG but sweeter and full bodied. S-04 will be lower attenuating and provide more character. Some of the english style liquid yeasts are also good here.
Irish Ale yeast and Nottingham provide different characters but both are somewhat cleaner and more attenutative than S-04.

My Smooth Oatmeal Stout in the recipe database is a lower gravity stout that uses S-04 to good effect. I am now drinking a bigger roastier Oatmeal stout made with US-05 that is also great but very different.

Just decide what you want from the yeast and pick the appropriate variety for your goals.

Craig