Belfast Bay Brewing Company's McGovern Oatmeal Stout Clone

10 # UK Pale Malt
1 # Flaked Oats
1.25 # Flaked Barley
0.5 # Roasted Barley
0.5 # Victory Malt
0.6 #Chocolate Malt

2 Oz EKG

Large Starter of Burton Ale yeast by White labs

Mashed for an hour at 158 with 31 quarts H2O (No sparge)

Preboil Gravity: 1.056
OG: 1.064
FG: 1.016

Blowoff Tube was NECESSARY with this brew.

Bottled straight from primary with 2.5 oz corn sugar and 2.5 oz dark DME

Room temp for 3+ weeks

Fridge for 3 weeks minimum.

Its got a few more IBU's than the original, so probably 1.5 oz EKG would be sufficient, but its basically spot on. Either way its delicious.

The apple aroma is from the yeast, check it out http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp023.html

I hope you enjoy it. This was an excellent beer.

PS. The high lipid content from the oats decreases head retention.

Recognizing that the yeast makes the beer more times than not, the LBHS was out of Burton and recommended English ale as a substitute that is similar but different. Otherwise, this is the recipe I used. I also used the stove-top without a proper MLT, teabag-in-sparge-water method (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/).
My measured OG was 1.056, which suggests below 60% yield - it was my first time trying this technique, and my steeping was awkward and apparently ineffective. Hope it doesn't turn out too too watery.

No it won't be watery. 1.056 is still a respectable OG for an oatmeal stout. It should be great!

So after 2 weeks, what is your gravity down to and how did the gravity sample taste?

Haven't measured it yet, but last night one of my kegs went bubbly, so I think it may be time to transfer to a keg for some secondary resting time. I also need to do a few bottles for a friendly competition coming up in February. I'll let you know how the recipe fares for sure.

Thanks, look forward to it.

Seemed very promising on its way to secondary (had to clear my primary bucket for the next batch). I bottled 6 1-liters and will keg the rest in a month or few I think. I have very high expectations for this batch now.

Yeah it's a really good beer. Enjoy!

This has me thinking how much I want to make this again.

This turned out great. It's a little mild because of my efficiency issues, but it is most excellent. SWMBO agrees, too. It's very smooth and would be acceptable to a wide range of audiences, I think. SWMBO predicts it will be a hit with the ladies in general.

Well done! Its really not a harsh stout at all. It has a wonderful array of flavors and is a crowd pleaser as a general rule. I'm glad it turned out as well for you as it did for me- even with a yeast substitute. Its good to know that yeast works well too. Thanks for the update!

How is it a month out?

Very good, continues to improve.

Do you have any left? How is/was it with the aging?