Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Three Week Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

Grain Bill
8lbs Maris Otter
1lb chocolate malt
1lb flaked oats
12 oz roasted barley
9oz Patagonia perla negra 340L
6oz crystal 120
10oz unsweetened cocoa powder, added with 10 minutes left in the boil.

Hop Bill
60 min - 1oz Kent Goldings
60 min - 1oz Fuggles (US)
5 min - 1oz Kent Goldings

Mash temperature: 156 F
Mash time: 60 min
Mashout?: No
Sparge temperature: 170 F

ABV: 5.8%

This recipe was based on 85% brewhouse efficiency. Adjust up or down as needed.

I kegged this recipe, and force carbed at 50psi for 5 minute and then let sit at 12psi for five days. It is carbed and served on regular CO2, not nitrogen. If you're naturally carbonating in a bottle, it will take longer than three weeks to go from grain to glass.

This was my fourth original recipe, but only the first one to actually make me say "wow." I was planning on letting this one condition in the keg for a few weeks, but was very pleasantly surprised to find it delicious so soon. Not to toot my own horn, but this is one of the best stouts I've ever had.

The Patagonia Perla Negra is a dehusked roasted barley malt. It comes in three roasted levels, with the 340L being the lightest roast of the three. I don't know if this is integral to the recipe or not. I added it on a whim since my LHBS owner really talked it up. Just nibbling on the grain, I loved it. It was much less bitter than comparable roasted malts. Maybe it's the lack of husks?

The only change I may make next time around is to cut back the Fuggles hops by half an ounce maybe. I'll probably try this and report back here after tasting.

Ya you're a bit high on the ibu style guidelines, so dropping the ibu some would be good.

I'm thinking of doing an oatmeal soon. Maybe I'll try it. I prefer the ibu to be a bit lower, so I may aim for 25 ibu

insanim8er said:

Ya you're a bit high on the ibu style guidelines, so dropping the ibu some would be good.

I'm thinking of doing an oatmeal soon. Maybe I'll try it. I prefer the ibu to be a bit lower, so I may aim for 25 ibu

Click to expand...

I'm generally a bit of a hop head, so I wanted to keep the IBUs on the high side for the style. 40 is the top of the IBU chart for this style, so I figured I'd try to stay right around that number, and it was easier to go slightly over by keeping it at exactly an ounce for each addition. However, I think a bit lower IBU would be a positive change. Dropping the Fuggles addition to 0.5 oz would bring it down to about 31 IBUs, which is close to your goal.


If you decide to brew this recipe, let us know what you change and how it turns out.