Samuel Smith Oatmeal stout clone

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meck1842

Active Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
Messages
30
Reaction score
2
Location
Fruita
Recipe Type
Extract
Yeast
US-05
Yeast Starter
none
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.048
Final Gravity
1.011
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
14
Tasting Notes
Creamy mouth feel with evident chocolate and roast flavor.
This is my first time posting a recipe on here and am writing this as I drink the first glass poured from the keg. This is a recipe from my LHBS (The Brew Hut... If you're in the Denver area, by far the best place to go) and is suppose to be a Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout clone. I have never had the original so I can't attest to that, but it is absolutely delicious.

6 lbs light LME
12 oz. Flaked Oats
8 oz English Medium Crystal
4 oz English Roast
8 oz English chocolate

1.5 oz East Kent goldings (60 minutes)

I roasted the oats at 375 for 30 minutes. However, I did this on accident, and the recipe calls for them to be roasted at 325 for 75 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes (I misread but it still turned out with a great mouthfeel from the oats).

I fermented in a closet that is anywhere from 65-68 degrees.

I have brewed this twice now. The first time, my 2nd batch ever, turned out fairly watered down and lacking flavor and body. This time around, I did a full boil, about 6.3 gallons of water to end up with 5.5(ish) to account for trub loss, and it turned out full bodied and much better (IME, full boils make a HUGE difference).

To those who say you can't steep oats and you have to mash them to get full effects, you're wrong!:mug:
 
If you have to use dry yeast, don't use US-05. Great yeast for sure, but lacking the English character (in every sense) you want. I would use S-04.

For a more authentic flavor profile yeast wise, I would use Wyeast Yorkshire or 1318 London III.

Other than that it's a solid recipe.
 
meck1842 said:
To those who say you can't steep oats and you have to mash them to get full effects, you're wrong!:mug:

Good point! Jamil goes over this in his Oatmeal Stout podcast, actually. His conclusion is that if you use flaked oats there is no need to mash them. If you use oats that haven't been prepped for homebrewing (say from the grocery), you'll need to mash them (they don't self-convert either, need some base malt with them).
 
Hey! I am a Brew Hut regular, and I'm on this thread investigating oatmeal stout techniques! Cool!

What yeast did you use? For my recipe I'm thinking a London Ale.
 
Hey! I am a Brew Hut regular, and I'm on this thread investigating oatmeal stout techniques! Cool!

What yeast did you use? For my recipe I'm thinking a London Ale.

Awesome... I love the Brew Hut but I just moved out to Grand Junction... You don't realize how spoiled you are until you don't have that store anymore!

I used us-05, as I do with most brews.

If you like a good brown ale, try their Avery's Ellies Brown clone too!
 
If you have to use dry yeast, don't use US-05. Great yeast for sure, but lacking the English character (in every sense) you want. I would use S-04.

For a more authentic flavor profile yeast wise, I would use Wyeast Yorkshire or 1318 London III.

Other than that it's a solid recipe.

Next time I brew it (my keg is almost gone so soon!) I will try one these yeasts. Thanks for the advice!
 
brewing this recipe now. i am doing an all grain batch so the l
LME converted to just over 14.5lbs of two row pale. i am doing 10 gallons so will split it to 2 fermenters using safale 04. i plan to put espresso in one batch prior to bottling. Other 5 gallons maybe leave alone to see how it tastes.
thanks for recipe.
 
I think I might have to swing by the brew hut since I'm in littleton and scoop up this kit. I'm pretty excited to try it!!
 
meck1842 - your timing couldn't have been better for me here. Plan to do this basic recipe using the Clonebrews version. The oats issue was throwing me for a loop. Glad to hear they can be steeped. I'll probably toast them tomorrow night and let sit til brew day on Sunday - Mosher's "Radical Brewing" talks about the need to let some of the harshness waft away. He recommends 2 weeks, but I don't have that kind of time or patience :D .

Clonebrews version has gotten criticized for being weak and not all that dark. Wondering about adding some extra roasted barley (they only call for 3 oz) or maybe some black patent malt? I'm less interested in cloning Samuel Smith than I am in making a quality oatmeal stout. :rockin:

I can do full boil as well - hoping my hop substitute (Fuggles) doesn't result in too much hop utilization. Will back it down to 1.5 oz perhaps from the original 2.0 EKG in the Clonebrews book. Any thoughts appreciated.
 
meck1842 - your timing couldn't have been better for me here. Plan to do this basic recipe using the Clonebrews version. The oats issue was throwing me for a loop. Glad to hear they can be steeped. I'll probably toast them tomorrow night and let sit til brew day on Sunday - Mosher's "Radical Brewing" talks about the need to let some of the harshness waft away. He recommends 2 weeks, but I don't have that kind of time or patience :D .

Clonebrews version has gotten criticized for being weak and not all that dark. Wondering about adding some extra roasted barley (they only call for 3 oz) or maybe some black patent malt? I'm less interested in cloning Samuel Smith than I am in making a quality oatmeal stout. :rockin:

I can do full boil as well - hoping my hop substitute (Fuggles) doesn't result in too much hop utilization. Will back it down to 1.5 oz perhaps from the original 2.0 EKG in the Clonebrews book. Any thoughts appreciated.

I'm not familiar with the recipe you're talking about, so I can't comment on it too much. If you proceed with it, please post the recipe and how it turns out. The recipe I've posted is definitely a great starting point, but it could still be better. I've just made the conversion to all grain so I will be using an all-grain conversion of the recipe as a starting point for my next stout...
 
meck1842 - I was referring to your OP recipe. I went ahead yesterday and did the partial mash version instead (first ever partial mash) and it was a pretty huge success I think. My OG was spot on (1.050) and I compared the wort color to an actual Samuel Smith oatmeal stout and they were pretty identical. Taste of wort was verrrry smooth and was definitely in not only the same ballpark, but the same section as the SS. Hoping some time in the fermenter puts it in the same row. Bubbling away in carboy this am. :mug:

If I may ask 2 brief followup questions:
1. did you rack to secondary and if so at what point?
2. did you use the wheat DME for carbonating as recommended by Clonebrews?

Thanks,
MD
 
Congrats on a successful brew day! I still have not even had a Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout but I think after work today I will find one and compare.

To answer your questions, the first one is a pretty huge debate if you do some reading on the forums. I have found best results in mid to lower OG beers doing 7 days in primary, then racking to secondary for 14 days. I then cold crash for a day or 2 and put it in the keg. Which answers your second question... I keg so I can't talk from experience, but wheat DME sounds like it would work perfect!
 
Thanks meck - Hope you enjoy that original SS Oatmeal Stout - its incredibly smooth and silky. If someone goes into that one expecting a harsher, acidic, roasted coffee kick in the teeth, well that's not the stout for that.

I've done a lot of reading about secondaries and will probably forego it with this lower abv beer. Used irish moss last 10 min of boil, fwiw. Congrats on the keg setup, that's ideal. I may split the priming, 2.5 gal DME and 2.5 gal corn sugar, just to experiment. I have a Mr Beer fermenter :eek: that could sub nicely as a small batch bottling bucket. Brew on!

*Edit - Oh, and congrats also on going all-grain!
 
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