brewing with flaked oats

So I am planning on my 3rd all grain brewing session over the Labor Day weekend... the recipe i want to make calls for 1 pound of flaked oats. I also see that "quick oats" seem to work just as well. I also see that you have to cook the oats before hand, making oatmeal???

My question here, the 1 pound of oats, is that pre-cooked oats???? Or 1 pound of cooked oatmeal???? Seems like 1 pound of quick oats would cook up to a HUGE pot of oatmeal.

Then you just plop the cooked oatmeal into your mash tun with the rest of your grain bill?

Thanks in advance for your input!!!

I'm sure someone will pipe in with a little more detail, but I thought the quick oats didn't work so well and you want to just get the regular rolled oats instead. Maybe it was the Instant oats that don't work...I think the rolled oats could just be mashed as normal with the rest of the grist though.

Flaked oats can easily be substituted with Quaker instant oats. They have been pre-gelatinized so there is no reason to boil them ahead of time. Simply put them in the mash like everything else in the grainbill. It works extremely well.

Quick oats and instant oats are very similar if not the same. With these I think you don't have to cook them, though you probably should.
I would suggest going with rolled oats (also sold as "old fashioned" oats).
Weight should be taking of dry grain before cooking. Once cooked; cool to appropriate temp for what your doing (protein rest?).

cimirie said:

Flaked oats can easily be substituted with Quaker instant oats. They have been pre-gelatinized so there is no reason to boil them ahead of time. Simply put them in the mash like everything else in the grainbill. It works extremely well.

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Thanks for the quick replies! So the 1 minute oats will work fine as is? Do you up your strike water volume at all? Seems like the oats would suck up a bunch of water you won't get back...

DrJerry - you can use old fashioned oats as a substitute. However, you have to perform a cereal mash to gelatinize them BEFORE you add them to the mash. The starches aren't accessible to the enzymes otherwise.

dannedry - If you feel more comfortable changing the amount of strikewater you use, go for it. Since mash thickness is a sliding scale of personal preference, it won't make or break anything. I never adjust but that's just me. If you do up the water, you'll just have to boil longer to get to proper post-boil volume.

One suggestion I WOULD make is to add rice hulls to the mash. One pound of oats probably would be fine without, but the rice hulls act as another layer of filter for your sparge. When oats absorb water, they get gummy and sticky. That's not good for your manifold or SS braid. Rice hulls help alot, but again, with only a pound in a mash that i'll assume is around 11 pounds, it may not be needed. They're so cheap though, it's great insurance.

cimirie said:

dannedry - If you feel more comfortable changing the amount of strikewater you use, go for it. Since mash thickness is a sliding scale of personal preference, it won't make or break anything. I never adjust but that's just me. If you do up the water, you'll just have to boil longer to get to proper post-boil volume.

One suggestion I WOULD make is to add rice hulls to the mash. One pound of oats probably would be fine without, but the rice hulls act as another layer of filter for your sparge. When oats absorb water, they get gummy and sticky. That's not good for your manifold or SS braid. Rice hulls help alot, but again, with only a pound in a mash that i'll assume is around 11 pounds, it may not be needed. They're so cheap though, it's great insurance.

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Thanks for the rice hulls tip... you are exactly right, the total grain bill (including the oats) is 11.75 pounds. I will throw in some rice hulls as well... what ratio of oats to hulls do you suggest?

Again, thanks everybody for the quick replies!!! Much appreciated!!!

You really can't have too many rice hulls, but 1 to 1/2lb rice hull to 1 lb oats works.

For me, rice hulls have never been a ratio. If I determine I need them (and usage of oats or making a pumpkin ale are the only times I think I've ever used them), I always just use a pound (5 gallon batches). A bag of 1 lb of rice hulls is HUGE. It should get you were you need to be. But that is based solely on my personal experience (never had a stuck sparge while using them)- not on any scientific study.

Do not crush the rice hulls BTW. Don't have the LHBS add them to your grainbill. Most LHBS already know this, but one I went to for the first time last year crushed them with the rest of the grains. Oops!

Hahaha, that's funny. Thanks again everybody... Brewing up 2 batches on Labor Day, EdWort's Oktoberfest Ale, and Lil' Sparky's Nut Brown Ale. Oats going into the nut brown.

Any thing with "Flaked" or "Instant" or "Rolled" are pre-galatanized and good to go right in the mash. The flaking process gelantanizes the starches and instant oats are obviously ready to go.

When they roll grains, it is typically done between two hot steel rollers. As the grain travels throught the hot rollers, the contact with them gelantizes the starches!

Germelli1 said:

Any thing with "Flaked" or "Instant" or "Rolled" are pre-galatanized and good to go right in the mash. The flaking process gelantanizes the starches and instant oats are obviously ready to go.

When they roll grains, it is typically done between two hot steel rollers. As the grain travels throught the hot rollers, the contact with them gelantizes the starches!

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Cool, I wasn't sure if "rolled" oats were always rolled on hot rollers. But now that I think about it, with cold rollers it would just be crushed grain.

Lil' sparky's nut brown is my absolute favorite recipe I've found on this site. It is the only beer I make an effort to always have on hand. I've tweaked it a bit (substituted some Munich in for some of the 2 row) and like my tweak a bit better, but the base recipe is better than most browns I've had.

Enjoy it!

I buy the big boxes of rolled oats at costco or sams club and just toss them in the mass. Sometimes I toast them in the oven at 250F until they smell like cookies. I do that about two weeks before brewing. Then I just toss the oats in the mash and do my protein rest and raise to conversion temp.