First oatmeal stout comments

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Terek

"Did I just drop down a rabbit hole?"
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I Normally do IPAs and lighter beers to please my friends and family, but I want to do an oatmeal stout for just me:) I have been kicking around ideas and changing/modifying my recip. over the last few weeks. As this is my first, I would like any/all input, comments, tips, tricks to help me get the best out of my brew. I will be buying all the ingredients this afternoon and brewing Tom.
Here is the recip. All comments and or criticism welcome:D

5 gal batch

6# pale 2-row
2# oats! flaked
1# wheat! flaked
1# crystal 40
1# chocolate malt

1oz fuggles at 60 min
.5oz cascade at 30 min
.5oz cascade at 5min

A little Irish moss
US-05 yeast

152 f mash for 60 min for a medium body profile
168 f batch sparge

Will be bottling with corn sugar. Was thinking of using DME on this one for a little change to my norm. But I'm sure u all will let me know if this is a good idea.

Thanks!
 
Your base malt is only 54.5% of the grainbill, which is generally low for an oatmeal stout. A good target is 70%

Conversely, the oats are at 18% which many people would find adds a little too much of an oily feel in the finished beer. I've found 10% as my happy number for oats.

The 9% chocolate is a little high but not crazy.

The crystal 40 is OK but many oatmeal stout recipes split the crystal like 0.5lb C40 and 0.5lb C80 (I believe that is the crystal setup for the oatmeal stout in "brewing classic styles").

But, absolutely most importantly, it's not a stout without roasted barley!!! I would drop the chocolate to 0.75lb and add 0.5lb roasted barley


Check out the recipe here:

http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/mcquakers-oatmeal-stout-brewing-classic-styles-palmer-zainasheff

That's very similar to my recommendations. Only real big difference is that is uses Victory (34L) instead of C40, and slightly different percentages, but still good.



Mash details seem swell, and I have not used Cascade in an oatmeal stout but I think it is a good move using US-05 with Cascade rather than an english yeast (as far as this style, at least).



Edit: instead of just posting a link to another person's recipe, here is the recipe for the (slightly stronger than style, but still balanced appropriately) oatmeal stout I brewed one week ago. Gotta put my grainbill where my mouth is ;):

Recipe: "Wild Love Oatish"
Batch Size: 5.5G
Target Brewhouse Efficiency: 80% (and I got 80.9!)

~69% 9# 2-row
~9.6% 1.25# flaked oats
~5.8% 12oz C40
~5.8% 12oz C90
~5.8% 12oz US Chocolate Malt
~4% 8oz Blackprinz

Mash 154F 60min
Batch/dunk sparge

FWH 1oz Nugget 13.3% AA

WY1028 with starter
Ferment 65-67F 3 weeks

OG 1.068 (slightly above style)
FG ~1.020
IBU 44.3 (slightly above style)
Carb to 2.2Vol
 
Your base malt is only 54.5% of the grainbill, which is generally low for an oatmeal stout. A good target is 70%

Conversely, the oats are at 18% which many people would find adds a little too much of an oily feel in the finished beer. I've found 10% as my happy number for oats.

The 9% chocolate is a little high but not crazy.

The crystal 40 is OK but many oatmeal stout recipes split the crystal like 0.5lb C40 and 0.5lb C80 (I believe that is the crystal setup for the oatmeal stout in "brewing classic styles").

But, absolutely most importantly, it's not a stout without roasted barley!!! I would drop the chocolate to 0.75lb and add 0.5lb roasted barley


Check out the recipe here:

http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/mcquakers-oatmeal-stout-brewing-classic-styles-palmer-zainasheff

That's very similar to my recommendations. Only real big difference is that is uses Victory (34L) instead of C40, and slightly different percentages, but still good.



Mash details seem swell, and I have not used Cascade in an oatmeal stout but I think it is a good move using US-05 with Cascade rather than an english yeast (as far as this style, at least).



Edit: instead of just posting a link to another person's recipe, here is the recipe for the (slightly stronger than style, but still balanced appropriately) oatmeal stout I brewed one week ago. Gotta put my grainbill where my mouth is ;):

Recipe: "Wild Love Oatish"
Batch Size: 5.5G
Target Brewhouse Efficiency: 80% (and I got 80.9!)

~69% 9# 2-row
~9.6% 1.25# flaked oats
~5.8% 12oz C40
~5.8% 12oz C90
~5.8% 12oz US Chocolate Malt
~4% 8oz Blackprinz

Mash 154F 60min
Batch/dunk sparge

FWH 1oz Nugget 13.3% AA

WY1028 with starter
Ferment 65-67F 3 weeks

OG 1.068 (slightly above style)
FG ~1.020
IBU 44.3 (slightly above style)
Carb to 2.2Vol

Thanks for the tip. I have just been browsing others recip. To kind of get a jist of the grain bill. I was kind of going for a higher oat % to just be outside the box! but I realy don't want any off flavors. I will adjust. And throw some toasted barley in there too. It's odd that a lot of recip. I looked at did not have this addition.

The cascade is kind of a signature on mine I Put in all my brews, mainly cuz I grow them and therefore have TONS. And like you said, us-05 goes well with them. Also I have some I just washed in the fridge and wanted to use those yea sties up.

Thanks for the help! And +1

Edit: also I was gonna use victory, but my LHBS doesn't carry, so I opted out
 
I've used cascade in some American style stouts. It's good. I'm brewing a stout Sunday with them. I agree with the above suggestions and personally I would drop the flakes wheat. Don't add too many specialty grains. Base malt, roasted malt, chocolate malt and one other along with flakes oat would be my suggestion.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I call it Haulin Oats Meal.

9 lbs 2 row
8 oz rolled oats
12 oz chocolate
12 oz roasted barley

Protein rest at 123
Sachs at 150 wanted it to be 155

I am using London ale III 1318 at 64 degrees F

I will let you know how it turns out.
 
Thanks for the help guys. This is what I ended up with.

~~~~Snake River Mud Oat Stout~~~~

7# pale 2-row 61%
1#4oz oat flaked 11%
1# wheat flaked 8.7%
8oz 40L 4.3%
8oz 80L 4.3%
12oz chocolate 6.5%
8oz roasted barley 4.3%

1oz fuggles 60min
1/2oz cascade 45min
1/2oz cascade 5min

Us-05 yeast (washed) with 1L starter

Mash at 151 f
Batch sparge at 168f
84% and 29.35 pps
Estimated OG 1.059
Actual OG 1.061
Potential ABV 6.8%
Target FG 1.012

Everything went off without a hitch. Sample tasted great. A little bitter, but it should mellow out.
 
So dark!

image.jpg
 
London ale III 1318

Quick update I found out that this could be the Boddington strain and let me tell you the stout is super creamy. Almost has a milk stout body/feel. Its also a super top cropper as I used a modified Burton Union to collect some yeast from the blow off. I might want to bump up the Chocolate or the Roasted in the next one to see if the yeast is cleaning some of that flavor from my beer.
 
Thread resurected!! lol

I actually wanted to get back to this, but never did. This stout ended up being a huge hit with the family/friends. I put it in a little local comp. that my LHBS put on, and it got 3rd best of show and 1st is the oat stout catagory. Ima start another batch this weekend, as I love it and ran out 3 weeks ago.
I do have 1 bomber in my cellar that I will let go for another couple months, just cracked the other bomber i saved last night. 2 1/2 months cellaring and its better than ever!
 
If you want to increase the quality of your oatmeal stout, use Maris Otter in lieu of American 2 row. Oatmeal stout is a classic English ale, and Maris Otter is much more appropriate for its depth of flavor.

https://byo.com/stout/item/2815-oatmeal-stout-style-profile

To brew a great example of this style, start with high quality British pale ale malt as the base. It provides that background rich malt character that is a key component in fine British beers. British pale ale malt is kilned a bit darker (2.5 to 3.5 °L) than the average North American two-row or pale malt (1.5 to 2.5 °L) and this higher level of kilning brings out the malt’s biscuit-toasty flavors. Some brewers use North American pale ale malt or North American two-row with the addition of some specialty malts, but this will not produce the same beer as using British pale ale malt. Spend the money, make the effort and use the proper base malt if you want to make an excellent example of the style.
 
Ya but I'm not making a classic English ale. I'm making a nampa idaho oat stout. That's why I love this hobby, I can make whatever I want. BTW I also used 2 gal of water from the snake river, which is about ten min from me. This is trually an idaho beer. Besides, I love it and everyone I know does too. Just started another batch, I think it will become my house beer
 
When I first designed up my oatmeal stout I had used flaked oatmeal. That beer had turned out really good. After doing some research I changed it to malted oats. Doing so made the beer even better. And yes make your way how you want it to be is the key.
 

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