Using Oats in GF Recipes

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blacklab

blacklab

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I purchased some Bob's Red Mill GF oats and want to use them in a sorghum based ale. Anyone else used them?

How many lbs(5 gallon batch)?

Should I toast them? What temp/how long?

Do I mash them at typical temps for an hour or just steep in a bag for a bit?

thanks.
 
Oats need to be mashed, otherwise you're just getting oat starch in your beer. Toasting gives an interesting nutty note to the oats.
 
I bought them as well and ended up not using them they need to be mashed but they do not have the enzymes to convert the starches into sugar.
 
blacklab said:
I purchased some Bob's Red Mill GF oats and want to use them in a sorghum based ale. Anyone else used them?

How many lbs(5 gallon batch)?

Should I toast them? What temp/how long?

Do I mash them at typical temps for an hour or just steep in a bag for a bit?

thanks.
Click to expand...

I bought the exact same ones and I plan on using it to make a beer with my dad right after Thanksgiving. I plan on toasting mine at 350 for about an hour to get some nuttiness and color out of it. Based on some advice from bluffwallace, I am just going to throw them into the boil at 30 minutes and see what happens. I am using 1.5 # for my 5 gallon recipe.

bluffwallace said:
With Oats, I just roasted them and threw them in the boil. It did add creamy/thickness to the brew which you would want for a stout....
Click to expand...

If I were going to be mashing, I would add the oats to the mash, but I haven't figured out yet the process for mashing my malted grains.
 
beerbuddy said:
I bought them as well and ended up not using them they need to be mashed but they do not have the enzymes to convert the starches into sugar.
Click to expand...

So in reality, for a GF beer, you can't mash them...because you would have to throw in base grain to help with enzymatic conversion. If I'm reading that correctly.
 
There has to be some sort of enzyme that you can use to mash the oats. The sorghum needs to be mashed to make the extract, so something must be available.
 
I am planning a GF oatmeal stout. I've toasted some oats: 1 hr @ 350 for 8 oz. and 2 hr @ 350 2 oz. I plan on cooking them for an hour, letting them cool to 155F then adding 1/2 tsp of Alpha enzyme (AHB carries it and it's cheap). I'll let that mash for an hour, then proceed. I'll probably add some coffee for color and another flavor.

If I'm happy with the results, I'll post the whole recipe.
 
david_42 said:
I am planning a GF oatmeal stout. I've toasted some oats: 1 hr @ 350 for 8 oz. and 2 hr @ 350 2 oz. I plan on cooking them for an hour, letting them cool to 155F then adding 1/2 tsp of Alpha enzyme (AHB carries it and it's cheap). I'll let that mash for an hour, then proceed. I'll probably add some coffee for color and another flavor.

If I'm happy with the results, I'll post the whole recipe.
Click to expand...

What else are you using to get the dark color of a stout? I'm going to try using wild rice roasted at 400 for an hour. I did a little experiment last night and it really only gave me a dark brown...
 
david_42 said:
I am planning a GF oatmeal stout. I've toasted some oats: 1 hr @ 350 for 8 oz. and 2 hr @ 350 2 oz. I plan on cooking them for an hour, letting them cool to 155F then adding 1/2 tsp of Alpha enzyme (AHB carries it and it's cheap). I'll let that mash for an hour, then proceed. I'll probably add some coffee for color and another flavor.

If I'm happy with the results, I'll post the whole recipe.
Click to expand...

Awesome, I'll keep an eye out for it!
 
After some more research, I've decided that trying to extract fermentables from oats by themselves is just not worth it. My LHBS can obtain enzymes for conversion but they are mostly for commercial apps. I'm going to toast the oats to obtain a nuttiness and a degree of head retention, but otherwise, any fermentable sugars can come from added sorghum syrup.
 
blacklab said:
After some more research, I've decided that trying to extract fermentables from oats by themselves is just not worth it. My LHBS can obtain enzymes for conversion but they are mostly for commercial apps. I'm going to toast the oats to obtain a nuttiness and a degree of head retention, but otherwise, any fermentable sugars can come from added sorghum syrup.
Click to expand...

So...what are you going to do with them...steep with specialty grains?
 
Millet, buckwheat, sorghum, quinoa, amaranth you can get these at grocery stores or specialty stores. I've gotten everything except the sorghum local around here. You could malt them and roast them or just roast them.
 
If you're just aiming for color then you can simply toast the GF grain to the desired darkness. It's actually not that hard to do. If you want a little more flavor from the grains then I would recommend soaking them overnight or during the day before toasting so that the toasting process forms more caramel flavors.

Typical roasting would be something like soak overnight, drain, put in cake pan in oven at 350 for about 45 min. Then stir every 15-20 min until they are the desired darkness. Let them cool then put them in a paper bag for a few days to off-gas, and viola...GF specialty grain!

Here's an example of how much darker you can make your GF beer:
07067760.JPG


This batch was simply using White Sorghum as the base malt and then roasting my own millet until it was pretty dark...might have been some quinoa in that batch too, can't remember without my notes.
 
aggieotis said:
If you're just aiming for color then you can simply toast the GF grain to the desired darkness. It's actually not that hard to do. If you want a little more flavor from the grains then I would recommend soaking them overnight or during the day before toasting so that the toasting process forms more caramel flavors.

Typical roasting would be something like soak overnight, drain, put in cake pan in oven at 350 for about 45 min. Then stir every 15-20 min until they are the desired darkness. Let them cool then put them in a paper bag for a few days to off-gas, and viola...GF specialty grain!

Here's an example of how much darker you can make your GF beer:
07067760.JPG


This batch was simply using White Sorghum as the base malt and then roasting my own millet until it was pretty dark...might have been some quinoa in that batch too, can't remember without my notes.
Click to expand...

We're the soaked grains malted at all or just straight from the bag?
 
This batch I actually malted everything and did a did a 104/140/160 cycle with 30 min rests.

For adding color you would probably be fine with a soak and toast. For imparting more and mellower flavor, then you should probably malt.
 
I made that beer a year ago, and didn't know as much about GF brewing then, so I just followed procedure that's pretty common for non-GF grains.

Thanks for the link! I'll try that top method soon. Considering getting some Amylase Enzymes too so I don't have to worry as much about saving portions of wort with enzymes before boiling etc.
 
lcasanova said:
I bought the exact same ones and I plan on using it to make a beer with my dad right after Thanksgiving. I plan on toasting mine at 350 for about an hour to get some nuttiness and color out of it. Based on some advice from bluffwallace, I am just going to throw them into the boil at 30 minutes and see what happens. I am using 1.5 # for my 5 gallon recipe.
Click to expand...

Done some thinking- I'll steep 1.25# of these and put the rest in to boil for the last 15 minutes...just to see what happens. I don't think it's a good idea for me to boil all 1.5# could be problematic once everything is cooled and ready to transfer to the fermenter.

If the .25 # still seems like too much on brew day, I'll just steep all of them...Guess we'll see :cross:
 

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