Are oatmeal stouts "beginner"?

I had an oatmeal stout the other night at a local brew pub that they had brewed in house. My LORD, was it good! Dark, creamy, tasted awesome! now, I want to make one. If you know anything about me, you know I have a Mr. Beer and am about to bottle my first batch. Will an oatmeal stout be too much for me to try as a 100% newb? Is that an all grain thing?

I think you would be just fine. Its al about trying. You can buy it you can brew it. Gotta start sometime. Its all about having fun.

I have done an extract version of a Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout and it was very good. You are never too newb to try a new brew.

Is that stout an all grain thing? Or is it something that I can buy in the LHB?

I just saw you did an extract...

Here is what I came up with. As far as a local HB store having the Mr.Beer Stuff. You may have to order it. But if you go in and ask them for a 2 gallon ( i think mr beer is 2 gallon) recipe for a oatmeal stout they may be able to help you out.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/mr-beer-oatmeal-stout-recipe-280463/

or

http://www.mrbeer.com/product-exec/product_id/815/nm/Oatmeal_Stout_Archived

The one will require a steeping bag for grains which is the next step in brewing but its all up to you. Good luck, have fun and feel free to ask more ?'s

-BBS

Oatmeal stouts are perfect for partial mash. This is a good step towards all grain, if you go straight extract you'll get close but might miss some of the mouthfeel a partial mash would offer

I started with a partial mash Oatmeal Stout. Everything that could have gone wrong did. I still ended up with a drinkable beer. Actually just made another batch last weekend. 12 Gallons of Oatmeal Stout.

My second brew was an extract Oatmeal Stout. In my opinion the richer, more full bodied beers are a bit more forgiving when it comes to off flavors (caused) due to fermentation temps, though the fuller bodied beers definitely taste better with a little more age on them.

Brew one up. You will be glad you did.

This might not be the answer you are looking for but here it goes.

Find an all grain recipe for an oatmeal stout and scale it down for a 2 gallon batch so you can ferment in your Mr. Beer rig. Look into stove top BIAB. All you need in addition to the gear you already have is a large pot (might already have one) and a nylon paint straining bag big enough to line it.

This is nearly exactly what I did for the oatmeal stouts I've done (except i was using 1 gallon glass jugs to ferment). I did this very early on in my homebrewing "career" (I'm not quite a year into it yet) and the results were decent eventhough I half-assed a lot of it.

It's really not that hard.

If you were doing a full five gallons I would have recommended a partial mash like Jklinden and deadfall did but assuming a two gallon batch might as well go all out all grain.

My first all grain was an oatmeal chocolate stout. It was pretty easy and fun!!

Maybe Im still too new for this...I read the Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout and I just dont understand the vernacular as well as I should I guess. I want to do this, but I want to do it right. Jesus I have a lot to learn.

Oats (wouldn't be an oatmeal stout without them) technically require mashing. To really do it right, a mash would be required. Whether it's all grain or partial mash doesn't matter, just need enzymes to convert the starch in the oats.

That said, you can get away with steeping them. You won't get any extra fermentables from them, but you should be able to get some beta-glucans and that little bit of flavor. It won't be as good as if they were mashed, but it's doable. You'll get haze from the oats being unconverted, which in a stout isn't really an issue like it would be in a lighter beer. I believe the unconverted starches would also make it more susceptible to an infection, but as long as you're very thorough with your sanitation (as you should be anyway), that shouldn't be an issue.

My first stout was a real cheap extract kit from Northern Brewer. Dry Irish stout, came out pretty dang good! As for partial mash kits, I only did one (in my opinion, a huge waste of time!) moved straight to AG. I have a milk stout in my secondary now ready to bottle/ keg. I think you should look at the ingredients in a kit and cut it in half or third to fit your fermenter! Good luck, you can do it!

No, a style is a style is a style. In terms of difficulty, unless you're getting into all grain brewing and doing things like "abrew in a bag triple decoction with a step infusion and a mashout" then one recipe is no more complicated than any other, especially if you are starting out by doing an extract with steeping grains recipe.

Your grain bill might be different for different recipes, but what you with them (the process) will be the same, which is something akin to "steep grains for x minutes, in y gallons of water, remove grains bring to boil, add extract and hops as directed, cool, transfer to ferment, pitch yeast and relax."

And if you come upon a kit that says "abrew in a bag triple decoction with a step infusion and a mashout", and you don't understand what it means, then you're not ready for it yet. But you will be later.

as others have said, just go for it! plenty of oatmeal stouts should be pretty easy to brew.

if you've had barney flat's oatmeal stout and liked it, you might try making that beer. the recipe the brewery used is floating around on a few threads. it's a really, really good beer.

I hope it is! My first batch of beer ever is in my primary now, and it is a one gallon, all grain oatmeal stout kit from ahs. It was done BIAB (im still not clear on the difference between this and mashing), and I'm hopeful that it'll turn out ok. I'll report back in a few weeks! Lol

good luck! I am starting an oatmeal stout tonight!

dfarm said:

I hope it is! My first batch of beer ever is in my primary now, and it is a one gallon, all grain oatmeal stout kit from ahs. It was done BIAB (im still not clear on the difference between this and mashing), and I'm hopeful that it'll turn out ok. I'll report back in a few weeks! Lol

Click to expand...

BIAB mashing is still mashing. The underlying biochemical processes you're enabling are the same. The only difference is in the actual brewing process, and even then the differences aren't huge.

Find a kit or a recipe and go for it.
If you have any questions...BEFORE you start is the best time to ask.

bosco