My Oatmeal Stout...

Is looking kind of pale...

Here's the recipe...

7.5 Lbs Briess Gold LME
1 ½ Lbs Flaked Oats
½ Lb Chocolate Malt
¼ Lb Black Barley
¼ Lb Carapils

1 Oz Centennial-60 minutes
½ Oz Willamette-20 minutes
½ Oz Willamette-Flameout

Wyeast 1028

OG 1.054


I brewed it just this last Sat and when I got home from work today I saw that the fermentation had slowed down considerably. SO I took a sample to do a gravity reading and it had already dropped to 1.018. The most dramatic drop I've seen in the 5 brews I've done so far.

It's also not really stout looking in color. Looks more like an amber ale from the sample I took.

Tastes good though.

Maybe too much oatmeal?

It will look very different once the yeast has dropped out and you get it into a regular glass. I wouldn't worry.

Assuming that your chocolate is 350L and batch size as 5 gallons, I calculate your color at 27 SRM. That's low for most stouts, but not so much that it'll look like an amber. If your batch size is 5.5 gallons, the color is around 25 SRM, which is still fairly dark, but more in a porter vein.

I agree that your beer will look darker once its cleared a bit more and in a larger glass. It may not be as dark as other stouts you see, but it'll be fine.


TL

What I don't get is that beer #2 I brewed was NEVER light colored.

#2 is a Porter brewed on 1/05/08.
Ingredients were:
7 Lbs Briess Amber LME
¼ Lb Chocolate Malt
1/8 Lb Roast Malt
½ Lb Munich 100 Malt

Hops
1 Oz Columbus- 60 Minutes
½ Oz Willamette- 15 Minutes

Wyeast 1968 London ESB yeast pitched at 82*.

OG 1.050
FG 1.016


It isn't as dark as what I expected, but the samples I took were always pretty dark.



Beer #2 is quite good I may add!

Jeffro said:

What I don't get is that beer #2 I brewed was NEVER light colored.

Click to expand...

I'd guess that the initial color difference is due to using gold LME as opposed to amber LME. You're starting at a much darker point with the amber.

For some great information on malts and their impact on color, as well as what qualities they provide, check out: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malts_Chart

Yep, that Briess amber LME has Munich and 60L crystal in it, so it will make your beer significantly darker.


TL