Oatmeal Stout Flapjack Breakfast Stout (Chocolate-Coffee-Oatmeal-Maple Imperial Stout)

So I'm going to give this brew a shot in about 3 weeks, with a little tinkering. I'm going to do a couple different tinctures which I will add in both around 7 days in the primary.

I started one tincture yesterday, which was 4oz of bourbon on 2oz of med. roast oak cubes. I will put the other tincture together a couple days after brew day, which will be ~2oz of bourbon on the nibs and vanilla beans. I haven't decided if I'm going to put the cubes or the bourbon in from the first tincture yet. I've heard/read that 6oz of bourbon may be too much on a 5 gallon batch, but I haven't decided. To me, that does not seem like it should/would impart that much flavor into the batch, but I'll keep doing some reading to come to a decision.

The only other differences I'm going to make are adding a little more chocolate, coffee, and carafa malts. I'd like to get the ABV up a little higher, so possibly another half pound of 2-row as well.

Did anyone who brewed this adjust their water profile? I am going to use distilled water and add in some baking soda to get the pH in the range of 5.5-5.6.

Other question is on the Vanilla beans... I'm trying to find a solid answer on this, but I keep seeing it done different ways. Do you split them down the middle and throw the long pieces in, or do you split them down the middle and cut them into small sections and throw them in, or do you scrape out the insides and only throw the insides or outsides in? I see people do all 4 ways, so what are you guys doing?

Thanks!

Doesn't seem to be much response on this thread anymore, but I've since answered my own questions above, but am wondering if anyone here used a started for their Irish Ale yeast? If so, how big?

paarman said:

Doesn't seem to be much response on this thread anymore, but I've since answered my own questions above, but am wondering if anyone here used a started for their Irish Ale yeast? If so, how big?

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I never ended up brewing this recipe. Maybe I'll give ti a shot at the end of the summer. In terms of a starter, I would definitely make one if you're planing to use liquid yeast. Your best to use a yeast calculator to help you calculate the size of the starter.

I'm curious (if anyone here responds haha) if any of you actually used a secondary or just pitched everything into the primary to sit for 14 days (minus the coffee beans).

I was going to add the nibs/vanilla beans/bourbon on Saturday (7 days after brewing) and a week from then, add or rack onto the oak cubes and bourbon tincture to sit for just 7 days. Then bottle a week after that.

Been reading and people are all over the place on their methods, so just curious what anyone here has done... Sounds like primary mostly.

A friend and I have been bouncing ideas for a stout to brew when I visit him and this one looks like a fantastic starting point. Tentatively planning to add blueberries to whatever we brew (need to research that topic) and age on bourbon-soaked oak cubes/chips for a couple months before adding coffee a few days before bottling.

I may brew a "practice round" before then to see how this turns out for me, in which case I will probably transfer to secondary to condition for a bit. That's just mostly out of habit and not for any reason in particular.

Just stumbled onto this thread. Anyone know if m00ps is still around? Anyway, I have a question with the vanilla beans. Do you just toss them whole in the water to boil with the nibs? Or do I need to slice them open and scrape the insides out? I've never worked with vanilla beans before. Just wanted some clarification. Thanks.

TravelingLight said:

Just stumbled onto this thread. Anyone know if m00ps is still around? Anyway, I have a question with the vanilla beans. Do you just toss them whole in the water to boil with the nibs? Or do I need to slice them open and scrape the insides out? I've never worked with vanilla beans before. Just wanted some clarification. Thanks.

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any time I've used the vanilla beans I do the cut and scrape method soaked in a few ounces of vodka.

LoneTreeFarms said:

any time I've used the vanilla beans I do the cut and scrape method soaked in a few ounces of vodka.

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Thanks!

Also, m00ps mentions the nibs and vanilla beans "@7days." Does that mean 7 days after pitching yeast, or 7 days before kegging/bottling?

@7days: 4 oz Cacao Nibs & 2 Vanilla beans (I boiled both in ~150ml water for better extraction, cooled and tossed in)
@3-4 days before bottling: 4oz Whole Bean coffee

so 7 days into fermentation add the nibs and beans, then 3-4 days before you're ready to bottle/keg you'll and the coffee to the fermentor

LoneTreeFarms said:

@7days: 4 oz Cacao Nibs & 2 Vanilla beans (I boiled both in ~150ml water for better extraction, cooled and tossed in)
@3-4 days before bottling: 4oz Whole Bean coffee

so 7 days into fermentation add the nibs and beans, then 3-4 days before you're ready to bottle/keg you'll and the coffee to the fermentor

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Awesome. Thanks!

So I am on day 12 after brewing, last Saturday I added my nibs/beans tincture to the fermenter. I took a sample before and WOW, it tasted so good. Because I liked the flavor so much, I decided next Monday I am going to rack half of it into a separate 5gal carboy onto half of my cubes/bourbon tincture and add 2oz coffee beans to the first half, and bottle that after 4 days. Then 4 days before bottling the other half I will add 2oz beans to that and bottle that (planning to let the 2nd half sit on the bourbon/cubes for about a week total).

The flavor is really good.. So at least this way if the bourbon/oak doesn't turn out right I'm not killing the entire batch. I couldn't believe how good the beer tasted without being carbed up. This is a great recipe.

The only thing that I didn't taste was the maple syrup, which I added around high krausen. Hopefully that comes through later, but even if not, the chocolate/coffee in this beer is great.. Love it so far, I'll try to post back in a while once I bottle each and give each an initial try after a month.

Well, I ended up brewing a variation of this recipe. I substituted cherry-wood smoked malt for coffee malt. I've been wanting to experiment with smoked malt and thought this would be a good palette to do so - my girlfriend dislikes smoke flavors and I thought with the adjuncts and all this would be a decent way to use some. I ended up using Cascade as the bittering addition as that's what I had on hand.

My O.G. ended up being 1.081 and the beer finished at 1.012. Before the cacao and coffee additions the smoke was prevalent, but hid in the background of a fruity coffee and dark chocolate aroma. I'm excited to do a full tasting after the bottles carb.

HomemadeSauce said:

Well, I ended up brewing a variation of this recipe. I substituted cherry-wood smoked malt for coffee malt. I've been wanting to experiment with smoked malt and thought this would be a good palette to do so - my girlfriend dislikes smoke flavors and I thought with the adjuncts and all this would be a decent way to use some. I ended up using Cascade as the bittering addition as that's what I had on hand.

My O.G. ended up being 1.081 and the beer finished at 1.012. Before the cacao and coffee additions the smoke was prevalent, but hid in the background of a fruity coffee and dark chocolate aroma. I'm excited to do a full tasting after the bottles carb.

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What percentage of the grist was smoked malt? I plan on doing something similar but haven't decided how much to use. I see a lot of people use up to 30% but that seems like an insane amount of smoke.

TravelingLight said:

What percentage of the grist was smoked malt? I plan on doing something similar but haven't decided how much to use. I see a lot of people use up to 30% but that seems like an insane amount of smoke.

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Depends on tastes but for this particular recipe 30%, in my mind at least, seems like it would overwhelm everything else. I went really light in this case - just 4% - and used cherry-wood smoked malt. I have my doubts it will come through unless you're looking for it, but it's an addition I plan on experimenting with.

The smoke seems like it could be a good addition, definitely let us know how it turns out. I'm hoping to start this bad boy next week as soon as all the grains arrive in the mail. I am truly excited for this one, I know the dry hop coffee beans works pretty well I just used that method in a coffee kolsch that I have been sipping on for a week or so now. I was reading earlier about people experimenting with a bacon flavor and was curious if anyone had any thoughts on that? I've never had good experience with flavor extracts in the past

ryan13166 said:

The smoke seems like it could be a good addition, definitely let us know how it turns out. I'm hoping to start this bad boy next week as soon as all the grains arrive in the mail. I am truly excited for this one, I know the dry hop coffee beans works pretty well I just used that method in a coffee kolsch that I have been sipping on for a week or so now. I was reading earlier about people experimenting with a bacon flavor and was curious if anyone had any thoughts on that? I've never had good experience with flavor extracts in the past

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I've done a fair amount of reading on it. And after reading everyone going back and forth on reducing oils/fats killing head retention...I'm planning on (hopefully) getting bacon flavor from a combo of smoked malt and bacon maple coffee beans.

Tasted my first bottles last night and I like how the beer turned out. Poured with a thin mocha head that faded a little quickly; aroma was mostly chocolate with some fruity coffee and an undercurrent of smoke. Medium-thick mouthfeel, sweeter up front (thinking maple syrup), some smoke as well, and a bitter finish which I attributed to the coffee.

I have some changes for next time: would like better head retention, and I'll use a different, perhaps bolder coffee bean. I feel pretty good about the level of smoke, just hiding in the background, but I would like more of a coffee presence.

Hey Guys,

I brewed this ~2 weeks ago and I had the fermentation temperature spike on me on the 4th day to ~75 degrees for a few hours.

Should I just let the primary (with all of the choc, vanilla, etc. additions) sit for three weeks in the primary then transfer to a secondary for a week or two extra to let the beer clean up the esters? Or should I just let everything sit in the primary for 4-5 weeks?

paarman said:

So I am on day 12 after brewing, last Saturday I added my nibs/beans tincture to the fermenter. I took a sample before and WOW, it tasted so good. Because I liked the flavor so much, I decided next Monday I am going to rack half of it into a separate 5gal carboy onto half of my cubes/bourbon tincture and add 2oz coffee beans to the first half, and bottle that after 4 days. Then 4 days before bottling the other half I will add 2oz beans to that and bottle that (planning to let the 2nd half sit on the bourbon/cubes for about a week total).

The flavor is really good.. So at least this way if the bourbon/oak doesn't turn out right I'm not killing the entire batch. I couldn't believe how good the beer tasted without being carbed up. This is a great recipe.

The only thing that I didn't taste was the maple syrup, which I added around high krausen. Hopefully that comes through later, but even if not, the chocolate/coffee in this beer is great.. Love it so far, I'll try to post back in a while once I bottle each and give each an initial try after a month.

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Have you cracked a bottle of this lately? Thinking about brewing this and aging for the winter.

LoneTreeFarms said:

Have you cracked a bottle of this lately? Thinking about brewing this and aging for the winter.

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I have, I just had one a couple weeks ago.. Holding fantastic so far. I am definitely planning to brew this again this July with a few small changes to improve it in some areas. I have about 8 bombers and maybe 10 singles left. Trying to hold onto it!

I'm wishing I had some bottles of this around; should be able to brew it in a couple weeks. I'm not sure if I'll use smoked malt this time around, and I definitely want to age a portion on some spirit-soaked oak. I do want more body out of mine next time around, so I'm thinking of increasing mash temperature or adding more oats.

Currently brewing something fairly similar but a big higher SG. Has anyone checked out this thread:

https://www.talkbeer.com/community/threads/brewing-a-maple-stout-w-maple-syrup.38271/

This is in reference to Double Stack, probably the best maple beer i've ever had from a brewery in Portland called Great Notion. They e-mailed the brewers and where recommended to use this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000UYFKRY/?tag=talkbecom09-20

Anyone given maple powder a shot?

Hmm, curious to know how well that works from more people. I used 1lb of syrup in my batch last year at or shortly after high krausen and I didn't get any maple at all, I still don't. When I brew this again this Summer, I was leaning towards adding it towards the end of fermentation, but after doing some reading I'm debating adding a little bit at flameout too. I'd like to get the flavor to come through, just at all. I don't want in your face maple, but just a hint that it's there. I'll think on the powder vs syrup aspect. I added vanilla beans, cocoa nibs, bourbon, oak, and coffee to this last year so it gets quite complex. I got mostly chocolate and coffee which was great.

The other change I'm thinking about making is doing a double mash instead. Jack up the SG and boil for longer to get the beer thicker. I plan on using less oak, and more bourbon as well. I like where I started, but I just want to get the beer a little thicker and tweak the flavors just slightly. I used Sumatra coffee last year and I'm thinking about using something else this year. I'm going to brew this yearly in July from here forward, so once it gets closer to the date, I'll report back with my successes/failures.

Well, I brewed this up again for this year. My goals were: to thicken it up. To get maple this time. Less oak.

I also wanted to bump this up a little higher than 9%... I got way more than I bargained for, as I tried a new method for brewing this.

m00ps said:

===============================================
---Fermentables---
14.0lb 2-row
2.5lb Oats
1lb Oven Toasted Oats
1lb Coffee Malt
1lb Chocolate Malt
0.5lb Carafa III dehusked
0.5lb Roasted Barley
1.0lb Maple Syrup @7-14 days after pitching

---HOPS---
@60min: 1 oz Cluster
@30min: 1 oz Willamette
@5min: 1 oz Willamette

---MISC---
@5min: 4oz Cocoa Powder
@7days: 4 oz Cacao Nibs & 2 Vanilla beans (I'll boil both in ~150ml water for better extraction, cooled and tossed in)
@3-4 days before bottling: 4oz Whole Bean coffee (bourbon barrel peruvian)

Mash at 154 for 60min

150 min boil

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So biggest changes, I bumped the grain bill up to 20.5lbs. I went with about a 1.3qt/lb ratio of (diluted) water which I treated with Gypsum, CaCl and Baking Soda.

I have a friend who advised me on doing a double mash, no sparging and a long boil.. So that's what I tried. I basically bought 40lbs of grain and did the entire mashing process twice and only drained out the water I put in. With the calculations I did, I was going to get about 4 gallons out each time, and that is exactly what I got. I started the boil with 8 gallons, boiled for 2.5 hours and I ended up with around 5, which I was hoping for 5.5ish, but that is fine.

The initial calculations had my dialing in a 1.116 OG... It WAY exceeded that. I ended up with a 1.138 OG which blew my mind. I figure I got about a 90% efficiency with this process which is crazy. I think 70% was the most I had previously had on my system with any other beer, granted, this was an entirely different process than I'd tried before. The strange thing was I had read other people using this method and getting far less efficiency. Either way, I would have liked a lower OG, but I'm not too upset at this point.. I'll wait to see how it turns out.

When I pitched, I had put in a starter that began with 1L, that I decanted and stepped up to 2L a day or two later, crashed overnight, and decanted the next day before stirring up a couple hours before pitching.

Last year I added the maple syrup around high kruesen and I never got any noticeable maple-I still don't, and I just had a bottle that's been aged a year now. So I want to add this a little later this time to ensure it doesn't ferment out. I might be pushing my luck though, as I'm just worried about bottle bombs the addition of priming sugar when I bottle a couple weeks later... Anyone have thoughts on that?

@7 days (1 week after pitching), I'm going to try boiling the nibs and beans in 150ml water and adding that this time. Last year I did a tincture that I added them to 2-4oz bourbon 5 days before I added them into the beer. The flavor was fine, I just want to try a different method to see how it works for me. Depending on where the gravity is at at that time, I may or may not add the syrup. Haven't made a decision on that yet.

@14 days, add a tincture of 4oz bourbon that I have had soaking in 1oz oak for the last month or so. Last year I did 7/8oz in 2oz of oak.. I got too much oak. The bourbon was pretty smoky on it's own which I guess I didn't really realize. I also pitched the entire thing in last year.. This year I will just do the bourbon only. I might add another couple ounces of just bourbon too. I didn't get any taste of bourbon last year. I don't know if I will this year either just with how high the alcohol climbs haha.

@4 days before bottling I will add the coffee beans. Had good luck with that last year, and I love coffee flavor. I'm excited to try these beans I found as well, hope they taste as good as the name implies.

So as for the fermentation process, it's been 2 days. I never got a high kruesen and I don't remember if I did last year either. It was highly active for 24-36 hours, but it's dialed back today. I haven't taken a reading, but I do hope the gravity has dropped. I only created a starter with enough yeast cells to account for the 1.116 OG, so I'm worried I underpitched. I used Wyeast Irish ale yeast as the company I bought from was out of WLP004, which I was a little disappointed about-I've always had good luck with it. They sent me a 004 that was packaged in January of this year, and past it's expiry date.. I pitched that along with my starter because I would have thrown it away otherwise. Figured it couldn't hurt.

So let's say this weekend I check and fermentation has slowed and the gravity is still up there.. What are my options? I've never had a stuck fermentation. It's in a 65* environment, but the temp on the glass is in the 70s with active fermentation going on. Do I make another starter and add it? Just throw a straight package of yeast in? Yeast energizer? Looking for a backup plan ahead of time in case that's the situation I am in.

Anyway, hope this info helps anyone who's been watching this thread and looking for answers. I'm excited about this beer, even if it does reach a peak 15-16% haha... It will definitely be a celebratory beer to keep for awhile if so.

If your beer is reading 5 degrees higher than the environment, fermentation is still active and i wouldnt do anything but let it ride. Looking forwayd to your results, havent brewed a big stout in about a year, maybe its time

I forgot to mention that last year I did transfer to a secondary after 2 weeks and let it sit in there for 1 week, but I'm just going to do it all in the primary this year. Thanks for the advice.. I'll take gravity each time I throw in adjuncts to see how it's faring.

Just had to check so I took a sample today. Gravity was at 1.056 (down from 1.138) after 6 days. Glass on the carboy is still reading 70*, and it's probably around 65-66 where it's at.

Thoughts on this? It's not bubbling much.. Maybe once every 30 seconds or more. I'm not even really sure to expect this beer to finish after the OG got much higher. I was thinking somewhere in the 1.03x range, but I really don't know.

I decided tomorrow I will add the maple syrup, nibs, and beans. Is anyone of the opinion that I should be adding more yeast to this beer at this point? TIA.

Anyone have any ideas how to drop the gravity like 20 points? I think it teeters on the sweet side at the moment. Would like to land in the .03x range.

I’ve never used the Irish yeast. I would pitch some dry Notti yeast. It should get you there with out changing the beer too much.

Dog House Brew said:

I’ve never used the Irish yeast. I would pitch some dry Notti yeast. It should get you there with out changing the beer too much.

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What kinds of off flavors or changes would I expect, if any?

Thanks for the recommendation!

I don’t think it will change your beer a lot. It isn’t like this yeast will be dominate in this beer. I do think it could get your FG down from where you are. I had trouble when I brewed a Kate the Great clone 4 or 5 years ago. It stopped at .038, added a pitch of Notti and it got me down to 22 if I remember correctly. I started using 007 for nearly all of my high gravity beers. Good luck with it. I really like the way this beer looks. I may have to work this in this month. Would be great in the winter.

So I decided to try something else new. Last week I added 8oz of syrup and yesterday I added the other 8oz. Can definitely get some notes off the sample I pulled yesterday.

I added 8oz bourbon, 8oz syrup on day 14. Sample was 1.056, so has not moved over a week, I imagine that's where it's going to finish. After trying it last night, I do think carbonation and coffee will balance it out well. I will probably leave as is without trying to drop it down any further.

Will add coffee in a few days and bottle next weekend!

Transferred and bottled the beer this weekend, got about 4.5-4.75 gallons before it got way too thick and sludgy to move haha. FG was 1.058-1.060, so appears the syrup brought it up a bit as expected. The small sample I had, the maple was really coming through which I was glad for as that was one of my goals this year. You get chocolate and coffee up front and maple on the finish... Carbonation should ideally balance it out a bit. Happy with it so far, can't wait to taste it in a few weeks.

I just brewed this today. Everything went spot on except I forgot to add the Cocoa powder (‍). I boosted just a tad (added in about 2 lbs more malt) and used Maris Otter. I have nibs and vanilla beans in vodka as we speak. Throwing them in primary in a week or so. Adding the maple about day 3. This is a 10 gallon batch that I’ll split coffee and no coffee. No coffee will be kegged in about 2-3 weeks. I’ll drop beans in the primary. And 3 days later keg 2 will fill. Super excited for this brew and thanks for the recipe Moops!! I’ve read this thread several times. Hope this comes out like I think it will!!

Well, this thing took off like a rocket! 2 packs of 1056 and made a 1L starter for 24 hours before pitching. Likely to add the maple tomorrow. Krausen is already forming and fermenting very well.

I’ve fermented this beer for about 5 days and I’m stuck around 1.030. Mashed at 154-155. Ferment temperature between 65-68. I’m raising to 74ish to try to rouse yeast and gave it a gentle shake. There SHOULD be some more fermentable sugars in this and would like to get it down to 1.022-1.020. Any thoughts/suggestions?

Nichols2127 said:

I’ve fermented this beer for about 5 days and I’m stuck around 1.030. Mashed at 154-155. Ferment temperature between 65-68. I’m raising to 74ish to try to rouse yeast and gave it a gentle shake. There SHOULD be some more fermentable sugars in this and would like to get it down to 1.022-1.020. Any thoughts/suggestions?

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Sorry, 2 packs of Wyeast 1056 and starter for 24 hours. Took off like a shot day 1!!

Love your setup, looks awesome.

Side question: How pleased are you with that tilt hydrometer? I've been debating biting the bullet and getting one.. Seems to save much time and sample pulling.

Beer looks/sounds good so far! I have had a couple sampler bottles of mine... Tastes fantastic, lots of positive feedback. Strong maple flavor, chocolate, and coffee. I'm very pleased with this batch over last years.

paarman said:

Love your setup, looks awesome.

Side question: How pleased are you with that tilt hydrometer? I've been debating biting the bullet and getting one.. Seems to save much time and sample pulling.

Beer looks/sounds good so far! I have had a couple sampler bottles of mine... Tastes fantastic, lots of positive feedback. Strong maple flavor, chocolate, and coffee. I'm very pleased with this batch over last years.

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Thank you Paarman. I have loved my Tilts. The old ones were not very good. The “new” ones are MUCH better. Longer battery life FOR SURE! Easy to clean. Easy to sanitize. I honestly use it as much for temperature as anything!! Helps when I ferment in a swamp cooler. I highly recommend the new Tilt (customer service is fantastic) but I always check behind with a hydrometer. They are always within each other by +\- .002. As for the beer, took a final gravity today at 1.026. Tasted quite good but I didn’t get any maple (yet). Racked half on top of a bottle of Cholaca and half “dry beaned” with Kona Chocolate Macadamia coffee. Will keep updated on how these turned out.

Nichols2127 said:

Thank you Paarman. I have loved my Tilts. The old ones were not very good. The “new” ones are MUCH better. Longer battery life FOR SURE! Easy to clean. Easy to sanitize. I honestly use it as much for temperature as anything!! Helps when I ferment in a swamp cooler. I highly recommend the new Tilt (customer service is fantastic) but I always check behind with a hydrometer. They are always within each other by +\- .002. As for the beer, took a final gravity today at 1.026. Tasted quite good but I didn’t get any maple (yet). Racked half on top of a bottle of Cholaca and half “dry beaned” with Kona Chocolate Macadamia coffee. Will keep updated on how these turned out.

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Worth getting just for the smell! It’s fantastic!!