Honest Oatmeal Stout

I split this brew into a small partial mash plus a separate set of steeped grains, partly because I'm not set up to mash so much grain in one go, and also because I was worried about the high proportion of dark grains messing with my mash pH.

A couple of weeks before brew day, I toasted the flaked oats on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees until they were a rich golden color (about 20 minutes), then stored them in a brown paper bag to let them mellow.

Partial mash:

• 2.5 lb Pale Malt (6 Row)
• 1.2 lb Flaked Oats (toasted)

Mashed for 1 hour at 154 degrees, then sparged with 168 degree water, adding first wort hops (random varieties left over from a previous brew):

• 1 oz Sterling leaf [7.00 %] (First Wort Hop)
• 1 oz Goldings leaf [4.10 %] (First Wort Hop)

While the mash was in progress, I steeped the darker grains in my brew kettle, gradually raising them from cold to 150 degrees, then holding there for 40 minutes:

• 1 lb Roasted Barley
• 1 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L
• 0.5 lb Chocolate Malt

60 minute boil:

• 3 lb Light Dry Extract (late addition @ 5 minutes)
• WLP004 Irish Ale

How did this turn out? Taste good??

I'm very happy with it. Perfect mix of roasty/chocolate/coffee notes, and just the right amount of sweetness for my taste.

No boiling hops--just FWH? This recipe sounds great May be next on my list.

Yeah, just FWH.

I'm always torn about hopping for a stout. I like them with a very minimal amount of hop flavor, but want that way back in the background so it doesn't interfere with the more dominant roast flavors. And I don't really want any hop aroma. In the past I've made stouts with only bittering hops, and missed the absence of hop flavor. But the one time I added a small amount of flavor hops, it was too much and fought with the coffee aroma.

This recipe is the first time I tried using just FWH in a stout, and it did exactly what I was looking for. Nice smooth bitterness, with a subtle flavor contribution that sits very much in the background.

Now I'm on a kick to figure out what other recipes could benefit from FWH. I used it in an amber before, but didn't notice much effect there since any different flavors I got from it were drowned out by the late addition Cascades