"American" or "Imperial" Oatmeal Stout Recipe: Critiques please!

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cladinshadows

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Ok, this weekend I am brewing up my first attempt at a big oatmeal stout. It's not really to style, per se, but it'll be fun and hopefully pretty tasty. My main goal is to make a slightly "American" take on a classic British style. To do that, I'll be bumping up the BU:GU ratio, providing a bit of American hops for flavor, not to mention giving it a bit of an alcohol boost. It's sort of a "Partial Extract" recipe...

Please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions...


Brew-at-a-Glance

Batch Size = 6.5 gal
Predicted OG = 1.072
Hopeful FG = 1.016-1.018
ABV = 7.3%
SRM = 51
BU:GU = 0.71

Grain Bill:
Maris Otter Pale Malt 10.00 lbs
Flaked Oats 1.50 lbs
Victory Malt 1.00 lbs
Chocolate Malt 0.50 lbs
American Crystal Malt 80 0.50 lbs
Roasted Barley 0.50 lbs
Flaked Barley 0.50 lbs
Pale LME 3.00 lbs

Mash grains at 152 for 90 min. Mashout and single batch sparge.

Hop Schedule
2 oz. EKG @ 90 min.
1/2 oz. Cascade @ 30 min.
1/2 oz. Cascade @ 10 min.
Total IBUs = 40

I will be toasting 1/2 lb. of the oats at 300F until they start to become aromatic. I really want a nutty, bicuity, oat-y flavor to be noticeable. I am also considering "dry-cinnamoning" after about two weeks in primary, just to make this into the ideal breakfast beer. I will be using US-04, two packets.

My questions: do you think I'll achieve nearly 80% attenuation on this grain bill with US-04? I don't want it to end up too sweet. I figure by mashing relatively low, I'll get plenty of fermentables, but the LME will help keep it from drying out excessively. Should I drop the mash to 150?

Secondly, will Cascade in an OS just taste wrong? I love my hops, but I don't want it to turn into some abomination when malt flavors are supposed to be the focal point just because I feel weird seeing a number less than 75 IBUs in my brew spreadsheet...

Thirdly, how much of the oats should I toast? Should I toast some of the MO as well? I really want to achieve some serious toasty flavors, it's what I look for in an oatmeal stout. What has worked for you?

Lastly, anybody used cinnamon before? What quantity and duration has been successful for you?

Thanks for reading this very long post! Hopefully there's someone else out there with enthusiasm for the oats!
 
Just my 2 cents.. but I'd up the Roasted Barley a little and cut back on the Victory but if you're going for a lot of toastiness than I'd leave it.

I think if you want to increase your attenuation then I'd switch to US05 and/or swap a little of the LME out for some corn sugar, maybe 1/2 lb?

I think Cascades are perfectly fine for an American Stout.

I've never toasted my oats and the one time I used cinnamon it was overpowered by ginger so I can't help you there. But I recently used 1.5lbs flaked oats in an oatmeal stout and I think it came out pretty good.
 
That recipe looks delicious to me... I just did an oatmeal stout a few days ago that was really similar to yours but 'smaller'... OG of 1.065 because i want to be able to knock back a few. I'm adding

I have used cinnamon in oatmeal chocolate stouts, and it works really well but can be overpowering. I'd suggest using it in the secondary by adding a cinnamon stick and letting it seep in for a couple days, then take a sample. If you want more, repeat. When its cinnamon-y enough for your taste, rack and bottle/keg. If you boil it the aroma (which is most of what cinnamon really is) can be cooked off rather quickly, and I've heard you don't want to add cinnamon directly to the keg either because over time the flavor gets harsher (hence, add to secondary and rack off when you're happy).

To be fair, it seems like people have a variety of opinions on the best way to add it, and i don't know that there's been any significant research done on which is 'best' or what qualities you get from the methods... just pick one and let us know how it went!

In my recent oatmeal chocolate stout I had 3/4# chocolate malt in the mash, and added 4oz of a dark mexican chocolate (which is rather dry, not oily like many forms of chocolate in america) which I picked up in Oaxaca last month, which had a lot of cinnamon added already. I melted chunks of this into a cup of hot water, stirring the chunks in until it was a very thick and syrupy 'spiced hot chocolate' mix, then added this at flame-out. The wort going into the fermenter tasted fantastic, and i'll reevaluate post fermentation as to whether it needs more cocoa/cinnamon flavor.

One last note - if you're going to add chocolate with sugar in it (pretty much all chocolate other than cocoa powder) make sure to do it in the boil/fermentation/primary rather than secondary or else you risk adding something which could cause overcarbing or bottle bombs as it ferments
 
Recipe: Cascade Oatmeal Stout
Brewer: Jamie Evans
Style: Oatmeal Stout
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.064 SG
Estimated Color: 35.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 38.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (1.8 SRM) Grain 63.16 %
2.00 lb Oats, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain 14.04 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 7.02 %
0.75 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 5.26 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (1.5 SRM) Grain 3.51 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3.51 %
0.25 lb Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 1.75 %
0.25 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 1.75 %
1.75 oz Cascade [5.70 %] (60 min) Hops 27.0 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [5.70 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
1.50 oz Cascade [5.70 %] (15 min) Hops 11.5 IBU
1 Pkgs Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 14.25 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Full Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
45 min Mash In Add 17.81 qt of water at 170.5 F 158.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 7.13 qt of water at 196.6 F 168.0 F
 
Secondly, will Cascade in an OS just taste wrong? I love my hops, but I don't want it to turn into some abomination when malt flavors are supposed to be the focal point just because I feel weird seeing a number less than 75 IBUs in my brew spreadsheet...

I have used Cascades in an American-Style Stout (6.3% ABV as-brewed), adding 1oz at 45 minutes and another at 15 minutes. I wound up with a wonderful earthy-roasty-vaguely herbal flavor from the hops combined with the roasted malts, and a noticeable but very smooth bitterness.

I say go for it.
 
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