Oats and aging beer

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jmarshall

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I'm thinking about using oats in a recipe for a belgian specialty ale that would be aged for at least a few months. My plan is to use raw whole oats, toast them, and use them as roughly 7% of fermentables in a beer also containing about 15% wheat, 15% dark candi syrup, and the rest barley. I plan to try my hand at a ceral mash for this. Fermentation will be with a belgian yeast with some brett added. I'm thinking month primary, at least a month secondary, then at least a month in bottles.
I can't remember the reference, but I read somewhere that oats aren't usually used in beers that are going to be aged because they contain a higher proportion of lipid and can cause off flavors. Is there any truth to this? Also, does anyone have an idea of whether the Bglucans will be metabolized by the brett to any bad effect? I'm all about experimenting, but if anyone already has experience with this with poor results, I'd rather not ruin a whole batch if I can help it, but I like the contribution oats make in Wit and the slightly nutty flavor from toasted oats.
 
Some traditional Lambic recipes call for oats, I wouldn't be worried. The glucans will probably be broken down overtime, but there are plenty of funky saisons with rye (which is also high in beta glucans) that are great.

Sound slikea great recipe, but it may need more time in secondary for the gravity to stabilize. Good luck!
 
Thanks for the response. Incidentally, I have a rye saison in secondary right now (non-funked version though). I guess I didn't think about rye being high in B glucans as well. I'll also heed your advice and keep it in secondary a while. I think that champagne bottles would be the best bet for bottling to avoid any exploding bottles given the continued breakdown of complex sugars by the brett. It will take me a while to collect enough anyway, so I won't be tempted to pull it out of secondary early.
 
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