has anyone tried the brewers best oatmeal stout kit

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When I brewed this kit my OG was 1.070, FG stalled out at 1.030, I bottled it then. It ended up being just ok, granted I don't buy kits anymore but if I did I don't think I'd buy this one.
 
Just brewed this Saturday afternoon and airlock was done bubbling by Monday morning which brought me to this thread. Brand new to this but I've read through this entire tread and a few things seemed somewhat apparent to me:

-Final gravity generally tops out at ~1.032 for most brewers

-no real success stories of repitching yeast, subbing the yeast, adding amylase enzyme, using yeast energizer, shaking the fermenter, using a prolonged fermentation or a secondary

-most people have found their 3 percent beers to be a tasty success

-I still don't think anyone has mentioned dropping the maltodextrin in their next attempt

As a brand new brewer, BigB's post make the most sense to me. Cliff notes of my conclusions (which may be dead wrong):

-maltodextrin is largely unfermentable and adds approximately 8 points to specific gravity
-brewing instructions have likely not accounted for the malto's effect therefore, when we try to brew the suggested OG 1.056-1.064 we actually are brewing to a "real" 1.048-1.056, providing less sugar for the fermentation.
-if we wanted to brew to the true suggested OG, we should aim for 1.064-1.072 (seems to be in line with the few people who have experienced success)
-instructions supply a suggested FG of 1.016-1.020, which would be 1.024-1.028 adjusted (in line with several people's results now)
 
Going to try this one tonight. Using S-04 yeast, which usually has no problem finishing. I also noticed in looking at the kit I have the maltodextrin is now .5 lbs vs 1 lbs. Plan on adding some cold brewed coffee to the keg as well.

But has anyone done this with S-04?

Going to put this recipe into beersmith to see if the numbers jive for a partial mash.
 
Here's what I get when I plug the numbers into beersmith.



image-3462761374.jpg
 
Pitched some rehydrated s04 at 9 am this morning. Just checked and starting to see airlock activity. Will keep updated to see if I can break the dreaded stall at 35.

I'm pretty confident s04 will get this down to the 17 range like beersmith predicts.
 
Also I kept the mash between 149 and 152 for 45 minutes, rinsed w half gallon of 170 water and my OG was 1.064. Left about a quart of trub and wort in the kettle, wort in fermenter is right at 5 gallon mark. Aeration was a minute of shaking the bucket.
 
Going to check SG tomorrow night. I saw good activity in the airlock for the first 24 hours or so after it started but it dies down pretty quick and i'm not seeing any activity now. One of the downsides of a bucket, can't see what's going on (and the damn lid is so hard to get off to take samples). Doesn't seem like enough activity overall to be close to being done, but only the hydro will tell. I am really thinking it may be stuck. But S-04 has yet to fail me and I think it should be a pretty good yeast for this style so we shall see... I'm planning on cold brewing some coffee to go into the keg with the beer.
 
Good news I'm at 1.019. Ramped temp up to 70-72 for another week.

Thinking of adding vanilla extract and coffee to keg, any idea how much vanilla extract? Going to cold brew a French press of coffee for the keg.
 
In hindsight I think my biggest problem way back when was to follow the directions instead of breaking up the extract additions. Still was a great beer, just less dry than it could have been.
 
DrunkleJon said:
In hindsight I think my biggest problem way back when was to follow the directions instead of breaking up the extract additions. Still was a great beer, just less dry than it could have been.

How's that founders Bfast stout clone coming? What a great beer...
 
Well pretty happy so far how this has turned out. I checked the SG again today after a week, last check it was at 1.019 and still there so kegged it. I cold brewed a pot of coffee in my French Press using 4 cups of boiled and cooled water, plus 1 1/3 cups of Columbian coffee. Let it steep at room temp for 12 hours and added to the keg before racking. The beer is only 18 days old so it tastes green but hoping it will be good when ready. I've made an extract Milk Stout before and added cold brewed coffee to cut the sweetness and it came out great so hoping for the same here. Love the way coffee adds that bitterness to play against the sweet stout.

Have it in the keezer set to 40 degrees at about 10 PSI. My numbers were (according to BeerSmith):

Expected OG: 1.065, Actual 1.064
Expected FG: 1.017, Actual 1.019
Expected ABV: 6.4%, Actual 5.9%
 
I brewed this feb. 23, bottled it march 25. Tried a bottle last night and was pleasantly surprised with the carbonation but not with the taste. I realize that this is still early for any beer, but especially a dark one. I like the initial taste but the after taste is really grassy, is this what it means when I hear of beers being 'green'?

I'll probably crack open another in a week or so to see if it's improved at all
 
Cicada said:
I brewed this feb. 23, bottled it march 25. Tried a bottle last night and was pleasantly surprised with the carbonation but not with the taste. I realize that this is still early for any beer, but especially a dark one. I like the initial taste but the after taste is really grassy, is this what it means when I hear of beers being 'green'?

I'll probably crack open another in a week or so to see if it's improved at all

A week later and this is much improved no grassy aftertaste and pretty dang tasty. It's real heavy, I'm not sure I could have another even they were all ready to go. Nice desert beer. Can't wait to see how it is a week from now.
 
Brewed mine march 20, kegged about 12 days ago I think. I've been sampling it and already it's good. But it does have a bit of what I'd call green, a twang of sorts. I think another two weeks will make it great. It's not even fully carbed yet
 
Pitched some rehydrated s04 at 9 am this morning. Just checked and starting to see airlock activity. Will keep updated to see if I can break the dreaded stall at 35.

I'm pretty confident s04 will get this down to the 17 range like beersmith predicts.

Brewing this tomorrow, seems you've had the best success getting to the right FG. What wasn't clear (maybe I missed it) was if you only pitched the one packet of S-04 or was that in addition to the Windsor? Also curious about your aeration technique. And last but not least, how did it age?
 
Just pitched one pack of s-04 that's plenty. To aerate I shake the hell out of it for one minute. It is aging great I still have on tap. I don't drink a lot of stout, especially this time of year, so a keg lasts awhile. It seems to get better with age, I can still really taste the cold brewed coffee I added and the sweetness of the lactose fades and mellows.
 
Thanks. The brew day on this went well. I put together a make shift mash tun, used an old brew pot that fit in my larger cooler, put some towels around it, lined it with a strainer bag, heated the water in my bk to 160, drained 2.25 gallons into the pot where it dropped to 155, "doughed in" and it hit 152 on the nose. Put my temp probe in the pot, put on the lid and closed the cooler, and it held 152 for 20 min, 151 for another 20, the 150 for the last 5, so I called that success. Hit the OG of 1.064 on the nose, had some trouble getting it down to pitching temp as it was almost 100 outside. Rehydrated the Windsor that came with it (though I have some S-04 on the way as a back up), aerated by shaking very vigorously for 3 minutes, pitched the yeast, swirled again for 15 sec, and topped. That was at 6 last night and this morning we are bubbling away, the krausen is small though, but it may have just started building so we'll keep an eye on it. I've got kegs, but since this will be more of a specialty (I'm also adding the coffee) I think I'm going to bottle condition and let it sit for a while. I'll report back this weekend on where the ferm is at.
 
Sounds good what temp are you fermenting at? Id shoot for the low 60s if you have a way to cool it.
 
My ferm room (basement bathroom) stays consistently 63-65. Still going strong as of this morning, so finger's crossed. I'll try and post some photos tonight.

As an aside bd, I saw you have the Petite Saison in primary. I just kicked a keg of it yesterday. It was a big hit a our 4th BBQ. Did you add anything to the boil? I went with dried sweet orange peel and some coriander, nothing to strong but enough to give it some background. Let me know how it turns out.
 
HopChef said:
My ferm room (basement bathroom) stays consistently 63-65. Still going strong as of this morning, so finger's crossed. I'll try and post some photos tonight.

As an aside bd, I saw you have the Petite Saison in primary. I just kicked a keg of it yesterday. It was a big hit a our 4th BBQ. Did you add anything to the boil? I went with dried sweet orange peel and some coriander, nothing to strong but enough to give it some background. Let me know how it turns out.

Cool that temp is awesome. My basement, in Atlanta, is about 74 right now so a good time for saison. I added the zest from one orange and one grapefruit, and 4 uncrushed peppercorns, all with about 10 mins left in the boil and they were in a hop bag so they came out before transfer to primary. Started in in a swamp cooler high 60s for the first couple days now its at room temp at 74. I did an extract batch for this one. Used 3711 yeast is that what you used?
 
So it seems that after 48 hours, my stout has seriously either run out of steam or finished in record time. I'm taking a reading tonight to see if I had the same problem, so I'll post and let you know. The S-04 should arrive today and if I'm high on the FG (which I just have a feeling I am), I'm going to re-pitch, stir gently and see if we can get it down.

bd, I did use the 3711, did a 2 liter starter, and held it at 72-73. That yeast went crazy, highly attenuating, lots of the fruity esters, though I wish I had used more of the orange peel and coriander. My first time with the saison and didn't want to over do it.
 
HopChef said:
So it seems that after 48 hours, my stout has seriously either run out of steam or finished in record time. I'm taking a reading tonight to see if I had the same problem, so I'll post and let you know. The S-04 should arrive today and if I'm high on the FG (which I just have a feeling I am), I'm going to re-pitch, stir gently and see if we can get it down.

bd, I did use the 3711, did a 2 liter starter, and held it at 72-73. That yeast went crazy, highly attenuating, lots of the fruity esters, though I wish I had used more of the orange peel and coriander. My first time with the saison and didn't want to over do it.

Check my posts on page 9 of this thread. Mine died down after 48 but was already at 1.019 and went no further.

My petite saison is still bubbling away after a week. It never went crazy, just slow steady bubbling and no blowoff. I only used a .5 L starter on a stir plate, what yeastcalc recommended. I think this one will take a couple weeks to finish but hopefully will dry out well. With the extract I don't know how fermentable it is but I used the same ingredients the northern brewer recipe calls for.
 
So apparently this is just a crazy fast yeast! I just took the FG reading and we're at 1.020! Just never would have believed it would have finished so fast. So I am just guessing that I did sufficient oxygenation (more than 3 minutes of very vigorous shaking and swirling), re-hydrated the yeast (the included Windsor), and hit my modification temp on the nose during the mini-mash. The sample I took for the reading tastes really good. Subtle coffee notes, the silky mouthfeel from the oats, and very mild bitterness in the background. I'm going to let this sit in the primary for 3 weeks (we're out of town on vacation for most of it), then get it kegged. I'm planning on bottling some to condition just to compare in a few months, or trade for some construction work! Thanks for all the input on this kit.
 
Sounds great! If it were me, since its already very close to fg and I were going away for 3 weeks I would rack to secondary... Just to rule out any chance of autolysis (sp?). I know there is a big debate on this but if my sanitation and racking is sound, I'd feel better getting it off the cake. There will still be plenty of yeast to finish up.
 
Hello, I recently brewed this same kit, actually it was my very first brew. I also ran into the stuck fermentation. I have went over and analyzed everything I did and researched as much info as I could on the internet with any one whom has experienced the same outcome with the same kit. I did find one little piece of info that may be the answer to why the fermentation was affected. On the instruction sheet, it specifically states under step 8 ( DO NOT REHYDRATE YEST). Well I read that a few other people did rehydrate the yest, as well as I did to. I watched a few YouTube videos where the person did, and it even states on the packet of yeast to "rehydrate it" before pitching. Perhaps re-hydrating it is what caused the fermentation to slow down or stop. I moved my wort from the primary to secondary carboy, and left the original yeast cake in the primary, and re-pitched the same dry yeast into the carboy. It didn't actively start fermenting again, like it did when I first pitched to the primary, but it is slowly fermenting. I have been taking hydro readings every 2 days. It seems to very slowly be approaching the FG gravity range stated in the kit. It looks good, and tastes good, but i don't think the ABV is going to be above 4.5% when it should be upward around 5.5%-6.5% . That is probably from the incorrect pitching of the yeast. Long story short PAY ATTENTION TO ALL THE DIRECTIONS! I look at this as a great learning experience. You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs.
 
Ittts alive! Its alive! I dont know if I agree there. Back when I made it I didnt rehydrate and stuck at 1.023 spot on where everyone else did. Maybe late boil extract additions would help, but I think that it is/was just in need of recipe re-design. Honestly, I bottled mine at 1.023 and it carbed up perfectly and even a year later was not overcarbed. It was still delicious so no matter what I consider it to have been a win.
 
Mine was done at 1030 but I added lactose to make an oatmeal milk stout...


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So I'm about to brew up my second batch of this. First go I left out the malodextrin and was happy with the results in terms of taste. I was thinking of just adding sugar to bring up the abv but am not sure how much I should add. Anyone have suggestions?


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Hey everyone. I brewed this kit 6 days ago. My starting gravity was 1.056 or possibly 1.064. Now my fermentation is stuck at 1.03. Did anyone figure out what the hey is up with this kit? I stuck with the recipe to a tee. 3 days ago I dissolved some corn sugar and added it to the wort to give the yeasties a little something to eat, hoping to kickstart fermentation again.

Here was my brewday - steeped grains around 150 degrees in two separate bags for 45 minutes. 1 pound oats, 10 oz. dark chocolate, 12 oz. 2-row pale, 6 oz. victory. Brought to a rolling boil and added 3.3 pounds LME, 3 pounds dark DME, .5 pounds maltodextrin. Then boiled 1 oz. Brewer's Gold hops for an hour. Cooled with wort chiller to around 75 degrees, stirred vigorously for 5 minutes, pitched dry yeast on top (Nottingham i think) at around 73 degrees, stirred gently. It's been kept around 68 to 71 degrees since then in the primary. A sample is silky and tastes alright but I'd really like to get this batch up to 5% at least. The box said alcohol range would be 5.5% to 6%. Any ideas folks?
 
It seems the extracts supplied are not fully fermentable. The finishing 1023 or so gravity. It's a good beer nonetheless.
 
11 days since brewday and a hydrometer reading still is around 1.029. Temperature on my bucket has been 67-69 degrees.
 
This recipe seems to stick around there. Honestly I would just let it finish there and enjoy it. I left a couple bottles for more than a year and it never overcarbed. Just ended up being a nice bodied stout. Probably my best extract batch too.
 
Hey guys,
Neighbor and I are new to this. On our second batch. We did the oatmeal stout. We overlooked thr directions about transferring after 6 days and it's now day 14 (like last beer). Is it a lost cause, or can it be saved?
Thanks
 
Hey guys,
Neighbor and I are new to this. On our second batch. We did the oatmeal stout. We overlooked thr directions about transferring after 6 days and it's now day 14 (like last beer). Is it a lost cause, or can it be saved?
Thanks
You didn't transfer the beer to secondary??? Best thing you could do for the beer is not transfer it to secondary. You could take a hydrometer reading now and again in about 2-3 day and if it doesn't change you could bottle it.....or you could wait another week or 2. Stouts like time to settle out the harsh flavors. I bottle mine and then ignore it for 3 to 6 months before drinking it. It gets better with time.
 
You didn't transfer the beer to secondary??? Best thing you could do for the beer is not transfer it to secondary. You could take a hydrometer reading now and again in about 2-3 day and if it doesn't change you could bottle it.....or you could wait another week or 2. Stouts like time to settle out the harsh flavors. I bottle mine and then ignore it for 3 to 6 months before drinking it. It gets better with time.
Yeah. We forgot to transfer to the secondary. Neighbor ended up calling the brew guy and he said to either leave it, and have more solids come bottle day, or transfer it and reduce solids by bottle day. Something like that. So we transferred it. Brew day reading with 9%. Today ended up being 7.5%. We are gonna bottle on the 16th, and then not touch them until Christmas.
 
Yeah. We forgot to transfer to the secondary. Neighbor ended up calling the brew guy and he said to either leave it, and have more solids come bottle day, or transfer it and reduce solids by bottle day. Something like that. So we transferred it. Brew day reading with 9%. Today ended up being 7.5%. We are gonna bottle on the 16th, and then not touch them until Christmas.
Next time you brew don't bother transferring the beer. You are more likely to introduce oxygen by doing so and oxidized beer isn't as good as beer with a little more sediment in the bottle. I try to avoid sucking up the sediment when transferring to the bottling bucket, then leave the beer sit in that bucket for a period of time to let any sediment that did get transferred settle out again. That only takes a few minutes. I will often have trouble seeing the sediment in the bottle because the amount is so small.
 
Next time you brew don't bother transferring the beer. You are more likely to introduce oxygen by doing so and oxidized beer isn't as good as beer with a little more sediment in the bottle. I try to avoid sucking up the sediment when transferring to the bottling bucket, then leave the beer sit in that bucket for a period of time to let any sediment that did get transferred settle out again. That only takes a few minutes. I will often have trouble seeing the sediment in the bottle because the amount is so small.
Copy that. Thanks for the info. Yall have a great day.
D
 
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