Oatmeal Stout Yooper's Oatmeal Stout

Oldskewl said:

Yes those are my same concerns. Mine ended up around 4.5% and would like to try bumping it to the 7-8% range and I wouldn’t mind a bit more roastiness. As after 5 or 6 weeks in the keg I am experincing a mellowing of the roast. I haven’t plugged it into brewers friend yet, but my thought is to try increasing the whole recipe 25% and then increase the base malt from there. Obviously the hops would need increased too.

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That sounds like a wise course of action. If you pull the trigger please post results. I may do the same later this winter.

I brewed this recipe 5 weeks ago (3 in fermenter, 2 in bottles so far). I think I added a little more hops than the recipe asked for, and I added a little baggie of cacao nibs in secondary.

Even though the beer is still a little young, it tastes unbelievably good. Maybe the best beer I've made yet?

Thanks so much for the recipe! This will help us all make it through those long Canadian winter nights!

luizffgarcia said:

@Yooper , looks like we don't have a search feature in the threads anymore so i was not able to search before asking, but have you ever attempted a variation using lactose? I am curious on how would that turn out...

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I thought the same thing at first, but it's just been moved. If you click in the search box in the top right, there is an option to search only the thread you are viewing.

@Yooper
I brewed this a few years ago with a different yeast and it was simply ok. I brewed this recently and it's a completely different, and better, beer. I also tweaked it with the black medium body water profile and this is now in the permanent rotation at the house. Mrs. Etchy is a huge fan and I'm happy that she has a favorite stout that isn't Russian or imperial and can be ready in less than six months.

Killer beer. Thanks.

Epos7 said:

I brewed this yesterday on my BIAB system. I scaled Yooper's recipe up to an 11 gallon batch, then added an extra half pound of 2 row for good measure.

14.5 lbs 2 row
2 lbs flaked oats
24 oz chocolate malt (Briess 350L)
24oz Victory malt
1 lb black barley (Briess 500L)
1 lb crystal 80
1 lb flaked barley

3.75oz Willamette @ 60 (4.8% AA)

RO water
5 g gypsum
8.5 g CaCl

Wyeast 1968 starting at 66F and ramping up after a couple days.

I mashed at 155F to nudge the 1968 to slightly higher attenuation, although I got 75% last time I used it.

Boil gravity was 1.045, OG came in at 1.050. I didn't have to use any lactic acid on this brew, and the mash pH came in at 5.31 at the 30 minute mark. Pitched yeast last night and it's happily bubbling away this morning.

This is my first dark beer. The samples I pulled tasted awesome, excited to see how it turns out.

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Just wanted to follow up after bottling. The 1968 finished at 1.019, so the ABV is 4.2%. Hydrometer samples tasted great. Looking forward to drinking in a month.

Brewed this three days ago with the batch sitting nicely in the fermenter now. Ended up a bit short on volume but hit OG right on at 1.052. Looking forward to two weeks from now when it’s done

Hi Yooper, I have been looking at your Oatmeal Stout recipe. I have been trying to read thru the thread for an answer to this question but I have yet to find it and my brain is tired. What does the flaked barley add to the recipe? I don't have this on hand and am wondering what effect it will have to omit it. Thanks and merry Christmas.
GF

Gonefishin said:

Hi Yooper, I have been looking at your Oatmeal Stout recipe. I have been trying to read thru the thread for an answer to this question but I have yet to find it and my brain is tired. What does the flaked barley add to the recipe? I don't have this on hand and am wondering what effect it will have to omit it. Thanks and merry Christmas.
GF

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Flaked barley provides body and that rocky head retention. It gives a nice mouthfeel as well.

Thanks Yooper. I may bump the oatmeal a little and go for it. The recipe look real good to me.

Been eyeing this recipe for a while and finally got around to a Christmas Day brew today of a 5.25g batch. I added a pound of lactose at 10 minutes because I'm a fan of milk stouts and love the extra body and sweetness it adds. OG finished at 1.066, likely due to the lactose. I've got a 1.3L starter of WY1450 waiting to be pitched at 64. Can't wait to see how this turns out!

I just bottled a smaller 2-gallon batch and it tastes amazing right out of the fermenter! Can’t wait until those bottles are ready.

BroomVikin said:

Been eyeing this recipe for a while and finally got around to a Christmas Day brew today of a 5.25g batch. I added a pound of lactose at 10 minutes because I'm a fan of milk stouts and love the extra body and sweetness it adds. OG finished at 1.066, likely due to the lactose. I've got a 1.3L starter of WY1450 waiting to be pitched at 64. Can't wait to see how this turns out!

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Alright past brewers of this beer, help me out with my math and tell me if I need to act or wait. As mentioned above I brewed 5.25g of this that ended at 1.066 (I added a pound of lactose at 10m so that's likely the higher than expected OG) on Monday. I pitched a 1.3L starter of WY1450 on Tuesday morning at set the ole freezer to 64 degrees. I checked on it periodically and curiously never saw a krausen. I know that this doesn't always portend trouble but it seemed odd. Today (5 days in) I took my first gravity reading and was a little disappointed to find it at only 1.028. My question is this, should I hope that fermentation is a long ways from being done or should I try to "help it along"? I'm really hoping to finish out around 1.014 and it seems like after 5 days I should be a little closer than I am. I'm heading out of town tomorrow for about a week so I won't be able to do anything about it for a while.

You may be finished. Several of us have finished in the 1.022 - 1.024 range with 1450. With the added lactose you’ll finish even higher. I would rouse the yeast a couple times and increase the temp to around 72 to help it finish.

Agreed with above, my experience with Denny's Fav is it ferments quick into the 1.020's but can stall or become really sluggish once there. Raise the temps to 68-72 and it seems to chew through another 5-10 gravity points depending on how high it was when it stalled.

is crisp roasted barley at 500 L the same as the black barley?

BroomVikin said:

...WY1450...64 degrees.... never saw a krausen...

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My first go at this recipe has been in the fermenter 12 days now. I started my fermentation at 63F. I had good visual signs of fermentation, but only a very thin film of krausen. Sounds similar to yours.

When the thin krausen collapsed, and it was obviously slowing down, I ramped it up to 70F and left it for a few days. After that I ramped it back down to 65, where I'll leave it until it has finished out a month total.

Kegged a batch of this a couple days ago. When I was sourcing the grains at my LHBS the didn't have the black barley, so unsure what to do I just replaced with roasted barley. Poured a small sample from the keg yesterday and it's good, but not fully carbed yet. Going to give this one a few days to mellow out and see how it comes out. Initial impressions were good, but I will definitely do this one again by the recipe just to see the difference.

After sitting on gas for 2 weeks this is definitely coming together. Feel like it’s missing something. Probably due to my subbing roasted barley for the black barley

snocross1985 said:

After sitting on gas for 2 weeks this is definitely coming together. Feel like it’s missing something. Probably due to my subbing roasted barley for the black barley

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Do you know the Lovibond of the roasted barley you used? Some maltsters have a light roasted barley in the 300-350L range. The black barley that this recipe calls for is the black roasted barley around 500L, which is used in most stouts. Unless you used one of the light roasted ones, it sounds like you used the correct “black barley” that the recipe calls for. Black Patent or Black Malt is something different and seen more commonly in porters.

Every time I make this beer I gain at least 2 more pounds.

I know it's a well-documented issue, but I'm wondering if anyone has found a particularly effective solution for the absence of black barley? LHBS doesn't stock.

Do I replace it 1:1 with plain ol' roasted barley? Some suggest it misses something...

So do I up some other grains to compensate? E.g. The chocolate.

Never done a stout.

zonkman said:

I know it's a well-documented issue, but I'm wondering if anyone has found a particularly effective solution for the absence of black barley? LHBS doesn't stock.

Do I replace it 1:1 with plain ol' roasted barley? Some suggest it misses something...

So do I up some other grains to compensate? E.g. The chocolate.

Never done a stout.

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Yes, I posted about this just a few posts back - black barley and roasted barley (the 500L) are the same thing called by different names. Avoid using anything called black malt or black patent.

Here is the Briess link showing the difference between the two: http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Products/Roasted_Barley.htm

Click on the PDF link in the respective boxes. The sensory profiles differ slightly. Mainly, the black barley (500L) has a stronger coffee and roast presence, plus little extras. Whereas the roasted barley's (300L) profile is more confined.

But maybe it's not enough to make a significant (i.e. rather-brew-another-recipe) difference? 1:1 then?

zonkman said:

Here is the Briess link showing the difference between the two: http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Products/Roasted_Barley.htm

Click on the PDF link in the respective boxes. The sensory profiles differ slightly. Mainly, the black barley (500L) has a stronger coffee and roast presence, plus little extras. Whereas the roasted barley's (300L) profile is more confined.

But maybe it's not enough to make a significant (i.e. rather-brew-another-recipe) difference? 1:1 then?

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Briess is unfortunately creating confusion with their product naming here. They offer 2 different types roasted barley - a light one 300L and a darker one at 500L. They could’ve just called it light roasted barley and dark roasted barley, but they chose to name the one at 500L black barley instead. Other brands that only have one type of roasted barley just call it as such, and it is typically on the darker side.

If the LHBS only carries “roasted barley” and not “black barley”, it’s likely just a dark roasted barley (>400L) from a different brand, so can be used in place of the “black barley” listed in the recipe.

Something like this would be perfectly fine to use:

https://bsgcraftbrewing.com/crisp-roasted-barley-25-kg

Has anyone used this as a base for making a graff? Something like 2 parts oatmeal stout, 3 parts apple juice? Results?

Hi Yooper,

Making this tomorrow. I know with stouts they age very well, but what's the earliest you would drink this brew? Six weeks in a keg maybe?

Thanks, looks great, can't wait to try it! Nick

Just brewed this today. Couldn't find any 1335 available, unfortunately, so I thought I'd go with another similar yeast, English Ale Yeast III (1318). Anyone have experience brewing with this one?

Was also the first brew I used both a starter and a specific water profile via mineral addition. Curious to see how it'll turn out! So far just been brewing with my tap water, which is pretty dang hard.

I have been wanting to Imperialize this recipe for a few years now and finally took a stab at it last month. Basically just doubled up on all the ingredients, increased boil time to 90 minutes, and used Wyeast Pacman to ferment with. I have had good results using Pacman in some other high ABV recipes lately so am optimistic that it will finish this recipe close to 8%! I also increase water volumes, I shoot for about 6.5gal after fermentation is done. Sure hope Czarina Yooper approves ( ;

JLeuck64 said:

I have been wanting to Imperialize this recipe for a few years now and finally took a stab at it last month. Basically just doubled up on all the ingredients, increased boil time to 90 minutes, and used Wyeast Pacman to ferment with. I have had good results using Pacman in some other high ABV recipes lately so am optimistic that it will finish this recipe close to 8%! I also increase water volumes, I shoot for about 6.5gal after fermentation is done. Sure hope Czarina Yooper approves ( ;

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Let us know how it turns out. Thought about doing the same.

Oldskewl said:

Let us know how it turns out. Thought about doing the same.

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I have been enjoying this scaled up version very much over the past week! It has only been on CO2 for a short while but has already started to mellow and am really looking forward to seeing how it ages. Everyone who has tried a sample likes it. I must say that in my experience a really good base recipe has always been very predictable when scaling up and this one follows right along with my past experiences. This batch ended up at about 7.6% ABV, which is 75% attenuation with the Pacman yeast, and is a fine balance between boozyness and drinkability. Probably on the low end of the scale for an Imperial Stout category but it suits my taste buds! ( ; Luv how Pacman yeast finishes dry!

Some corrections I should make from my last post, I noticed I forgot to mention a few things. I accidently used US 2 row for the base grain instead of UK base malt... (it still turned out great with the US 2 row!) The other change I made was to the hop schedule. I added a 15min aroma hop addition, and that was 2.0 oz of Willamette. When I was developing this scaled up version I referenced a Russian Imperial Stout recipe that I make on a regular basis and it uses a 15min aroma hop addition. That late addition helped to bring the IBU's of this scaled up version of Yooper's Oatmeal Stout to a level that was where I guessed it needed to be, around 60 IBU's.

I would say if you have been thinking about scaling this recipe up, don't wait any longer! I am kicking my self for not attempting it sooner

Thanks for your feedback! I was afraid it would get too roasty. 8% range makes for a nice stout. I may give this a try.

I think this just might be my next brew.
I doubled the batch for my setup (11 gal in the fermenter) and used Brewers Friend. Does the recipe look correct? The numbers seem to come out OK, I think.
I'm going to use RO water to start since my tap water sucks. Should I shoot for the same water profile that Yooper posted - Ca: 84, Mg: 26, Na 9, SO4 45, Cl 62, HCO3 228. If so, I'm not sure how much of what to add to the water. I'll have to try and figure that out.

Thanks for looking.

I am brewing this right as the fourth brew on my new BIAB setup. This is my first time brewing a stout and I am rather excited for it [emoji2]. Sadly I just realized that I forgot the 2ozs of chocolate [emoji53]. Oh well, it should still be good [emoji482]

Looking to give this a go. Could questions for possible tweets:

1-what are other British ale years that can be substituted? Windsor? Notty?

2-Black barley is the same as roasted barley?

3-thoughts I’m adding some cocoa nibs to secondary?

4-is this a good base for aging in oak/whiskey

5-is this recipe perfect and any tweaks do not improve it?

I've brewed this as is a number of times and love it. IMO, this beer improves with age.. even longer age. I've brewed a 5g batch, bottled half and kegged half. The keg goes fast after it's aged about 6 weeks.. but, the bottled version I drink one per month until it hits one year. Then it also goes fast. Again, IMO, it improves with age.

LHBS didn’t have chocolate malt
So they gave me crystal 80.
Only 2 oz, so hope doesn’t make a huge difference!

Also trying imperial yeast A10.

I finally got around to brewing this. Brew day went well; hit all my numbers, volumes, etc. Fermented at 65 for three days with WLP002 and increased a few degrees every couple of days till I hit 70 and stayed there for two weeks for a total of three weeks then bottled. At bottling it smelled amazingly like chocolate milk. I opened one last night after a week and a half in the bottle just to check as I am impatient, and immediately notice diacetyl in the taste but not the aroma. Anyone experience this? I am hoping it is due to the yeast fermenting the added sugar and that they will clean it up, but figured I would throw it out there for any thoughts.

A co-worker and I made this yesterday. Doubled the recipe and split the batch. Ended at 1.053 OG.
It was my first try at a yeast starter (I made two) and for some reason didn't have a lot of yeast in mine. His is bubbling away. I'm going to have to buy another packet of yeast and add it to my fermenter.

After waiting another day, my batch started bubbling through the airlock. But a day later than my co-worker's. I hope I have enough yeast so it doesn't cause problems.
I'm finding that brewing is pretty forgiving though.

Pyg said:

Looking to give this a go. Could questions for possible tweets:

1-what are other British ale years that can be substituted? Windsor? Notty?

2-Black barley is the same as roasted barley?

3-thoughts I’m adding some cocoa nibs to secondary?

4-is this a good base for aging in oak/whiskey

5-is this recipe perfect and any tweaks do not improve it?

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I just saw this- so I imagine it's way too late to give advice now, but just in case someone else wants to know-

1. I like Wyeast 1335 because it's clean and enhances the malt flavor, but I love Wyeast 1450 (Denny's favorite) because it gives a wonderful mouthfeel and balance without being underattenuated. Definitely not Windsor, as it would finish at a too-high FG, and maybe notty but I've never used notty with it.

2. No. Black barley is unmalted and very dark- more like a coffee roast than roasted barley has.

3. I don't know- I don't like chocolate and never tried it.

4. Yes! One of the members here sent me a couple that he aged in bourbon/oak and it was fantastic.

5. I've found that I like it best 'as is'.

Yooper said:

I just saw this- so I imagine it's way too late to give advice now, but just in case someone else wants to know-

1. I like Wyeast 1335 because it's clean and enhances the malt flavor, but I love Wyeast 1450 (Denny's favorite) because it gives a wonderful mouthfeel and balance without being underattenuated. Definitely not Windsor, as it would finish at a too-high FG, and maybe notty but I've never used notty with it.

2. No. Black barley is unmalted and very dark- more like a coffee roast than roasted barley has.

3. I don't know- I don't like chocolate and never tried it.

4. Yes! One of the members here sent me a couple that he aged in bourbon/oak and it was fantastic.

5. I've found that I like it best 'as is'.

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Thanks for response.

I ended up using imperial A-10 Darkeness for yeast.

I am going to split the batch into gallons:
Original
Oak/whiskey
Chocolate