Oatmeal stout -- When to add oats?

Heya,

Will be making an oatmeal stout this evening, have a recipe but does not say when I should add the oats. The recipe is extract/partial grain. Should I steep them in with my other grains? Can I put them in the same bag? Or should I add them during the boil, or in the primary fermentation etc.? Thanks yall

IHateMayonnaise

Can't be steeped. You need to mash them with some base malt. Never add then to boil or fermenter. Take a look at stove top partial mash

Also, it looks like you won't be making it this evening. You may have to leave out the oats if you are set on brewing tonight until you have the proper equpment and base malt for the mash.

All my grains are already crushed; are you saying that it's not possible to make an oatmeal stout without doing partial mash?

IHateMayonnaise said:

All my grains are already crushed; are you saying that it's not possible to make an oatmeal stout without doing partial mash?

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Yes. just make a stout. You are going to have to leave out the oats

What grains do you have with the oats? You might have what you need to mash already.

6.6lbs Amber malt (Liquid)
1lb chocolate malt
1/2lb Dark malt
1lb 120-crystal malt
1lb flaked oats

Think thats pretty much it.

Well, you don't have anything in there that'll mash and without mashing the oats won't do too much for you. They'll add a little of what you want to the beer, but they'll also add haze. If you can get to your LHBS, you can pick up some base malt to add to that and do a partial mash.

Well my problem is that Im over 2 hours from the closest brew shop, Id like to do something with what I have. I don't care about haziness, is there no reasonable way i can get the oatmeal in?

I have heard of people cooking the oats separately to gelatinize them. But then I have no friggin clue what to do with them. I just thought I would toss that out there to further confuse the situation. I am sure you could steep them with the grain, as that is what is intended. You probably wont get much conversion from them, but you may get some of the silky-smooth body that a good OS has. Who gives a F whether a little haze is in your black-opaque Stout?

I have always just added them ot the mash. I am not sure what to do with PM.

Yeah, if all your grains are mixed, it's not going to ruin your beer or anything to have them in there when you steep. You'll get a little haze and you won't get as much of the mouthfeel and whatnot the oats are supposed to give you, but it'll still be a good, drinkable stout.

Thanks everyone for your input.

I am actually making an oatmeal porter, a clone of a nice local beer I really like. So in reality the oatmeal does not play that large of a part (I wouldn't think); the part of the beer I really want to emulate is the silky-smooth texture and nice malty finish. This is my first dark beer, just looking to experiment and hopefully have a good beer at the end.

So yes? Just steep with grains?

I don't do extract and steeps but isn't that a he'll of alot of steeping grains. Let alone a pound of oatmeal for steeping. Won't that add a lot of unwated proteins and starches. If your going to do it though, I'd suggest gelatinizing them like the other poster suggested. You'll get better use of them if you cook first.

No need to cook the oats if you're using flaked - the rolling process creates enough heat that the oats are already gelatinized (i.e. pre-cooked). Not sure what you'll get from steeping them - not sure it will be worth it, but it certainly won't hurt the brew (as long as you can deal with the potential haze).

The name "Oatmeal Stout" is misleading...your beer won't have an oat-mealy taste to it. The oats are in there to give the beer a silky mouthfeel, and the flavors from the oats are subtle at best. They are more of a "background" to all of the other goodness you'll have going on. It'll be great, even without the oats!

If you toast the oats first, they'll lend a little more flavor, but not really an "oaty" flavor. More like... oatmeal cookie.

Ive made a few beers (stouts and brown ale) with oatmeal (flaked breakfast oats) and Ive always cooked them first. Oats to water ratio of 1:2, mix together in a large bowl and into the microwave untll they're done - stir every couple of minutes and add more water if need be. When they're a creamy consistency they're done.

Bru said:

Ive made a few beers (stouts and brown ale) with oatmeal (flaked breakfast oats) and Ive always cooked them first. Oats to water ratio of 1:2, mix together in a large bowl and into the microwave untll they're done - stir every couple of minutes and add more water if need be. When they're a creamy consistency they're done.

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Not sure that this is a necessary step for flaked oats - they are already gelatinized. Not sure this hurts either, just seems like an extra step for no additional benefit.

I think it all depends on if you get your flaked oats from the LHBS or if you're getting oatmeal off the grocery store shelf.

ChshreCat said:

I think it all depends on if you get your flaked oats from the LHBS or if you're getting oatmeal off the grocery store shelf.

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I am not sure that is what matters. Quick oats, or one minute oats have been gelatinized and are ok to throw into a mash. Never bought oats from LHBS, but I would assume they are ok to use in a mash as well. The non-quick oats need to be cooked if I understand correctly.

"Old Fashioned" Rolled Oats need to be cooked to smithereens. (simmer 10 minutes)
"Quick Oats" need to be cooked. (simmer 5-6 minutes)
"Instant Oats" can be added directly to the mash.

Add them it with the rest of the specialty grains. If you have any very lightly roasted grains, then there *may* be enough residual emzymes to convert some of the oats. Boil your wort as usual, and most of the starches from oats will break into trub. It may not be textbook oatmeal stout, but It'll be fine.

I ordered my specialty grains for an oatmeal stout partial mash (for my first beer) and the oats came in the bag of specialty grains all together. Why would they put the oats in the same bag as the specialty grains if I can't do a partial mash with them? They aren't being steeped necessarily (because it is a partial mash), but I thought this is the way you were suppose to do it?

You can do a partial mash with flaked oats. A partial mash follows all the same rules as a full all-grain mash. If you have the base malt in there, you're just fine.