Tips for Brewing Oatmeal Stout?

I'm going to be brewing my first stout, an oatmeal stout, pretty soon. Although I know that there really isn't too much else different from brewing this beer as any other, I was hoping to gain some of the community's knowledge. Are there any accomplished stout (oatmeal) brewers who would like to offer their insight regarding any of the ingredients, time/temp techniques or other valuable experience that would be good to keep in mind? Though I have a recipe in mind, I'd be interested if anyone has a recipe tht worked well for them. Thanks everyone. : D

Are you doing all grain, PM, or Extract? If you want to get more out of your oats, be sure to cook them first, making a runny gruel type thing before mashing/steeping. This isn't necessary though, especially if you use instant oats...

I use Quaker Quick Oats (from the grocery store).

I've found they are very fermentable. What should have been a 4.7% Oatmeal Stout turned into nearly 6% because I underestimated the potential of oats as a fermentable sugar.

Turned out nice though after it mellowed for a couple months.

Use a pound of the instant oats and of course your high lovibond grain. Be patient - after it is bottled leave it alone for at least 2 months. You will appreciate the difference. When I brewed my first oatmeal stout I started drinking it after 4 weeks in the bottle and was disappointed - I thought that there may have been an infection it had a vinegary smell and flavor and after another 4-5 weeks that had eased into smooth creamy goodness.

Good luck

interesting... so you'd want to cook the oats, even with an extract/s. grains recipe?

do you just dump the gruel into the wort during boil?

Check the recipe I have in my pull down. I just brewed it using Carafa III instead of regular chocolate malt and it made a real difference. I've been getting a lot of good reviews on it and plan to enter it in a couple of upcoming contests. I'm sticking with it for this brew form now on.

I also roast the flaked oats.

debaniel said:

interesting... so you'd want to cook the oats, even with an extract/s. grains recipe?

do you just dump the gruel into the wort during boil?

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You'll do yourself a favor just buying quick oats from the store. They've already been cooked and can be added directly to the steeping bag / mash tun.

Heh, whoops. This is an all grain batch - I just kind of assumed. :cross:

So...is there such a thing as using "too many" oats in regard to the ratio with base grains and specialty grains? I'm shooting for a 6 gallon batch, possibly even 10. I'm not sure yet. Would you say a higher or lower mash temp is ideal?

EinGutesBier said:

Heh, whoops. This is an all grain batch - I just kind of assumed. :cross:

So...is there such a thing as using "too many" oats in regard to the ratio with base grains and specialty grains? I'm shooting for a 6 gallon batch, possibly even 10. I'm not sure yet. Would you say a higher or lower mash temp is ideal?

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I find that when I mash it a little higher, I get more body and a sweeter finish, which is usually what I like in an oatmeal stout. There are some folks that like a drier stout though...