Oatmeal Stout Yooper's Oatmeal Stout

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Dearest Yooper, At a friends Chicken stew last night we found a growler of the barrel aged version of this that I originally sent you. It was probably 2 years old! I use a bowie bottler every fill but was worried about it being oxidized due to the age in the growler. Surprisingly it was fine...still had carbonation and a distinct whiskey taste. The roast flavor had diminished a bit but it was still very drinkable! The Beer Gods were kind tonight...... :mug:
 
Dearest Yooper, At a friends Chicken stew last night we found a growler of the barrel aged version of this that I originally sent you. It was probably 2 years old! I use a bowie bottler every fill but was worried about it being oxidized due to the age in the growler. Surprisingly it was fine...still had carbonation and a distinct whiskey taste. The roast flavor had diminished a bit but it was still very drinkable! The Beer Gods were kind tonight...... :mug:

Wow- what a great find! That really was a good beer, and you put my version to shame.
 
After a late start due to a much needed cleaning of my entire system, I brewed this. My LHBS didn't have the yeast, so I went with Irish Ale instead. We'll see how this turns out.
 
Hey Yooper!,
I've been looking for a good all-grain stout to brew BIAB and I think this looks like a winner! I'm itching to try a gingerbread stout...maybe a couple tablespoons of gingerbread spice (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves) at flameout and rack to a secondary on another couple of tablespoons of gingerbread spice for a week. Do you think this would be good? Maybe some fresh ginger at 15 minutes? I may not get to it before Christmas...maybe the week before. Might get pushed into January.
 
Brewing this today. LHBS only had 4oz flaked barley, so I used flaked wheat. And I'm going to use wyeast 1318(London III) from an ESB I just made.

Will post pics when it's done!
 
Got the left hand and Russian imperial stout on the go from this site. Going to do this next.

Anything wrong with using Us-04?

Also thinking of subbing the Willamette with EKG as I've some left over...
 
Finally got around to brewing this recipe - been on the to brew list for a long time.

Nailed the numbers - as per every Yooper recipe. Used a starter of British Ale I. Can't wait to get this on draft for Christmas!
 
Kegged this today. Brewed as per the recipe except I used London ESB for the yeast. Hopefully it will be perfect on Christmas.
 
Brewed this on Sunday, BIAB. Only my second BIAB brew so I was happy with the 1.048 OG I got. I'll try to remember to up my grains next time since I was still a little off (my first BIAB brew was off by like 14 points)
 
Bah, just noticed I forget to add flaked barley when brewing this. Oh well, 11 days in the fermenter at this stage
 
Made this in November it came out great. I added 36 ounces cold pressed chameleon coffee at bottling not concerning myself with sterilization. Just tried Stone Seasonal coffee stout and I like i like the home brew better. Thanks Yooper!
 
A while back I listened to a podcast in which Palmer (I think, someone authoritative anyway) suggested adding your dark grains to the mash near the end, rather than for the full hour. He made the comparison of a fresh pot of coffee versus one that had been sitting on the warmer all day.

Anybody have any thoughts or experience using this technique for this recipe? I'm planning to brew this weekend and it'll be my first AG stout.
 
Looks excellent! I've use blackprinz malt in a simular recipe and it was awesome. It's suppose to just provide color (which you wouldn't need), but gave an unique roasted flavor if you were interested in tweaking that. I see you have Black Barley in for roast flavor, but the blackprinz I found to be exceptional!
 
Hi Yooper ---

Hope you're still following this thread ....

Did you make any additions to your water to reach the profile described in the recipe? Also, the 1335 isn't readily available here. Will need to order it and that's not a big issue, but I was hoping to use something I had on hand instead. What are your thoughts on subbing WLP-004 Irish Ale yeast? From the cross-reference charts it appears to be pretty close in many respects,

Thanks!
 
Hi Yooper ---

Hope you're still following this thread ....

Did you make any additions to your water to reach the profile described in the recipe? Also, the 1335 isn't readily available here. Will need to order it and that's not a big issue, but I was hoping to use something I had on hand instead. What are your thoughts on subbing WLP-004 Irish Ale yeast? From the cross-reference charts it appears to be pretty close in many respects,

Thanks!

Oh, I think the WLP004 would be great in it!

To get this water:
Ca: 84
Mg: 26
Na 9
SO4 45
Cl 62
HCO3 228

I just add a little calcium chlorine. That's pretty much my water right out of the tap- probably the only beer I can make without diluting with RO or using entirely RO.
 
Oh, I think the WLP004 would be great in it!

I just add a little calcium chlorine. That's pretty much my water right out of the tap- probably the only beer I can make without diluting with RO or using entirely RO.

Thanks! That recipe looks so inviting! It is in the plan for this Saturday. I appreciate your input on the WLP004 as I have two batches of slurry in the fridge that I'd like to find a home for. :)

I was surprised to see the HCO3 so high in your water. Its very close to mine in that regard. But I will have to do some additions to get the rest of my profile closer to yours.

Again, thanks for the insight!

Cheers! :mug:
 
A while back I listened to a podcast in which Palmer (I think, someone authoritative anyway) suggested adding your dark grains to the mash near the end, rather than for the full hour. He made the comparison of a fresh pot of coffee versus one that had been sitting on the warmer all day.



Anybody have any thoughts or experience using this technique for this recipe? I'm planning to brew this weekend and it'll be my first AG stout.


I usually add my dark grains at the end of a mash. It affects the mash pH. In addition, you're just get color and flavor a out of the grains. The sugars have already been converted.
 
Thanks! That recipe looks so inviting! It is in the plan for this Saturday. I appreciate your input on the WLP004 as I have two batches of slurry in the fridge that I'd like to find a home for. :)

I was surprised to see the HCO3 so high in your water. Its very close to mine in that regard. But I will have to do some additions to get the rest of my profile closer to yours.

Again, thanks for the insight!

Cheers! :mug:

What is your water profile? The only reason my magnesium is 26 is because that is what comes out of my tap- I'd be just as happy with 0, and the same for sulfate. That's just what I have- it's not bad, but it's not beneficial either so if you had lower numbers for that, I would leave it be. I'd shoot for a calcium of +50, chloride of +50, and a mash pH of 5.5ish. That's about it!
 
What is your water profile? The only reason my magnesium is 26 is because that is what comes out of my tap- I'd be just as happy with 0, and the same for sulfate. That's just what I have- it's not bad, but it's not beneficial either so if you had lower numbers for that, I would leave it be. I'd shoot for a calcium of +50, chloride of +50, and a mash pH of 5.5ish. That's about it!

Thanks for your comments on that. It looks like all I need to do is brew this beer with the water as-is. Maybe a few grams of Calcium Chloride? Here are the numbers on my well:

Na 22
Ca 32
Mg 21
SO4 7
Cl 10
HCO3 213

Cheers! :mug:
 
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Thanks for your comments on that. It looks like all I need to do is brew this beer with the water as-is. Maybe a few grams of Calcium Chloride? Here are the numbers on my well:

Na 22
Ca 32
Mg 21
SO4 7
Cl 10
HCO3 213

Cheers! :mug:

Yes, I think some CaCl2 should do it. The rest looks fine!
 
I plan to brew this beer as well this weekend. The yeast should be arriving Friday.

Yooper, I want to use your recipe as a base, but I'm thinking I want to take this beer to Mocha town - i.e. turn it into a Coffee/Chocolate/Milk Oatmeal Stout. I am planning a couple of tinctures of coffee and cacao nibs for the secondary (or keg, haven't decided if I'm doing a secondary for this beer).

My question is more in regards to the 'milk' part of this. How do you think the beer will do with the addition of lactose? I was thinking around 8oz, but might go for only 4oz just to be safe.

What are your thoughts on this? I've never brewed with lactose before, so I don't want to over do it, nor take away from the awesomeness that is the original recipe.
 
Just mashed in on my BIAB version! A couple of tweaks based on availability...Thomas Faucette Pale Chocolate malt instead of Crisp, Caramel/Crystal 70-80L Bairds and Breiss for the chocolate malt. I upped the Maris Otter to 8lbs for my efficiency. Crossing my fingers!

Update: I also split the hops to 60 and 30...Brewers Friend recipe calculator showed the IBU's too high if I did them all at 60. Got a great boil going and totally forgot the second ounce of hops until 25 minutes left in the boil...not a major deal.

Update: My numbers were extremely close...should be good. OG is 1.056 and I wound up 6.5 gallons in the fermenter. After racking, I should be on target for bottling 5.50 gallons or a little more. I'm thinking I will separate 2 gallons at secondary and figure out gingerbread additions.
 
I'm probably about a week from secondary, so I put together a little gingerbread flavor for the 2 gallons I'm going to split off. I used 1 tsp. each powdered ginger and cinnamon, 1/2 a fat madagascar Bourbon vanilla bean (seeds and pod), 15 grams fresh ginger root, peeled and grated, 50 grams unsulphered molasses and mixed it all in 1/2 cup of vodka and put it in the fridge. I'm hoping I guessed the right amount for 2 gallons of stout. The mixture has a definite gingerbread characteristic taste. Fingers crossed!
 
Racked to secondary yesterday with a little over 3 gallons plain and 2 gallons racked onto vodka based gingerbread flavoring. Smells amazing! SG was 1.019 after 11 days in primary. My OG was a little higher than recipe estimate, so the numbers are good.
 
OK Yooper, you hit one out of the park with this recipe!

We kegged our first batch of this recipe a week ago and had a sampling around tonight. All three of the hard-core beer drinkers in my family agree that this is the best oatmeal stout we have tasted. Bar none. The flavors are full and smooth, they reach all parts of the tongue, and the beer goes down like velvet.

The only variation I took from the recipe was the use of WLP-004 Irish Ale yeast because that's what I had on hand. Thank you for adding another recipe to my list of "go-to recipes" for each of the classic styles.

Cheers! :mug:
 
Just wanted to say thanks, Yoop. I did this in mid-sept and have been sampling them since late Oct. They were good but now they are fantastic. I even prefer them over my beloved 2H clone on these ridiculously cold nights in SW MI. Cheers!
 
I plan to brew this beer as well this weekend. The yeast should be arriving Friday.

Yooper, I want to use your recipe as a base, but I'm thinking I want to take this beer to Mocha town - i.e. turn it into a Coffee/Chocolate/Milk Oatmeal Stout. I am planning a couple of tinctures of coffee and cacao nibs for the secondary (or keg, haven't decided if I'm doing a secondary for this beer).

My question is more in regards to the 'milk' part of this. How do you think the beer will do with the addition of lactose? I was thinking around 8oz, but might go for only 4oz just to be safe.

What are your thoughts on this? I've never brewed with lactose before, so I don't want to over do it, nor take away from the awesomeness that is the original recipe.

Sorry for the late reply- I just saw this post.

I don't use chocolate or lactose in beers (hate chocolate, and don't have a sweet tooth), so I really don't have an answer at all. I've used lactose in the past, but I just don't like sweet things so it's been a number of years since I have even used it.
 
Took a small sample from my batch with gingerbread flavoring (2 of the 5 gallons). It seems to be lacking a little sweetness for gingerbread, but that may actually work well once it is bottle conditioned and carbed. Sounds like Yooper would prefer it dry! The fresh ginger is very prominant, but I'm betting that will calm down with time. I will definitely be sampling the batch when it is drinkable, but I might just bury a stash to age until next year!
 
Grabbed a quick, little sample. Is it me, or does this look a little light in color for a stout? If so, I'm sure it was me and something I should have done for BIAB and not the recipe. Anyway, the numbers looked good and the sample is very tasty! I think it's ready to bottle pretty much any time I can get around to doing it...hopefully this weekend. I think I'll let the 2 gallon portion with the gingerbread flavoring go another week or two. For the 3 gallon standard version, I'm going to plan on the low side of what the priming calculator recommends...my carbs have generally gotten better, but I did have a batch recently that eventually crept past where I wanted it to peak. That's one of the reasons I'm going to let the flavored batch go awhile longer before bottling.

IMG_20150114_010604214 (1).jpg
 
A little late to do Gingerbread, for me anyways, although I copied the notes out of your post to do for next fall/winter. I have only tried a couple Gingerbread stouts and both seemed to lack a good Gingerbread flavor, one was Sam Adams ad the other was from Shipyard I believe. So, if yours comes out with a good gingerbread flavor that would be awesome as it just doesn't seem like there's any commercial examples.
 
I went ahead and racked the standard version and have almost 3 gallons. I probably could have gotten 3 gallons, but I didn't want to push it. I have a good sized hydro sample and a nice glass in the fridge to sample and enjoy pre-carb.

IMG_20150114_113354334.jpg
 
Finally bottled the plain portion of my stout...29 bottles. A little under 3 gallons. Then I have about 2 gallons with gingerbread flavoring that I'm going to let go another week. Bottled the plain to 2.0 volumes...I was planning on 1.7, because I have had overcarbing issues in the past, but I miscalculated. I hope it turns out okay. I put oxygen absorbing caps on several, so I can cellar and see how they age. I will definately lower the carb for the gingerbread batch and do the same.
 
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