Can regular OATS be used for partial mash?

I have an Chocolate Oatmeal Stout recipe. I had been using certain "Flaked Oats" from the brew shop but I found I ran out.

Can I use regular breakfast Oatmeal to do partial mash? It looks pretty close to the same thing.

Ive been mashing at 150ish for an hour with Chocolate malts and roasted barley etc.

It should weigh up the same as well I hope. My recipe calls for a pound I believe.

Make sure there are no additives or preservatives in the oatmeal. I used rolled oats from the health food store in my first Choco Oatmeal Stout last year.

If they are 'quick' rolled or instant oats, they should be OK. But avoid 'old fashioned' rolled oats, or whole oats. They need to be cooked before you can mash them. Just check the packaging for cooking directions -- if they don't require a sustained boil to prepare, they are fine to use as is. Otherwise, you need to cook them according to the packaging before they can be mashed.

FlyGuy said:

If they are 'quick' rolled or instant oats, they should be OK. But avoid 'old fashioned' rolled oats, or whole oats. They need to be cooked before you can mash them. Just check the packaging for cooking directions -- if they don't require a sustained boil to prepare, they are fine to use as is. Otherwise, you need to cook them according to the packaging before they can be mashed.

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Wow, didn't know that. Glad you chimed in.

I've used all of those. I used the rolled oats without gelatinizing them (I assume that's what you mean by cooking them prior to the mash, FlyGuy). They seemed to work fine.

This is the first I have hear that you need to cook rolled oats prior to mash. Why is that? Where did you hear this? I am interested . . .

Yes, you can use quick oats that come in the blue box with the Quaker on the front! I use them all the time for oatmeal stouts and brown ales. Palmer give a good overview of how to use them here.

If you're doing all grain, it's good to do a protein rest at ~125°F for ~20 mins. This helps reduce chill haze from proteins, improves the head retention and helps in lautering.

Another thing I'd suggest trying is roasting flaked oats @ 300oF for 30 mins., then letting them cool overnight. It adds a nutty flavor that I really like in brown ales.

You don't HAVE too cook oats that aren't pre-gelatinized. And you don't HAVE to do a protein rest. I even know people who swear you don't have to even mash oats. But they all help extract that silky smooth, sweet goodness that people prize in things like an oatmeal cream stout.

I have heard this idea of lightly toasting your oats before using them a few times now, but never tried. I am definitely going to try this on my next batch. Rhoobarb -- do you know whether toasting eliminates the need for cooking (boiling)?

OK, I just checked my ingredients and yeah typical, all I have are old fashioned OATS.

So I have to cook in boiling water as usual...... and then put it in the grain bag with my other ingredients for the hour @ 150-155 degrees in the oven?

This is the only day I have where I can brew and I just got my starter out of the fridge. A whooping 1 gallon starter, lol.

Like FlyGuy says, you don't HAVE to cook them, but you're going to get a lot more out of them if you do. I've only used oats in Partial Mashing and I did use the quick type, with very good results. I imagine you would still get something out of them if you just steeped them raw, I suppose it's better than not using any at all, though I could see a haze problem on the horizon...

Haze? The last few batches have been blacker than the darkest night.

So Ill try cooking them and putting that water in the pot and then the cooked grains into the bag with the rest for steeping?

Does that sound ok?

FlyGuy said:

... Rhoobarb -- do you know whether toasting eliminates the need for cooking (boiling)?

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To my knowledge, no. It just extracts the oaty/nutty goodness. I do AG and use flaked instant oats, so I just do the protien rest.

As a side note: the brewer at Flossmoor Station said they use naked oats, because they use a lot of oats in their Pullman Nut Brown Ale (which is incredibly tasty) and it is too much work to toast that much flaked oats for the amount of beer they brew.

britishbloke said:

Haze? The last few batches have been blacker than the darkest night.

So Ill try cooking them and putting that water in the pot and then the cooked grains into the bag with the rest for steeping?

Does that sound ok?

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That will work just fine!

Or I could do is just increase the amount of old fashioned oats for the partial mash.

All this talk of breakfast food is there any way you could add grits also???? J/k

tdavisii said:

All this talk of breakfast food is there any way you could add grits also???? J/k

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Yeah, you could, but it would be better to just use flaked maize.

FlyGuy said:

If they are 'quick' rolled or instant oats, they should be OK. But avoid 'old fashioned' rolled oats, or whole oats. They need to be cooked before you can mash them. Just check the packaging for cooking directions -- if they don't require a sustained boil to prepare, they are fine to use as is. Otherwise, you need to cook them according to the packaging before they can be mashed.

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Man, I wish I would have read that yesterday. I made a stout, and considered using the instant oats that I had in the cupboard. I didnt use them because they were instant.

bump.



can you post the recipe?