Flaked Oats

[agentbud]

I am brewing this coming weekend but realized I left the flaked oats off my recent ingredient order. I see that my local Kroger has Eden Organic Oat Flakes. I assume those would be the same thing as what you would get from a homebrew supply store but just wanted to confirm. Would these be ok to use?
https://www.kroger.com/p/eden-organ...?fulfillment=PICKUP&searchType=default_search

 

[MMP126]

Quaker Old Fashioned Oats will work just fine.

 

[tracer bullet]

The oats in the Kroger link seem like they should work. The basic thing to see is if you are buying "instant" oats, that have been pre-gelatinized. Any oats that require cooking will need extra steps before going into your mash.

 

[odie]

The oats in the Kroger link seem like they should work. The basic thing to see is if you are buying "instant" oats, that have been pre-gelatinized. Any oats that require cooking will need extra steps before going into your mash.

I better check my oats...

I've been using "whole" oats. not sure about the "instant" part though...

 

[IslandLizard]

Store brand "Old-Fashioned" rolled oats are very similar to the Quaker brand of the same. However, whichever you choose, they're only partially pre-gelatinized.
The Instant and microwave oats have been much more processed and are more pre-gelatinized, but I doubt they have completely, either.

You can just pre-boil the Old-Fashioned ones (or instant ones) in ample water for 30-60'. They'll absorb a lot of water, so don't be skimpy, it should still be a very thin porridge when it's done. The longer you boil/simmer (and the more water they'll absorb ) the more they'll get gelatinized. Then used that thin porridge as (part of) your strike water. No oats lost.

No need to get "organic" when brewing beer, unless that's your kinda thing.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I buy the 10 lb box of Quaker Old Fashioned oats from Costco and I just add them to the mash. I would not worry about cooking them before. My understanding is they are steamed and then rolled and are fully pre-gelatinized. The "instant" ones are pretty much the same product but just chopped up into small bits so they cook faster. As long as the only ingredient listed is Rolled Oats or Flaked Oats (the same thing) you should be good to go!

 

[odie]

Store brand "Old-Fashioned" rolled oats are very similar to the Quaker brand of the same. However, whichever you choose, they're only partially pre-gelatinized.
The Instant and microwave oats have been much more processed and are more pre-gelatinized, but I doubt they have completely, either.

You can just pre-boil the Old-Fashioned ones (or instant ones) in ample water for 30-60'. They'll absorb a lot of water, so don't be skimpy, it should still be a very thin porridge when it's done. The longer you boil/simmer (and the more water they'll absorb ) the more they'll get gelatinized. Then used that thin porridge as (part of) your strike water. No oats lost.

No need to get "organic" when brewing beer, unless that's your kinda thing.

I used "old fashioned whole rolled oats" or something like that. definitely not anything labeled "instant".

I have never pre-boiled them. just straight into the mash. but I do mash for several hours.

 

[tracer bullet]

OK, I'm not an oat expert, but I would suggest that when buying grocery store oats, have a look at the cooking directions, and use that as a guide for brewing. Checking out Quaker's website:

* Steel cut oats - cook 25-30 minutes
* Old fashioned oats - cook 5 minutes
* Quick 1 minute oats - cook 1 minute (or microwave 1-1/2 to 2 minutes)
* Instant oats - No cooking listed, just microwave 60 - 75 seconds

Again, not an expert, but I'd suggest that instant oats will more readily give up their goods in a mash than any others, with 1 minute being the next best, old fashioned in 3rd place and obviously steel cut last. I'm certainly not ready to think that old fashioned, quick and instant are interchangeable.

But... perhaps after a 60 minute mash, maybe they indeed are the same? There's probably a y=mx+b thing going on, where the longer you go or the higher the temp the more you get out, perhaps all of them getting there after an hour at mash, making them interchangeable after all? Or, maybe there's a minimum threshold and something closer to boiling temps is actually required?

As far as flaked oats from the LHBS I couldn't say.

Someone should buy all the oats, mash a pound of each (separately of course), measure the gravity of each afterwards and let us know