Oatmeal Stout Conundrum

[Dsully82]

Just started our third batch oatmeal stout. Steeping the grains and flaked oats at 150. Got the temp up to 150 then realized that I didn't toast the oats! My girlfriend is running to the store to grab some instant oats, I was thinking of adding 1/4 lb and just continuing the recipe. Any other suggestions?

Here's what's in the steep now:
1lb dark crystal
1/2 lb pale choc malt
1/2 lb choc malt
1/2 lb flaked oats

 

[Pie_Man]

This advice is probably way too late, but I would do a partial mash when using flaked oats. Mashing them with a base grain will convert the oat's starches to sugars and yield a better result.

If you've already steeped the oats, I wouldn't worry about it too much. It will likely add to the beer's mouthfeel, but without the starches converting to sugars, your finished beer will be pretty cloudy.

More info: http://***********/stories/wizard/a...out-steeping-oats-and-flaked-barley-warranted and http://***********/stories/beer-styles/article/indices/11-beer-styles/1194-oatmeal-stout-style

 

[Dsully82]

Thanks for the response - After reading the article plus the Mashing vs Steeping article, I'm still a little confused about what we did. If you (or anyone else) can tell us what you would call our procedure and why, that would help us out:

Placed grain & flaked oats in 3 gal of water, heated to 154, steeped for 60 min at 154 (at 25 min, added instant oats). After steep sparged with .5 gal hot water, then added LME and brought to a boil. At boil, began hop additions. at final 10 minutes, added water to bring pot to just under 5 gal.

Ingredient list:
1lb dark crystal malt
1/2 lb pale choc malt
1/2 lb choc malt
1/2 lb flaked oats +5 oz instant oats
7.25 lbs Amber LME

Hops Schedule:
1oz Northern Brewer - 90min
.5oz Columbus - 90min
1oz Glacier - 15min
.5oz Columbus - 15min

 

[Dsully82]

Also, I'll say in retrospect, I didn't realize the amount of water that the grains was steeped in was so important to the finished result. We figure 3 gallons because we have a 5 gallong brew pot and keeping it under 4 gal has helped control for boil over.

 

[Pie_Man]

Placed grain & flaked oats in 3 gal of water, heated to 154, steeped for 60 min at 154 (at 25 min, added instant oats). After steep sparged with .5 gal hot water, then added LME and brought to a boil. At boil, began hop additions. at final 10 minutes, added water to bring pot to just under 5 gal.

Did you drain the water from the grains either before or during the sparge? I think I need more detail on your sparge process.

I'm not sure what you did was a true sparge. Typically when grains are steeped there is no sparge. A sparge is the rinsing of sugars from the grains. This implies the grains were mashed meaning, enzymes in the grains converted a portion of the grain's starches in to sugars. The sparging, or rinsing, process is used to get more of the sugars out of the grains and into the boil kettle. When doing extract batches with steeping grains, the grains are used to enhance the beer's flavor and color, but there's little or no sugar extraction, and so there's no need to sparge. In addition, certain grains, like flaked oats, lack the enzyme needed to convert their starches into sugars. The enzyme is measured by the grain's diastatic power. In order for these grains to convert the startches to sugars, they must be mashed in conjunction with a base malt. In essence borrowing the enzymes provided from the base malt for conversion. In your case, I believe you may get some flavor and body contribution from the oats, but since the oat's starches weren't convert to sugar, your finished beer will contain the starches from the oats. I hope this helps.

 

[Dsully82]

Just a quick reply, this beer came out great. Primary for one week, then secondary'd for a month, bottles for a month. Since this is my first time brewing w/oats, I'm not sure how much I can contribute to the oats. From what I've read, without doing a mash, oats won't add to mouthfeel, but this beer has a nice head and full mouthfeel. Next time I might try to mash the oats and see how much it changes the final product.

To respond to the last deal about the sparge, I didn't do a true sparge, I just rinsed the steeping grain bag with hot water.