Toasted Oats = Cookie Flavor?

A few issues back, BYO did a feature on "breakfast" beers - bacon flavor, oats, etc. One thing that caught my eye was the suggestion to use toasted oats in the mash to obtain a baked cookie flavor.

In thinking about a potential recipe, though, i'm drawing a blank. Best i could come up with is something along the lines of a porter or brown, using some biscuit or brown malts... Do you guys have an idea for a style or a specific recipe you think a cookie flavor would fit well into? Better yet, any experiences?


- garrett -

I've made two stouts with toasted flaked oats at 10 and 20% of the grain bill. I allowed two to seven days after toasting them before brewing. I toasted at 350F for 20-30 minutes. I could smell "cookies" at about this time but noticed very little if any buff color to them compared to untoasted oats, so while the aroma was there I'm not sure if I toasted them through enough. The aroma was not there after the aging once I put them in the mash.

Without a direct comparison of toasted versus non-toasted, or stouts with or without oats, I can't say I picked up on their contribution. The 20% oats went along with a half pound of roasted barley and a pound of lactose in a low gravity stout that I mashed high and still found rather thin to medium-bodied. I've heard from some brewers that toasted oats are lost in stouts and other opinions regarding mouthfeel, flavor and aroma are practically all over the map. I'd say if you want a cookie flavor, I think you'll have to back it up with other supporting malts, etc because at best, my palette suggests it's a subtle effect.

A friend of mine did an Oatmeal Cookie Stout by actually baking a pan of oatmeal cookies (with raisins) and mashing them.

http://www.foolcircle.net/2009/06/15/c-is-for-beer/
http://www.foolcircle.net/2009/06/21/oatmeal-cookie-stout/

Ultimately, it was a good beer but not too much cookie flavor

Oh, I kegged the Oatmeal Cookie Stout today. Not a bad stout (uncarbonated and warm) but the oatmeal cookie profile seems to have really faded to vanished. I am inspired to try again but I think this attempt may be a little flat. I was tempted to “spice” the secondary, but I really didn’t want a spiced oatmeal stout, I wanted a freaking Oatmeal Cookie Beer!

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Jamil, in "Brewing Classic Styles", suggests that oven browning oats tends to enhance the "nutty" flavor of the oats in an oatmeal stout. He emphasizes in his description of the style that oats generally just don't tend to contribute an oatsy, nutty, oatmeal or cookie flavor; they contribute mostly to mouthfeel. People (even judges, alas) tend to expect that mythical "oatmeal" flavor, though, and browning the oats is one way Jamil offers to "give them what they want".

I like the idea of a stout, of course, but I'm starting to hone my thoughts to something big (OG > ~1.060) and very light in color - not necessily fitting a certain style, per se. In my mind, i envision someone grabbing a pint of something pale & light in color, but getting blasted by a round, smooth, big flavor.

Marris Otter, biscuit, crystal 40? Haven't even started thinking about yeast strains yet, either...

I use un-toasted flaked oats in my english bitters to help out creamy mouthfeel.

I want to know what gives an oatmeal stout that signature flavor that I feel is accurately described at "cookie" flavor. My stouts and Porters tend to be all roast

cactusgarrett said:

I like the idea of a stout, of course, but I'm starting to hone my thoughts to something big (OG > ~1.060) and very light in color - not necessily fitting a certain style, per se. In my mind, i envision someone grabbing a pint of something pale & light in color, but getting blasted by a round, smooth, big flavor.

Marris Otter, biscuit, crystal 40? Haven't even started thinking about yeast strains yet, either...

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I've been developing an idea along these lines. My current draft recipe (at home, so I can't give percentages, unfortunately) includes Maris Otter, Munich, Victory, a little Aromatic and--here's the kicker--Golden Naked Oats. The GNO are a specialty product I heard about on Can You Brew It that supposedly give a great nutty flavor, don't impart a ton of color, and still give you the oats mouthfeel. Might be worth checking out.

IrregularPulse said:

I want to know what gives an oatmeal stout that signature flavor that I feel is accurately described at "cookie" flavor. My stouts and Porters tend to be all roast

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I toast my oats like a few of the posters describe above (300-350F for 20-30 mins). I also keep the roasted barley scaled back in the recipe and go a bit heavier on Chocolate and midrange Crystal malt.

If you're trying to reduce roast, one trick I heard about is to use Pale Chocolate malt instead of Chocolate malt. It has the typical Chocolate flavors, but less roast since it is lighter in Lovibonds. I actually use some in my bitter recipe and love it.

I'll have to give it a shot. Thanks heywolfe. I definitely will toast the oats next time as well. I bought some in bulk at the amish store a couple weeks ago in preparation.