How do I "mash" oats

Thinking about making an oatmeal stout and one kit I looked at called for mashing the oats to get a more oat taste. How would I go about mashing the oats. I do not have mashing equipment.

Also, any suggestions on kits?

 

Oats need to be mashed with a base malt because they don't have enough diastatic power on their own to convert the starch to sugar.

You could do a partial mash with a few pounds of base malt (2 row or marris otter) and the oats in a pot in a grain bag, then add it to your wort before the boil.

If you look up partial mash you should be able to find the procedure or a YouTube video that shows the process.

 

If the kit has less than a pound of oats, then you don't need 3-4 pounds of 2-row. A pound, pound & a half would be fine in my experience.

 

google `cerial mash` & `protein rest` & `step mashing`.

grab a homebrew or 5 for the read.

 

Do Malted Oats (sold at Midwest Supplies / Northern Brewer) have any diastatic power? The website says no, but if they are malted then they should have some, it may just take longer. Or you could add alpha/beta amylase.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2050-0416.2011.tb00487.x/pdf

https://kenanddot.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/100-oat-malt-beer/

 

They're usually flaked. The ones I got from Midwest were, like corn & such.

 

Oats (rolled, cut, malted, or otherwise) have zero diastatic power and require a base malt to convert. 1 lb of 2-row is sufficient for 1 lb of oats.

Use rolled from the supermarket or any from the homebrew store. Cut oats require cooking first.

Crush the 2-row.

Heat 3 quarts of water to 160 F, add the grain and oats (2 lbs total). This should lower the temp to about 150F. Hold for 30 minutes, drain (and keep) liquid, rinse grains with more water about 170 F, and you are done. Use collected wort for boil. Add more water to pot if you usually boil more.

You can drain the grains through a strainer, but most put them in a bag. A 5 gallon paint straining bag from the hardware store works well, reusable too. ?........... and you have just done BIAB

 

Yeah, BIAB has turned out to be a real money saver on equipment. I've mashed up to 8.03 pounds in my 5 gallon kettle, then batch (dunk) sparge ten minutes in another 1 1/2 gallons. to get a boil volume of about 3 1/2 gallons.

 

Thanks to all. I had no idea. I bet that makes a big difference.

 

Why do you say malted oats have no diastatic power?
By definition, malting will produce the needed enzymes for the plant.
Their diastatic power is mistakenly listed as 0 on the midwest supplies / northern brewer website.

100% oat beer might not taste good though.

 

Flaked oats need to be mashed with some base malt as they do indeed have no diastatic power. The starches within will remain unless exposed to amylase enzymes from a malted grain (barley most usually used).

Mashing equipment: A pot, a grain bag ($5 paint stariner from Home Depot will serve well), a decent thermometer.

Malted oats could be used as a substitute but also need to be mashed.

I thought that too after seeing the spec on the vendor's website. Not correct though. Malted oats are available and have sufficient diastatic power to self convert.
Some experts talk about it here. There was a recent thread discussing all this where someone was making a 100% oat beer.

You're spot on there. Don't think the beer turned out too flash.

The process is covered in some great detail in the publication previously linked by @Arclight

Edit: link already added by earlier poster

 

I think he may be confusing malted oats for flaked.

Malted oats do have diastatic power. Flaked and other varieties, not so much. It would help to know which the OP is using. I'm guessing flaked, as it is more common, but who knows.

I know some out there have experimented with 100% oat beers using malted oats, but I have no idea how they turned out.