Tastey Oats Stout

Hello! EDIT: (Please check 2nd reply for updated recipe)

Please help me make sure this recipe will work out. I'm going for something that is pretty thick with a ton of mouthfeel and some sweeter chocolate character.

I used the Damned Kids Oatmeal Stout as inspiration for this. I was going to brew that recipe exactly but the somewhat crappy homebrew store did not have any of the specialty grains on hand so I made so many substitutions that I decided to tweak the recipe more toward sweet/chocolate to make it my own by. I also am using American 2-row since I was able to get a 50lb bag for $38 and save some money on this and future brews.


Category: Stout
Subcategory: Oatmeal Stout
Recipe Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.5 gal.
Volume Boiled: 7.5 gal.
Mash Efficiency: 72 %
Total Grain/Extract: 13.25 lbs.
Total Hops: 1.0 oz.
Calories (12 fl. oz.): 233.3
Cost to Brew: $27.98 (USD)
Cost per Bottle (12 fl. oz.): $0.48 (USD)

Ingredients
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.5 lbs. Crystal Malt 40°L
8 lbs. American 2-row
.75 lbs. American Chocolate Malt
.75 lbs. Roasted Barley
2.5 lbs. Oats Flaked*
.75 lbs. Lactose
.5 tsp Irish Moss
.5 oz. Columbus (Whole, 14 %AA) boiled 60 minutes.
.25 oz. Perle (Whole, 6 %AA) boiled 30 minutes.
.25 oz. Perle (Whole, 6 %AA) boiled 10 minutes.
Yeast: WYeast 1084 Irish Ale

Notes
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* At least a day prior to brewing, roast the flaked oats in a 350oF oven
for ~one hour, with the door ajar. Cool in a paper bag overnight.

Preheat Mash tun and mash in with 4 gallons of water and keep at 156* for 75 - 90 minutes. Measure first runnings and then subtract from final boil volume (7 gallons) and split into two batch sparges. Add Lactose and irish moss at 15 minutes to end of boil

Vital Statistics
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Original Gravity: 1.059
Terminal Gravity: 1.014
Color: 27.42 SRM
Bitterness: 29.4 IBU
Alcohol (%volume): 5.9 %



Any suggestions/critiques? I am thinking of throwing in some rice hulls as I'm using a new mash tun (10 gallon cylindrical cooler with stainless steel braid) and I don't want to deal with a stuck sparge. I'm doing a 75-90 minute mash because I think 2-row has less diastic power than the Maris Otter that the Damned Kids Oatmeal Stout has and I want to make sure it will have enough time to convert all the starches in the oatmeal. I also upped the Lactose and upped the chocolate malt (and using American chocolate malt) to increase the sweetness and chocolate flavors.

Looking over other chocolate stouts I am thinking I may not get as much chocolate flavor as I want out of just the chocolate malt (Being it's mostly a color description more than a taste description) so I'm thinking of taking some ideas from the Flannagan's Bad Cow Stout and putting in cocoa powder in secondary and kegging time. (4 tablespoons each time)

Thoughts? Thanks!

Ok after reading around I've updated this recipe, Please chime in with how you think it will be.


Category Stout
Subcategory Oatmeal Stout
Recipe Type All Grain
Batch Size 5.5 gal.
Volume Boiled 7 gal.
Mash Efficiency 72 %
Total Grain/Extract 12.50 lbs.
Total Hops 0.5 oz.

8 lbs. American 2-row
.5 lbs. American Caramel 40°L
.5 lbs. American Chocolate Malt
.75 lbs. Roasted Barley
2 lbs. Toasted Oats Flaked*
.75 lbs. Lactose
.5 oz. Organic Pacific Gem (Whole, 15.00 %AA) boiled 60 min.
4 tablespoons Cocoa Powder Secondary (not included in calculations)
4 tablespoons Cocoa Powder Kegging (not included in calculations)
Yeast : WYeast 1084 Irish Ale

Brewing Notes:
* At least a day prior to brewing, roast the flaked oats in a 350oF oven for ~one hour, with the door ajar. Cool in a paper bag overnight.

Preheat Mash tun and mash in with 4.5 gallons of water and keep at 156* for 75 - 90 minutes. Mash out with .5 gallons boiling water. Measure first runnings and then subtract from final boil volume (7 gallons) and split into two batch sparges. Add Irish moss at 15 minutes to end of boil.

After fermentation is done move to secondary and add lactose and 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder. After secondary move to keg and add other 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder at that time






I'm really excited about this recipe and looking to make something I enjoy and something my wife does too (She really likes malty character and beers you can almost chew)

I'd really like some feedback on whether this is just going to taste like crap or has a chance of being pretty good, pretty please

The stout itself looks pretty good, personally I'd drop the cocoa powder. Especially in the keg, that will really gum up the works I imagine.

I would also add the lactose to taste in the bottling bucket before racking to keg. It's very easy to over do that addition and make the beer too sweet and too thick (especially when you already have oats in it). Add it slowly, stir it in (without aerating) and taste often. Be sure to do this before adding the priming sugar if you're naturally carbonating.

It seems fine...just to preface...these are my personal thoughts and opinions:

If you want a chocolate tasting brew, I would use more chocolate malt than roasted barley...especially if it is 500L+ RB. I personally would use at least twice as much chocolate as RB. I used one pound in an imperial chocolate stout, and the chocolate dominated the overall impression of the beer. If you don't want as rich of a chocolate flavor I would suggest around 10-12oz. You don't necessarily need cocoa powder to get a chocolate flavor either. If you do decide to use cocoa powder I would just add the last 15 minutes of the boil. I don't think that the beer will be that much better from adding to a secondary or keg. You also have to consider its solubility in 60-70 degree wort. I personally would not want to have to stir my wort considerably before bottling to get the chocolate powder to dissolve. I have found that the less stuff I add at bottling the better. This is because there is not a sufficient amount of time between when I add the ingredient to the bottling bucket, and when I begin to bottle to allow the solution to reach an equilibrium...if you will. Thus you will get certain beers with a stronger flavor and others will less.

Thank you for the replies,

I brewed this on Saturday and changed some things. I put in the whole 1 lb of chocolate malt and did .5 lbs of roasted barley. I also did not do the lactose yet as I will add that at secondary probably. My plan is still to use some cocoa powder in the clearing tank, doing some taste samples as I add the cocoa and then the lactose. After I cold crash that I'll transfer to my keg.

rest of the story here

Your chocolate malt and roasted barley ratios look good for a chocolately stout. I agree you don't need cocoa to get a chocolate flavor. Chocolate malt gives a good chocolate flavor to a beer. My 08-08-08 RIS has a good chocolate flavor with no flavorings added. I think that using 300L Roasted Barley instead of the 500L barley also helps to contribute to the sweet chocolate flavors.

Craig

I got the roasted barley at my LHBS, I don't know if it was 300L or 500L. Would 500L look similar to black patent? The stuff I got looked lighter than the chocolate malt (but not by much).

Checked the SG last night and it's at 1.019 so a little high but I roused the yeast and I'll see if it drops a bit. It was mashed high (on purpose) so we'll see, I'm not worried if it does not drop any more (I keg).

I tasted the sample and I actually really like it already! I'm rethinking adding lactose and cocoa powder, but I don't want it to be just a "really good" beer when it could have been great.

I'm thinking of going to secondary and doing 4 gallons in the 5 gal carboy and leaving it alone, and doing a 1 gal secondary with cocoa and lactose (Scaled down) and kegging the 4 gallons, bottling the 1 gallon to compare.

Alternatively I could keg the whole thing, and try to add cocoa and lactose at pour, or use the MBCP filler to fill some bottles with added ingredients.