Big Beer, Lots of Oats, Airstone, Yeast Resuspension

[JoshRH]

Hey there malt lovers, I brewed a 15 gallon batch of oatmeal stout last weekend. I used 8 lbs. of flaked oats and half were toasted lightly in my oven. I also added 2 jars of molasses, ~1Kg, 2 lbs. of lactose, 1 lb of cocoa nibs and .5 lbs of maltodextrin along with the rest of the grain bill. I had a SG at 1.108. I have a couple of high gravity brews under my belt, but was curious if I should resuspend the yeast in my glass carboys? I was thinking the easiest way would to use an air stone connected to my CO2 tank and regulator.

So I realized that I used a lot of oats, which was the point, to see how it affects the beer. Something I didn't expect was to see how thick it would turn out. During fermentation, I am seeing bubbles the size of chicken nuggets. This beer is definitely a different kind of beast. Looking for some insight into whether I should resuspend the yeast because i know it will be a high FG. I'm expecting to be roughly around 1.045 with all the non fermentable sugars there and also if anybody has experience with a grain bill that has roughly 14 percent oats.

 

[Kent88]

What kind of yeast did you use? How much did you pitch? A starter? A couple of smack packs? A few vials? How did you aerate? At what temperature are you keeping it? What is the current gravity reading?

By the way, not sure I understand you correctly, but trying to push carbon dioxide as a way to stir up yeast will probably also make it foam the way that you want it too when you carbonate it when you package it, and I'm not sure but I think that once that foam is made and falls back in it wont re-form the foam.

 

[JoshRH]

I used 2 smack packs of the Irish Ale yeast and made a 1.020 5L starter and decanted most of the liquid to leave behind the slurry. I used an aquarium air pump attached to a stainless rod and air stone for 10 min. Maintaining the fermenter temp at 64-68F. And the current Gravity Is 1.040. I tasted it and it is a bit sweet but that is expected. That is a good call on the foam. I was just thinking CO2 wouldn’t oxidize it like pushing air, but didn’t think about the massive amount of foam that would be had.

 

[Kent88]

Well you've already got it lower than you expected. It looks like the yeast are still kind of active. Maybe just warm it up a few degrees, much of fermentation is already done so the yeast shouldn't have much of a chance to give off compounds associated with off flavors.

Maybe try pulling a sample and preforming a forced ferment test?

 

[divrack]

not sure i see your problem? why would you want to mess with it?
if you didnt want it so sweet leave out the lactose. personally im not a big fan of all the super sweet stouts and would have thought your recipe would be great without it but thats just me. nothing wrong with high oat content.
as above try warming/shaking it for a bit. might do something

 

[RM-MN]

not sure i see your problem? why would you want to mess with it?
if you didnt want it so sweet leave out the lactose. personally im not a big fan of all the super sweet stouts and would have thought your recipe would be great without it but thats just me. nothing wrong with high oat content.
as above try warming/shaking it for a bit. might do something

I'd do the warming but not the shaking. You already have decent attenuation based on the fact that you added the lactose that is unfermentable. The warming should help the yeast do the cleanup and any further fermentation that may be possible.