Broken Anvil Oatmeal Stout

[pinball9]

I just finished this tonight, it was my first attempt at all grain, hopefully it turns out alright. My missus bought me a mash tun and boiler for my birthday because I was sick of doing kits. It's not a great kit and the weather is cold here (Ireland), so I had to boil the wort for about 2hours to get it down to my target boil off amount. Here's the recipe

5 gallon batch
Strike water: 3.75 gallons
Sparge water: 4 gallons (batch sparge)
Equipment loss: 1 gallon
Mash temp: 67 Celsius
Mash time: 90 mins
Efficency: 75% (I think)
OG: 1.061

Grain bill

8lbs 6Oz Marris Otter
12Oz Special B
10Oz Chocolate Malt
4Oz Carafa II
8Oz Roasted Barley
1lb Flaked oats

0.5Oz Challenger (start of boil)
0.5Oz East Kent Golding (Start of boil)
0.7Oz Challenger (end of boil)
(I kinda messed up my hops, the start of boil ones were meant to go in at the end and vice versa.....oops)

Whirlfloc tablet (15mins at end of boil)

Wheat Irish Ale yeast

Currently in the fv, we'll see how it turns out in a few weeks!!

 

[pinball9]

I left this in the primary for about 2 weeks then bottled it. I took an FG reading of 1.011, which I think brings the abv to about 6.69%. After 1 week I tasted it to see if everything was OK, but it was quite flat with very absolutely no head retention. After 2 1/2 weeks, I tried again and it was still a bit flat, head retention was slightly better and the flavours were nice but I thought it would have at least carbonated by now.

The flavours werent too bad, still very green, which I expected them to be, but I did expect more carbonation. I took all the bottles out of the cupboard and rolled them slightly to give the yeast a kick in the **** and I'll try again in a week or so. The bottles are stored around 68-70F in a dark cupboard. I used the Coopers carbonation drops, 1 per 500ml bottle, they recommend 1.5 for largers, but I didn't want my stout too fizzy. If after another week or so there's still no carbonation is there anything I can do to fix it?

 

[OswaldvW]

I have noticed that higher gravity beers take longer to carbonate. I would wait another week or two. If, after a certain wait and you still have flat beer, you can try this:

You can always pry off the caps, add sugar and quickly re-cap (with new caps). I did this to a Scottish ale that I thought I had undercarbed. The thing to remember is that as soon as the sugar hits the beer, it will start foaming, so you need to work quickly.

 

[pinball9]

Cheers, I'll give that a go in a week or 2 if they haven't carbed by then!

 

[pinball9]

I tried one today, definitely started to carbonate, the head was still poor, but what it did have stayed to the end. I think that it may just need a bit more time and a vigorous pour. Flavours were lovely, even at this early stage, with a surprising smooth coffee aftertaste. Can't wait till its fully conditioned!

 

[OswaldvW]

when did you bottle the beer, and what was the starting and final gravity?

 

[pinball9]

I bottled it after 2 1/2 weeks in the primary. So they've been in the bottle about 4 weeks now. The starting gravity was 1.066 and the final gravity was 1.013. That was pretty much what I was aiming for. But at the time I thought it was lower, I only realised that my hydrometer wasn't calibrated properly and was about 5 points off. Originally I thought the FG was 1.008 and was expecting the beer to be very dry.