Chocolate Oatmeal Stout Questions....

[britishbloke]

I made a batch of oatmeal stout. I got the right OG of 1.054 (close enough) and secondaried it today. I got a FG? of 1.020 and a percent of alcohol 5.5%?

Is this FG correct? I thought you always shoot for 1.000? But I only started using the hydrometer on this first batch.

And also I hear that oatmeal stouts should have as little head room as possible in the secondary. I only have 5 gallons in a 5.5 gallon. Will the oatmeal taste stale?

Thanks....:fro:

Oatmeal Stout
5 gallons, extract with grains
OG = 1.054 IBU = 34

The grains are mashed prior to the addition of the dry malt extract. The oats have a negligible enzyme content. Hence the American six-row barley with its high enzyme content is used to saccharify the oats.

Ingredients:

6 lbs. amber, dry malt extract
1 lb. crystal malt, 60¡ Lovibond
1.5 lb. American six-row pale ale malt
18 oz. oatmeal (quick)
0.5 lb. chocolate malt
0.5 lb. roasted barley
1/2 tsp. Irish moss, for 15 min.
2 oz. Fuggles hop pellets (4.2% alpha acid), for 45 min.
Wyeast 1084, Irish ale yeast

 

[cweston]

I made a batch of oatmeal stout. I got the right OG of 1.054 (close enough) and secondaried it today. I got a FG? of 1.020 and a percent of alcohol 5.5%?

Is this FG correct? I thought you always shoot for 1.000? But I only started using the hydrometer on this first batch.

1.000 is the SG of water. So you'd only shoot for that if you want beer with the body of water (which I assume you don't). Ales with OG of 1.054 are typically going to finish around 1.012 or higher, depending on alot of variables.

And also I hear that oatmeal stouts should have as little head room as possible in the secondary. I only have 5 gallons in a 5.5 gallon. Will the oatmeal taste stale?

No problem here. (I can't imagine why the headroom issue would be any different in an oatmeal stout than in any other beer, BTW.)

1.020 may be a little high for FG, or maybe not. You've got a fair amount of unfermentable sugars in that beer. What was the temperature of your mash? And at what temp has it been fermenting? Both of these things directly affect attenuation (which determines FG).

 

[britishbloke]

No problem here. (I can't imagine why the headroom issue would be any different in an oatmeal stout than in any other beer, BTW.)

1.020 may be a little high for FG, or maybe not. You've got a fair amount of unfermentable sugars in that beer. What was the temperature of your mash? And at what temp has it been fermenting? Both of these things directly affect attenuation (which determines FG).

I had heard that the oatmeal could make the beer more stale quicker if there was more oxygen in the secondary.

Would 1.020 indicate it may not have been done fermenting? It has been in primary for 9 days. Looked like it was done. Only a bubble every few mins.

Would that equal 5.5% beer? it tastes fairly strong, but still green.

 

[cweston]

Would 1.020 indicate it may not have been done fermenting? It has been in primary for 9 days. Looked like it was done. Only a bubble every few mins.

It could be done, or not. As I said, attenuation depends on a lot of things: ingrediants, yeast strain, mash temps (for AG or PM beers), aeration, fermentation temp, etc. Your recipe has enough unfermentables that it's possible that it will finish that high, depending on other variables. If you give us more details (see my first reply) we could better guess what the story is.

What about aeration?

 

[britishbloke]

OK I steeped the grains in 155ish temp for 1 hour with the lid on the kettle.

Aeration - I shook the carboy around for 5 mins before adding the wort.

So does the percent on the hydrometer not really mean thats how much alcohol is in it?

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

What tempurature are you reading your hydrometer at? I recently learned, after freaking out, that temperature makes it read funny. Your hydrometer should have a temperature printed on it in small text somewhere... that is the temperature at which it reads accurately.

 

[britishbloke]

The wort was at 68-70 degrees.

I hope that my hydrometer is set to that.

 

[cweston]

ABV = approx (OG - FG) * .129

So (54 - 30) * .129 = 4.5% ABV


Most hydrometers are calibrated to 60° F, but the correction at 68° would be very small: maybe .001 at most.

Mashing at 155 does tend to give a more dextrinous (less fermentable) wort. Your beer may be finished or close to it at 1.020. You didn't mention fermentation temps.

 

[britishbloke]

Fermentation at around 69-71 degrees.

What would 1.020 be for alcohol? I think the hydrometer read 5.5% which is what I wanted it to be for the style. I also used Irish ale yeast liquid smack pack.

 

[cweston]

Fermentation at around 69-71 degrees.

What would 1.020 be for alcohol? I think the hydrometer read 5.5% which is what I wanted it to be for the style. I also used Irish ale yeast liquid smack pack.

See my previous post--it's more like 4.5%.

If your hydrometer has potential alcohol percentages, you have to subtract the percentage corresponding to yoru FG from the one corresponding to your OG.

69-71 should be plenty warm for that yeast. Maybe it'll drop a little more in the secondary.

 

[britishbloke]

Ahh ok. Sorry about my newbie-ness.

That would also be pretty good for a stout. Although it does taste strong in alcohol. There was a hell of a trub at the bottom of that carboy.

Im making a new beer and putting it on the trub.:fro:

 

[britishbloke]

OK, well it didnt drop in the secondary.

I did make two batchs of this ber at the same time and they both finished at 1.020.

The first one I bottled. It tasted a little sweet but had decent alcohol flavor and chocolate flavor.

Im wondering if I should wait the three weeks and test it... before I bottle the second carboys worth....... What do you think?:fro:

 

[Brewing Clamper]

If it hasn't dropped a single point in two weeks I say bottle it. In a month or two you'll have some great tasting stout. My oatmeal stout was ok two weeks after bottling but great after about a month or so!