Coffee/sweet/oatmeal stout

[BrewingChip]

Hey all,

Throwing together a 5 gallon recipe based on Northern Brewer’s sweet stout recipe. I typically stick to recipes on websites but wanted to tweak their recipe a little to give more coffee notes while balancing the roasted barley with Caramel 40L, flaked oats, and lactose. I would appreciate to know what people think of this grain bill:

8 lbs. English Maris Otter
1 lbs. Flaked Oats
0.5 lbs. Weyermann Carafa III
0.5 lbs. English Chocolate Malt
0.5 lbs. English Roasted Barley
0.5 lbs. Caramel 40L

1 lb. Lactose (60 min)
1 oz. Willamette (60 min)

S-04 yeast

I do 5 gallon BIAB on a propane burner. I have a challenging time keeping the temperature during the mash, but I would shoot for 154F. Hope that helps.

Thanks!

 

[RM-MN]

Heat your water to strike temp, add the bag and grains, put a lid on and insulate it with blankets, a sleeping bag, or a coat and then just walk away. Unless your grains are poorly milled most of the conversion will be done before the temperature drops much.

 

[BrewingChip]

Thanks for the tips. I’ve used an old sleeping bag before and will probably use that again.

I’m more interested in my recipe, if it looks alright to people who have more experience with stouts. I’m not sure if I’m adding too much roasted barley, for example.

 

[AlexKay]

The amount of roast looks about right. My only suggestion on grain would be to use an English medium crystal instead of the 40L, because English crystal is wonderful stuff.

For hops, you definitely could do a flavor/aroma addition of Willamette as well. Your call.

Don't stress the mash temperature for this recipe. Between the oats and the roast, you'll have plenty of body, even if you end up mashing low and long.

 

[BrewingChip]

The amount of roast looks about right. My only suggestion on grain would be to use an English medium crystal instead of the 40L, because English crystal is wonderful stuff.

For hops, you definitely could do a flavor/aroma addition of Willamette as well. Your call.

Don't stress the mash temperature for this recipe. Between the oats and the roast, you'll have plenty of body, even if you end up mashing low and long.

How would English crystal malt differ from the 40L? I’m going for a combo of flavors… sweet, coffee stout with some body/creaminess.

 

[AlexKay]

How would English crystal malt differ from the 40L? I’m going for a combo of flavors… sweet, coffee stout with some body/creaminess.

40L tastes flat to me — one-dimensional sorta-caramel sweet. Medium crystal hits me with caramel and toffee and burnt sugar. It’s just a much more interesting malt. That’s my personal taste, at least.

 

[BrewingChip]

40L tastes flat to me — one-dimensional sorta-caramel sweet. Medium crystal hits me with caramel and toffee and burnt sugar. It’s just a much more interesting malt. That’s my personal taste, at least.

That sounds great. I might just do that instead. Thanks!