Extract oatmeal stout confusion questions

[zonabb]

Couple questions and some confusion related to steeping and oatmeal in extract recipes.

1. When you steep grains in the extract method, you are not adding sugars or impacting the specific gavity in anyway, correct? Or am I way off. Basically, when you create a recipe with specialty grains, that do you calculate the specific gravity of the steeped grains?
2. That brings up the oatmeal issue. I’ve read that the intent of the oatmeal is for mouth feel and making the beer smooth because of unfermentable starches and gums. I’ve read a thread where a guy was adamant that in order to get anything from the oatmeal, you have to mash it with a pound of malted barley.

The long and short is, my first 3 beers were: 2 kits and 1 I just used an existing recipe. I want to create my own oatmeal stout using the guidelines for the style so in creating the recipe ad calculating gravity using oatmeal and specialty grains, I want to be sure I did it right and don’t end up with a beer with too high or two low of an starting gravity.

 

[FlyingHorse]

1. Steeped grains can add sugars: http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-4-1.html

2. I'm not sure; Palmer says oats need to be mashed with barley "for conversion": (http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-2.html), but I'd think you could get some of the starches for mouthfeel by just steeping.

EDIT: just took a look at some of the big online HBS kits, and most sell extract/steep versions of their oatmeal stouts...which leads me to believe you don't need to mash the oats with barley.

 

[Got Trub?]

BnB - that table assumes you are mashing, you will get little to no sugar from just steeping specialty grains or flaked grains.

Will you get something from just steeping the flaked oats? - yes there may be some flavour added as well as starch but the latter will likely precipitate out. You need conversion with some malted barley in order to convert the starches to sugars and dextrins.

I would recommend doing a partial mash if you are an extract brewer and truly want to brew an oatmeal stout. It is easy to do and you may find it is a good stepping stone to trying all grain.

GT

 

[Scimmia]

BnB - that table assumes you are mashing, you will get little to no sugar from just steeping specialty grains or flaked grains.

Look again, it has a separate column for steeping.
As I understand it, grains like Crystal are put through a process that almost mashes them in the husk (someone please correct me if I'm off base there). You're then rinsing/extracting that sugar when you steep them.

 

[zonabb]

This just seems like one major area of disagreement! I read that an awarding winning Oatmeal Stout at a brewery in the Pacific Northwest has this description of its brew:

"The oatmeal provides the unfermentable starches and beta-glucan gums that give this beer its remarkable mouthfeel..."

I understand the concept of mashing to get the fermentable sugars so anyone that says you need mash the oatmeal to get the sugars is really only telling me what I know, that IF YOU WANT THE SUGARS from the oatmeal, you have to mash it.

The real question then is, is the oatmeal necessary as a fermentable of is it there to deliver some sort of taste/mouth feel factor?

As for steeping, how much fermentables are you adding to the final product, that's my concern for the specialty grains portion of any recipe?

 

[brewt00l]

The real question then is, is the oatmeal necessary as a fermentable of is it there to deliver some sort of taste/mouth feel factor?

mouthfeel/taste

As for steeping, how much fermentables are you adding to the final product, that's my concern for the specialty grains portion of any recipe?

In the small quantities used in most extract w/ steeping grain recipes, you are not contributing enough quantity to really be concerned about it.



FWIW, I have used quick oats in my previous extract /w grains recipes, tossed into the steeping bag, with fantastic results.