FG for Chocloate Oatmeal Stout (extract)

[crnl4bin]

Two weeks ago, I brewed my first stout, a chocolate oatmeal stout. This is what went into it:

7 lbs dark DME
1/2 lbs 60L crystal
1/2 lbs black malt
1 lbs rolled oats

I soaked all of the above specialty grains for 1/2 hour at 155 (I did not mini-mash the rolled oats).

1/2 lbs dutch cocoa powder

1 oz cascade for 1 hour
1/2 oz cascade for 45 min
1/2 oz cascade for 8 minutes

1 tube of White Labs Irish ale yeast (wlp004)


OG: 1.066

It began fermentation very quickly: it was chugging away less than 12 hours after pitching the yeast. 2 days after, it had slowed down quite a bit. Now, just over two weeks later, I'm measuring a gravity of 1.020.

I'm guessing this is fine considering everything that went into it, but I just want to make sure. I've estimated the ABV to currently be 6.1, which is great. I just don't want to bottle it and end up w/ bottle bombs.

Do you all think that a 1.066 OG to a 1.020 FG is OK? Am I good to bottle?

 

[nate_ive]

Don't the oats need enzymes from base grains to convert their starches to sugars( oats need to be mashed )? I don't think the crystal malt have any enzymes and I know the black malt doesn't have any enzymes -- they are destroyed in the roasting process. I think you have hit FG. Take another reading tomorrow and if you get the same reading you are at FG. I think your stout may be cloudy from the unconverted starch from the oats though.

 

[nate_ive]

Just searched for this on BYO. Rolled oats need to cooked then mashed. Your stout is probably fine though.

Oats have no enzymes useful to mashing. They must be mashed (or partially mashed) with a malted grain for the starches to be converted. Like unmalted barley, the starches inside are hard and not readily usable, encased within the hard cellular structures of the grain. Without further processing they cannot be broken down by the malt enzymes.

http://www.byo.com/stories/beer-styles/article/indices/11-beer-styles/1194-oatmeal-stout-style

 

[crnl4bin]

I spoke with someone at my local HBS and he said to just add the rolled oats along with the specialty grains. I was under the impression that if you don't mash the oats, they just add body and a creamy-er mouth feel to the end product, but they won't add any fermentable sugars. I could be wrong. I'm still a newb (I've been brewing for about a year). I've tasted the samples that were pulled out for the gravity readings and it tastes quite good. So far, I'm happy.

I took a reading today and yesterday and it hasn't changed. I'll do one more tomorrow, and if it's still the same (which I think it will be) I'll be bottling. Thanks nate.

 

[nate_ive]

I have only been brewing for 5 months, but I have been doing all grain since my third batch(stout) -- I'm a noob too. If you got the "rolled oats" at a LHBS, then they are most likely flaked oats which have already been gelatinized(equivalent of being cooked so the starches are available to be mashed). They still need to me mashed with one or more of the following base malted grains to convert from starch to sugar --- pilsner, 2-row, 6-row, wheat malt.

John Palmers site has a quick run down of the common grains and how to roughly use them.
http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-1.html

The next page has the adjuncts like oats
http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-2.html

I have brewed one stout and an imperial stout so my experience is very limited, but I'm pretty sure you stout will taste great. It just may be cloudy/hazy.

 

[nate_ive]

How did the bottling go? My first stout took 1 month to carbonate -- it was hard to wait for the stout to carbonate up.

 

[crnl4bin]

Well I bottled it last Sunday. I've learned to be patient, but with the holiday this weekend, I had to try one...and that turned to two, to three, and so on. They're decently carbonated and, in all honesty, they are the best beers I've made. I think it's the first time that I've made a beer that actually tastes like a commercially brewed beer. Every beer I've made up to this point, I've been happy with, but they've all been noticeably homebrewed, if you know what I mean. This tastes like stouts I've had at my local craft beer bar. I'm happy.

I'm not sure why they carbonated so quickly. I'm in PA and it's been warm, in the upper 80's. I hope that it's not a sign that the ones that sit are going to over-carbonate. I guess I'll have to drink 'em fast and get started on another batch.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[nate_ive]

Congrats!!! The 80 degree weather will make the yeast more active and carbonate faster. Carbonation level is a function of sugar content. Once all the fermentable sugar is consume by the yeast, the full carbonation level is achieved. You can only over carbonate if you add in too much priming sugar or if the yeast did't fully attenuate the simple sugars during fermentation. I have tasted the home brew taste, but that only means the beer hasn't aged enough --- every batch I have bottled has eventually cleaned up that taste and been pretty good. Cheers!!!!