malting oats

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bracconiere

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so i've only malted oats 3 times now. my barley malt comes out great, and two times previously i've malted oats, they smelled phenominal during the boil, but lost it when poured from the keg....

when i was googling a good kilning temp, i saw an article about the grassy flavor, and they talk about raising the ph of the soak water to 9.5....they said that it changed it from 'lawn trimmings', to a bowl of oatmeal flavor?

could anyone explain why/if that makes sense? is "grassy" acidic or something?
 
well, i guess i'm on my own....i got my oats drying with the box fan now....should be ready to kiln tomorrow...

i overshot my soak water ph to 12, and i decided to neutrilize my second wetting soak also to 10.....i noticed the initial soak water was a lot dirtier than usual, or at least had a dark color to it....

i should be brewing with them, day after kilning them....

anyone got a recomendation for a gap they mill their "store bought 🙄" oat malt at? :D :mug:
 
Well it depends. I've had to drop down to a measured .025" gap for oats...and wheat.
But I've occasionally had to narrow the gap for some barley malts vs my usual .032", so grain size matters.

fwiw, I've taken to doing a 1/2 lb test grind on "new-to-me" malts just 'cuz I once got caught running a locally-grown base malt through my usual gap and noticing a hella lot of evidently intact grains atop my mash post-lauter...

Cheers!
 
I've taken to doing a 1/2 lb test grind on "new-to-me" malts


being that i'm pretty sure i got it allready set at .028" for my barley....and i swear oat husks are a beast.....i like the old addage, crush till you're scared....and will just do, 1lb increments, till it starts looking scary.....

thank you for the obvious tip....lol, sometimes it's the hardest to see! :mug:

edit: and that's not sarcasim, just honestly i don't know why i was thinking it had to be one shot deal for 20lb's of oat malt.....and needed a scientific gap setting....

edit #2: now i think i'll get out my spark plug feeler guages, and just line them up to like half the size of an oat kernel! brillant thanks!

edit #3: set it to .018"......about the third of the width of my oats.....wish me luck!! brewing tomorrow!!
 
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brillant thanks!
YVW! ;)

edit #3: set it to .018"......about the third of the width of my oats.....wish me luck!! brewing tomorrow!!
That's about where I have it set for oat malt, ~0.015" actually. That seems to work well for this variety.

Now I'm not as brave as you, malting those myself. So I cheated, bought a whole 50# sack. Yummy!
Sugar Creek - Oat Malt 55#_320.jpg
 
So I cheated, bought a whole 50# sack. Yummy!

i see so i'm spending money on shipping them out, playing around with food grade drain opener, and you just have 50lb bags dropped off on your door step for less? lol

edit: well, i open the oven to shoot a ir therm at them, top shelf is at 174f, bottom 164f....smelled like heaven then got a bit grassy....but it's only been, 3-4 hours since they been in another few till they hit 12 total....
 
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i see so i'm spending money on shipping them out, playing around with food grade drain opener,
Shipping them out to where?

Yeah, food grade drain opener... Isn't it weird food grade is the lowest grade one can buy, to basically saponify grease and burn up hairballs, then wash it down the drain?

and you just have 50lb bags dropped off on your door step for less?
Well, I had to pick it up at our group grain buy in DC, about 45 minutes away on an early Saturday morning. Then 2 hours to get back home, since seemingly half the larger District needs to drive around go shopping... :( It's like Escape from DC.

Shipping sacks in, ruins pretty much any deal.

55# for $77.50, that's about as good as it gets. It's very clean, tastes and smells wonderful!
 
.015"! The mind boggles - are y'all both doing biab, or are you big time rice hull investors, or just magicians? ;)

Cheers!
No, rectangular cooler mash with a CPVC manifold.

Oats are like semi-hard needles, they need a tight gap or they squeeze right through, mostly uncrushed.

Milling Triticale, now that's an adventure, the knurls are just kept from touching... Then there's millet, and that other tiny grain, GF brewers use.
 
Shipping them out to where?

Chicago this time....i'm still trying to get someone that actually knows how to brew to give me some feedback on my malting skills! ;)

(i know my brewing skills are crap, but i swear my beer is 'better' when i use my homemalt, want a second opinion)
 
welp .018" seems to have worked, but i swear....it looks like it's unmilled, those husks are so though.....if i didn't actually run through my hand, i'd swear it was still whole oats! but all the husks are empty and sorounded with flour and grits......see if i can manage to get better then ~50% effec with them this time around....
 
welp .018" seems to have worked, but i swear....it looks like it's unmilled
That's where my .015" came in.

but all the husks are empty and sorounded with flour and grits
That's what counts!

Those oat husks are leathery. From what I've read, in NZ they often use oat husks for the same purpose as we use rice hulls. And they're probably just as inedible, but with a different texture. Rice hulls are like razor blades in your mouth.
Don't bake with spent grain that contains rice hulls!
 
That's what counts!


i got a gravity from the pull of the mash of 1.038, i had a simple trick...but i forgot if it was pre-boil gravity or OG.......damn brew science! i find if i pull a sample off the mash tun, it either is exactly the same as a cooled wort, or....

i'll just have to wait till after the boil stinking my house up like cream! the hell, i know.....i'm going to make sure to add whirfloc to this one, got it out, and next to my brewing stuff just to make sure i remember....
 
i got a gravity from the pull of the mash of 1.038, i had a simple trick...but i forgot if it was pre-boil gravity or OG.......damn brew science! i find if i pull a sample off the mash tun, it either is exactly the same as a cooled wort, or....
It's definitely not preboil OG unless do full volume BIAB and no sparging. ;)

Mash gravity depends largely on the grain to water ratio. And conversion of course.
1.038 sounds low. Is that from an all oat malt grist?
I have very little insight of what the DP is of oat malt, I fear it's low, and it may not even be 40°Lintner. And yours is home malted, with a galore of variables.

My Oat malt (specs attached) doesn't give a DP value, but it does spec a max usage at 40%. That makes me think it's not self convertible. Now I want to test it. There's also a high pH issue from the malting to keep in mind.
 

Attachments

  • Sugar Creek Malted Oats Specification.pdf
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There's also a high pH issue from the malting to keep in mind.


i was going to stick my ph probe in it....but i've been testing stuff that dissolves plastic with it and it's in bad shape.....figured i just would let it ride.....

1.038 was at probably 140f though......which i think in the past means after i'm done sparging and boiling it down my OG at 80f will be 1.038....i'm almost done sparging, i'll have to check and temp correct my pre-boil SG....(it was just a simple trick i noticed...but have forgotten)
 
i'll just have to wait till after the boil stinking my house up like cream! the hell, i know.....i'm going to make sure to add whirfloc to this one, got it out, and next to my brewing stuff just to make sure i remember....
I put a box fan in the kitchen window right behind the kettle. That works like a charm. I tape some foam core along the open sides so it doesn't draw in outside air. Using foam core because I have it, and cardboard doesn't look as professional. ;)

I weigh and put all my hop additions in pint solo cups, in order of addition (the time is written on the cups! FWH, 90', 60' ... FO, WP170/10, WP 150/30, etc.)
All other additions are lined up there too. Half the time I still forget to prehydrate or even add the Irish Moss until I'm already chilling. :drunk:
 
i'm guessing i'll get about an OG of 1.042 with 18.2lb's of oat malt, for a 10 gallon batch.....above 60% effec, but by no means impressive.....and i don't know how to describe the smell, it's like if you were eating oat meal, right after mowing the front lawn on the porch....if there was a way to get the cream without the grass! i'd give up barley!
 
well the entire house allready smells like hot oatmeal.....sparge is done...and being my boils take 3-4 hours to reduce, the smell of warm milk is making me sleepy, think i'll just sleep it off....
How's it coming along?
3-4 hour boils? How much do you need to boil off on a 15 gallon batch?
 
I have to ask, 1) because I'm curious and 2) I don't know enough to figure it out myself... but... what are brewing up there with all those oats?
 
How's it coming along?
3-4 hour boils? How much do you need to boil off on a 15 gallon batch?

i ended up with 1.038 at 80f, so my trick of pulling a sample, works like it usually, does which corrected gives me a OG of 1.040....so 60% effec according to beersmith.....(just finished chilling the wort.....going to add gluco, but not dope it with table sugar, going to call it a session beer at a ABV of 5.2%, ;)


what are brewing up there with all those oats?

it was 100% oat malt, and 3 oz's cascade hops, for ~60 minutes.....i'd call it "i don't know if horses like to drink beer...but if they did!" lol :D
 
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it was 100% oat malt, and 3 oz's cascade hops, for ~60 minutes.....i'd call it "i don't know if horses like to drink beer...but if they did!" lol :D
I'm going to have to try this sometime in the future... but I'll probably stick to one of my micro 1G experimental batches :thumbsup:
 
I'm going to have to try this sometime in the future... but I'll probably stick to one of my micro 1G experimental batches :thumbsup:


i don't know what to say, it smells like cream while it's boiling...but i'm still trying to get it to not taste grassy when it's kegged and in the glass....my house still smells like cream! i'll see if the caustic soak, locks it in for the pour.....

edit: maybe i should look up some cold oat recipes...
 
so i've only malted oats 3 times now. my barley malt comes out great, and two times previously i've malted oats, they smelled phenominal during the boil, but lost it when poured from the keg....

when i was googling a good kilning temp, i saw an article about the grassy flavor, and they talk about raising the ph of the soak water to 9.5....they said that it changed it from 'lawn trimmings', to a bowl of oatmeal flavor?

could anyone explain why/if that makes sense? is "grassy" acidic or something?
The grassy and green notes come through when you do not use a hot enough curing temperature and/or high enough air flow to drive those flavours off.
 
The grassy and green notes come through when you do not use a hot enough curing temperature and/or high enough air flow to drive those flavours off.

i kilned this at 160-170f for 12 hours, have no idea how i'd get more airflow in my home oven.....it works for barley?


edit: you know the oven does have that half cracked open mode for the door, maybe i'll try it like that next batch of oats....
 
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How's it coming along?


it's sitting at 1.000 already, more then likely do to the low og for my usuall batches of 1.060+...damn, i'm on the fence whether to keg now, or wait till the sulphury smell passes......

i'm still having fun trying to perfect burst carbing by weight....but EVEN i CAN'T finish a keg much quicker then 4 days......

got an idea, if i taste it i wait, if it's just a smell, i keg......this was done with S. Baynus if i didn't allready say that.....(repitched too! ;))
 
it's sitting at 1.000 already, more then likely do to the low og for my usuall batches of 1.060+...damn, i'm on the fence whether to keg now, or wait till the sulphury smell passes......

i'm still having fun trying to perfect burst carbing by weight....but EVEN i CAN'T finish a keg much quicker then 4 days......

got an idea, if i taste it i wait, if it's just a smell, i keg......this was done with S. Baynus if i didn't allready say that.....(repitched too! ;))
Damn that's fast, done in less than 2 days!
I'd let it condition for a few days, hoping that sulphur dissipates.

I've had a cider once (not mine), telling myself: "oh come on, you can drink through it." That's one of those very few glasses I've ever dumped so quickly.

If it's still there, maybe keg, and bubble CO2 through the beer to help outgas it, and drive it off? For that you'd probably have to use a carbonation stone though, on a long gas diptube.
 
Damn that's fast


LOL, that's what both of the women in my life told me!

well they both should be perfectly carb, and cold by tomorrow....so brewed 10-1-20, drinking on 10-4-20.....i gotta tell you now that i got my scale stable and trust it, after the first 0.8oz's or so of co2, the keg really doesn't want to take it anymore......i tried laying them on their side, strapping a vibrator/(orbital sander) to them with duck tape, and that last 0.3 or so oz's...just really hard to get into it.....(i even whipped out my fan speed controller to get the sander to run slower)


but anyway as far as the taste, smelled sulphury, but tasted like you'd expect a 100% pale oat malt beer to taste....pretty much like water.....with a little hops....looking forward to tomorrow to tap it, both to try the oat malt out, and my carbing by weight thing.....
 
i tried laying them on their side, strapping a vibrator/(orbital sander) to them with duck tape, and that last 0.3 or so oz's...just really hard to get into it...
How about rocking/rolling them kegs, lying on their side? That's what I do, at 30psi, for about 10 minutes.
At what pressure do you burst carb yours?
 
How about rocking/rolling them kegs, lying on their side?

reminds me i saw someone else rig up some with an old kitchenaid mixer....i was rocking them on their side.....maybe a bungie cord on the mixer, would roll them back and forth.......maybe being a little gentler would get it to take co2 quicker......or maybe lay both the keg and mixer on their sides, and like just roll the keg with the mixer.......
 
must have gotten distracted on the last one.....

but anyway 10-1 ->10-4 should have let the sulphur smell gas out..... :( it is perfectly carbed though....

unfortanatly, it tastes like some prostitute ate a bunch of deviled eggs and is farting into my mouth.....lol


at any rate nothing i'd pay for....Is there a way to get rid of sulphur after kegging? or will it like turn into something else if i let it sit?
 
i don't think it's the oat malt....just think i was in to big of hurry to try my burst carbbing, normaly i would have let it ride as IL suggested.....
 
well i decided, the yeast cake was still fresh....and if IL says pumping co2 through it will degas sulphur....i just dumped both kegs back into the fermenter, and will let "degas"....outside of my mouth, lol
 
i don't think it's the oat malt....just think i was in to big of hurry to try my burst carbbing, normaly i would have let it ride as IL suggested.....
Probably not? I was just reading on hydrogen sulfide... it could be that the yeast you're using produces a lot of it? I gather the hydrogen sulfide is typically gassed off during fermentation... I think once you've kegged it, you're out of luck :(
 
If it's still there [the H2S], maybe keg, and bubble CO2 through the beer to help outgas it, and drive it off? For that you'd probably have to use a carbonation stone though, on a long gas diptube.
That's what I would have done. ^

Dumping back into fermenter may/will cause oxidation. Kegs protect from that, and can be purged. Besides bubbling CO2 will purge them sufficiently anyway. Higher (room) temps should get rid of the H2S faster than if refrigerated.
 
unfortanatly, it tastes like some prostitute ate a bunch of deviled eggs and is farting into my mouth.....lol

I don't know much about prostitutes, never had the need to get close enough, but the H2S sensation in my mouth would be enough to barf. That sulphury cider is still with me when I think of it. YUCK-YUCK-YUCK!
 
This could be very true, but if a keg only lasts 4 days, I doubt it can be much of an issue regarding degradation of flavor in this case.
You've got a point there.

We know from our IPA and NEIPA expeditions that hop flavor and aroma compounds get oxidized rather soon. In this case, hopefully they'll survive the adverse effects of those few rough days. As long as the headspace remains (mostly) filled with CO2 there's less to worry.
 
well i would say it didn't taste grassy...lol and i did keg at 1.000, it was still bubbling about every 2-3 seconds.....so it probably would have gone to 0.995 or something.....i was just to in hurry to carbonate something! now i burned through 5 oz's of co2, and will have to again in 4-5 days more......
 
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