Oatmeal Stout Milk Oatmeal Stout

[Cultkid]

So I brewed this bad boy On Saturday. I followed the original Extract Recipe and used two packages of Windsor yeast.

The yeast started after around 14 hours and picked up quickly. After about 26 hours is started slowing down. Today (day 2) it is really slow. Bubble every 43 secs in the airlock.

Room temperature has been pretty constant at 71 degrees. I also have a Belgian Trippel brewing in the same room and its bubbling away happily.

Do I need to be concerned?

I had the same concerns after brewing this up on Friday, similar story, used 2 packages of WYEAST 1728 Scottish Ale™ and it was pretty slow to start, bubbled for a while, and then slowed way way down.

My OG was 1.066 (I used extra light DME in my recipe) and I tested it yesterday and it was still pretty high coming in at 1.030... I figure there's not really much else I can do other than wait and see in a couple more weeks.

It had a nice 6-8 inches of kreuzen on the top of it, so I know some fermentation occurred but I think it's either stalled or slowed down so much I can't tell if it's still fermenting or not. I've got a good 3" trub on the bottom.

Oh well, here's hoping for the best!

 

[Aboo]

It had a nice 6-8 inches of kreuzen on the top of it, so I know some fermentation occurred but I think it's either stalled or slowed down so much I can't tell if it's still fermenting or not. I've got a good 3" trub on the bottom.

Oh well, here's hoping for the best!

I believe the Lactose addition increases the trub since it is not fermentable. I had a very thick layer of trub in mine as well, but it came out great!

 

[Brewskie]

This is my second brew ever. Just tasted it at bottling and it was great! Pretty exciting, considering the first beer I brewed wasn't too good at this stage. I also soaked vanilla beans in vodka for a week and added them as a flavor addition at bottling to half my batch. I think the vanilla flavor may end up being a tad strong. Definitely worth the experiment though. Can't wait for it to carb up!

 

[dannowatts]

just brewed this again, for the second time, because the first batch was awesome!

this time, we used 2lbs of oats (1lb toasted, 1lb regular), 2lbs of lactose and used white labs WLP004 Irish ale yeast. can't wait to have this batch when it's ready. the first batch is already have gone!!

 

[Cultkid]

This beer turned out really nice for me. I followed the recipe pretty close although I did add about a pound of Brumalt and I soaked some vanilla beans and blueberries in Cognac for 3 weeks and then added them to my secondary fermenter.

 

[DrummerBoySeth]

blueberries, huh? How strong was that flavor contribution? I can see where a HINT of blueberry would blend pretty well in a stout, but I would be worried about the berries dominating the flavor.

 

[Cultkid]

Well, I sometimes wonder whether I can really taste the blueberries, or if I only taste them because I know they're there... It's definitely a hint. If you can taste them, congrats you have an exceptional palate.

Edit: This coming Saturday, the Vanilla Bean and Blueberry Milk Oatmeal Stout that I brewed will be tasted by several people at the local Homebrewers guild, as well as 3 local certified beer judges. I'll let you know what they think of it. It's to be a blind taste (as in, no label they won't know what they're tasting other than that it's a stout) and I'm curious myself to see if they pick up on any of the adjuncts and/or flavor notes.

 

[DrinkinSurfer]

Hi Cultkid,
Let us know how the tasting goes, I am excited to see what they say. The blueberry is a very original addition to this brew and sounds like it is in the background enough for it to be a solid addition.

 

[shadows69]

Milk Oatmeal Chocolate Stout Made with Coco Nibbs on WLP090 yeast All Grain. :rockin:

 

[DrinkinSurfer]

Shadows, that looks great. The head has the perfect deep tan color. When I made the original recipe way back when, that was one of the primary objectives. How do the coco nibbs come through? When it warms up a bit(I'm in VA now) I am planning on brewing this first thing and I had always considered doing a coco or vanilla addition.

 

[Cultkid]

The tasting for mine was delayed until later on this evening. I'll be bringing several bottles of this to the local HB Guild meeting. There should be several BJCP judges there. Now that mine has been aging for several weeks, you really get the vanilla and blueberries on the nose. Everyone who's tried it has really enjoyed it. The bubbles in the head are a lot tighter now, with really nice tan head and lacing.

 

[shadows69]

The coco nibs are very sub-tile. I used .25oz in the secondary, I know they can be bitter if you add to much. Still this beer is the bomb as always! Good luck in VA. looks like your in for a big snow storm.

 

[Cultkid]

Things I overheard at the Edmonton Homebrewers Guild Monthly meeting...

Judge 1: I hear there's a Stout over here that I just have to try
Judge 2: Yeah, it's an amazing delicious milk Stout
Judge 1: Oh wow, I'm getting really nice vanilla and blueberries on the nose, and just a hint of it in the aftertaste

Then the 2 time Canadian Brewer of the year told me I should enter it into the upcoming Aurora Competition, which was seconded by 3 other judges... so I guess this recipe is pretty good. I got a good 30 or 40 compliments on the Milk Oatmeal Stout, as well as several for a Rauchbier I brought with me as well.

 

[phallpdx]

Brewed this last night (well, a bastardized version), using the extract recipe. Realized I ordered un-milled grain, so I spent WAYYYY to long hammer-milling it myself - hope I didn't obliterate too much of it/leave too much of it un-milled. RDWHAHB right?

Other than that went pretty well - used 1oz Willamette for bitter and Goldings for aroma. Also used S-04 yeast. The OG of 1.05 right on the nose. A very pretty dark brown, I have to say. Got up this morning and she appears to be fermenting. Will keep y'all informed.

 

[mike_in_ak]

I wouldn't worry about the hammer thing. I bet side-by-side you wouldn't end up being able to tell it apart from the same recipe using milled grain. Gonna be good beer.

 

[mike_in_ak]

Brewed this last night (well, a bastardized version), using the extract recipe. Realized I ordered un-milled grain, so I spent WAYYYY to long hammer-milling it myself - hope I didn't obliterate too much of it/leave too much of it un-milled. RDWHAHB right?

Other than that went pretty well - used 1oz Willamette for bitter and Goldings for aroma. Also used S-04 yeast. The OG of 1.05 right on the nose. A very pretty dark brown, I have to say. Got up this morning and she appears to be fermenting. Will keep y'all informed.

I wouldn't worry about the hammer thing. I bet side-by-side you wouldn't end up being able to tell it apart from the same recipe using milled grain. Gonna be good beer.

(There's some science to this but I petered out. Listen to brew strong podcast on mash efficiency for details. Basically particle size mostly relevant to conversion and lautering. So as long as you didn't grind up the husks into powder, it shouldn't make any real difference)

 

[DrinkinSurfer]

Things I overheard at the Edmonton Homebrewers Guild Monthly meeting...

Judge 1: I hear there's a Stout over here that I just have to try
Judge 2: Yeah, it's an amazing delicious milk Stout
Judge 1: Oh wow, I'm getting really nice vanilla and blueberries on the nose, and just a hint of it in the aftertaste

Then the 2 time Canadian Brewer of the year told me I should enter it into the upcoming Aurora Competition, which was seconded by 3 other judges... so I guess this recipe is pretty good. I got a good 30 or 40 compliments on the Milk Oatmeal Stout, as well as several for a Rauchbier I brought with me as well.

Congratulations! That is really awesome that you got such great feedback for your recipe! Keep it up!

 

[NunoAraujo]

Here's mine, I added an extra pound of crystal 60l because I thought I wouldn't be able to find lactose anywhere...but then when I tried it it was pretty bitter so I ordered some lactose from ebay...turned out pretty nice though.

 

[Cultkid]

This brew became an instant favorite with all my friends as well as people I don't even know... I changed my recipe slightly for the second batch, I added more blueberries and vanilla, and I also switched from Cognac to Burbon. I'll let you know how it turns out! I am actually making a 12gal. batch now since the first one was so well received.

 

[phallpdx]

Update on my hammered version: Turned out great! I was feeling a bit tight on cash so I didn't add vanilla beans like I had intended, but it tastes great as is. It is a great session stout for sure; it has a great mouthfeel and it goes down easy.

 

[Cultkid]

My second batch of this is in secondary right now. I turned it into an Imperial Milk Oatmeal Stout, still with blueberries and vanilla beans soaked in Bourbon this time instead of Cognac. I also added some blueberries to the boil, as the blueberries were mostly lost last time. I'll let you know how it turns out as I've entered it into the upcoming Aurora Brewing Challenge. Hopefully it'll go the distance!

 

[AnCapJake]

Couple of quick questions. I've only made one batch so bear with me, though I have done a significant amount of reading.

Since this is labeled an extract recipe, is it safe to assume the boil is about 3 gallons then topped off with water when racking to primary? Additionally, would it be safe to use crystal 10L instead of carapils? I am trying to keep costs down and since it is decently cheaper to purchase more grain than extract, would it be fair to use only 4 (or perhaps even 3) pounds of the light DME and to make up for it with an increase in both the chocolate malt and the black patent by say half a pound each? I also plan on using US-04 since I plan on purchasing online from AHS and they are out of windsor for the time being (also the reason for the crystal 10L substitute, keeping shipping costs down by not having to order from multiple sites, closest LHBS is an hour away). Also, I plan on adding some powdered vanilla extract to my bottling bucket along with the priming sugar. Would you say this is the proper time to perform such an addition?

I also plan on excluding the aroma hops at the end.

Any help is greatly appreciated, I really look forward to brewing this. It sounds amazing!

 

[shadows69]

Here's some of my thoughts on the above post. I would brew this first without any changes. I have made this more times then I can count. This is one of the better stouts I ever made. Adding crystal instead of carapils is going to change the taste, even though the carapils is more for head retention. As far as the vanilla, don't know about using power, I wouldn't. I would use vanilla beans soaked in vodka for 5 to 7 days in the secondary fermenter.

 

[shadows69]

Oh and I forgot Windsor yeast is what adds the smooth taste. I'm not a fan of US-04. Notty or Us-05 maybe better but not the same as Windsor.

 

[DrinkinSurfer]

Hi AnCapJake,

Your boil volume can be 3 gallons and then top off.

If you are going to substitute grain for the DME, I would use a base malt (2-row) and do a partial mash(brew in a bag). Adding extra chocolate and black patent malts aren't going to add the same fermentables and will change the flavor profile(which is fine, but is not really a substitute for DME).

Yeast is up to you. But I would try to get close to the flavor profile and attenuation of Windsor if possible. Windsor has a low attenuation which keeps the brew from drying and thinning out. It also has subtle, fruity notes.

I would suggest plugging in exactly what you are thinking of doing to some brewing software, Brewmaster's Warehouse has a beer build in their website that is easy to use. That way you can really see what you are looking at, especially if you are thinking about skipping the aroma hops addition. Balance is the key.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

 

[AnCapJake]

Thank you both for the advice. I may just bite the bullet and order from a different website in order to keep more to the same recipe. This early in my brewing endeavors may not be the time to try too much experimentation.

I did take a look at the Brew Builder you mentioned and must admit it is a bit fun to mess around with the recipe finding what works and what doesn't. I may change the recipe a little bit to save some money but we'll see. I do believe I will use a pale chocolate malt as opposed to the english chocolate malt. I would have to agree that the vodka/vanilla bean mix sounds better than using a powder. Thanks again for the help, I will definitely post my results. Now I just have to order the ingredients and wait until I need to rack my brown ale from primary to secondary!

 

[AnCapJake]

Just thought I would go ahead and post an update. I ended up using crystal 10l, us-05, and I also upped the chocolate malt a bit. Otherwise I followed the recipe. It was in primary for 2 weeks and has now been in secondary for about a week. I just took a hydrometer sample and it read 1.022. I tasted the sample and it was phenomenal. I am incredibly excited about this beer. I plan on bottling within the week. I will most certainly post again once I try the final product.

 

[DrinkinSurfer]

Glad to hear you are liking this brew so far. This is one of those beers that is great fresh so you don't really have to worry about letting it sit at all.

 

[BarBush]

Got my ingredients. Though I goofed up scaling all of my grains in one container at the LHBS. Ended up with I'm guessing about 10oz carapils. Shouldn't hurt too much right? Anywho, this is my first non kit brew. I think I picked a good recipe 😃 Cheers in about a month..

 

[AnCapJake]

Alright well I finally got to try the final product. After two weeks in primary, one week in secondary, and only 10 days in the bottle, this brew is great. Good looking tan head. The oats definitely give it a silkier feel. One thing I was surprised to notice was how light this was for a stout. Not in color of course, but in drinkability. This is easily a very sessionable stout and I am very pleased with this brew, especially as it is only my second.