recipe crit - house oat stout

[brownrice]

Trying to be more disciplined about getting recipes a once-over here on the forum. Also the 4 lbs of LME is Maris Otter. I figured an oatmeal stout would be a good a time as any to use it. The IBU's are crazy high- should I add nugget hops at the end, or sub in a lower AA bittering charge?

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: jiminy cricket oatmeal stout

Brew Method: Partial Mash
Style Name: Oatmeal Stout
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 6 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.028
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.062
Final Gravity: 1.015
ABV (standard): 6.09%
IBU (tinseth): 32.1
SRM (morey): 30.19

FERMENTABLES:
3 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (28.6%)
0.5 lb - American - Victory (4.8%)
1 lb - American - Pale 6-Row (9.5%)
1 lb - Flaked Oats (9.5%)
4 lb - Liquid Malt Extract - Amber - (late addition) (38.1%)
0.25 lb - American - Roasted Barley (2.4%)
0.75 lb - American - Chocolate (7.1%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Nugget, Type: Pellet, AA: 14, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 32.1

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04

 

[k47k]

reduce victory to 1/2lb
reduce IBUs to around 25-30
increase gravity to 1.055

then get on amazon and buy a book called Brewing Classic Styles. it has good recipes for every style. lots of people use these recipes as a base and then tweak to suit their tastes.

 

[Yooper]

Trying to be more disciplined about getting recipes a once-over here on the forum. Also the 4 lbs of LME is Maris Otter. I figured an oatmeal stout would be a good a time as any to use it. The IBU's are crazy high- should I add nugget hops at the end, or sub in a lower AA bittering charge?

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Brew Method: Partial Mash
Style Name: Oatmeal Stout
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 6 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.017
Efficiency: 35% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.049
Final Gravity: 1.012
ABV (standard): 4.78%
IBU (tinseth): 71.49
SRM (morey): 33.02

FERMENTABLES:
3 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (24%)
2.5 lb - American - Victory (20%)
1 lb - American - Pale 6-Row (8%)
1 lb - Flaked Oats (8%)
4 lb - Liquid Malt Extract - Amber - (late addition) (32%)
0.25 lb - American - Roasted Barley (2%)
0.75 lb - American - Chocolate (6%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Nugget, Type: Pellet, AA: 14, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 71.49

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04

I always think "simple is better" is a good rule, as there is alot going on in there and for unfathomable reasons (at least to me!)

First, victory malt is a specialty malt. It provides a very dry "toasted, biscuity" flavor which can be nice in some beers, but you want very little (say 1/2 pound) and I can't imagine using it in a stout.

Crystal malt is very nice in a stout, to bring some sweetness to enhance/balance the roastiness.

I wouldn't use amber extract, because I simply don't know what's in it. There is probably crystal malt, but I have no idea how much or what kind. It's better to use light or extract light, and then add the crystal malt you want to get the flavors you want.

Oats are nice, if you're making an oatmeal stout. They have a "slick" or creamy mouthfeel. I use 2-row and not six row in recipes like this.

Roasted barley is important in a stout, so I'd increase that and reduce the chocolate, depending on the roasty flavor you are looking for.

The IBUs are way too high in this beer.

So, in sort, take out the victory, reduce the IBUs, add some crystal malt, increase the roasted barley, and change up to light DME. I think you'd be much happier!

 

[brownrice]

thanks for the rapid responses!

for whatever reason, I originally had my efficiency set at 35% (?!) so now everything makes a little more sense.

I moved the bittering charge from 60 min to 15 min... seems to have worked.

i dropped the victory to 0.5 lb; supposedly it's good in just about everything, yet i'm getting opinions that it doesn't belong in neither a stout nor a pale ale. so i'm very confused as to when it's appropriate???

and Yooper, you're the queen of the boards, so bear with me here;

The LME, as I said originally, is a Maris Otter LME from Maillard Malts. I didn't have a particular recipe planned to highlight its flavor (originally I was thinking an all-MO barleywine, but apparently subtlety is lost when using such high amounts), and so I figured a dark-ish ale would only benefit from it.

I did indeed use 2-row as a base malt, and only included the 6-row for mashing the oats. Maybe unnecessary, but it's a habit that I use for oats and pumpkin beers. Should I kick that habit?

I've made quite a few stouts now and while I agree that roasted barley is the primary flavor, I enjoyed the complexity of adding chocolate malt. Sticking with just roasted barley can get tiresome.

And I enjoy mashing oats into just about anything, even hoppy pale ales. I got the idea from nearby Tired Hands brewery and I'm convinced that I like it (and I'm the one drinking it!)

Ultimately I think I'm going for a stout that has a more gentle roasted element, and a more complex malt profile. Please continue to critique, I'm kinda spitballing here based on what I've got on hand.

Thanks again, and cheerz

 

[Yooper]

Oh, I missed that it was marris otter LME and only saw the "amber" in the list. Change that to "pale" so your color is correct, and it should be fine.

I like chocolate malt in my stouts, too, but your proportion is wrong. 2% of roasted barley isn't much at all, while 6% of chocolate is quite a bit. The recipe needs some caramel/crystal malt, unless you want a dry stout. If you want a dry stout (like Guiness), the grainbill would change quite a lot. Right now you sort of have a mish mash of ok ingredients that may be muddy and not enhance each other and you may not like the results.

Instead of adding the hops at 15 minutes, which will mean a hoppy flavored stout, just reduce the 6o minute hops to .35 ounce or whatever it takes to reduce the IBUs appropriately. Adding a lot of hops flavor to this beer won't be a benefit.

I LOVE victory malt, and use it in pale ales and other beers. I would not use it here- you've got a too-dry finish already and the victory will only magnify that. You want some sweetness here to balance the roastiness from the chocolate malt.

This looks more like an English brown recipe than a stout, by the way, since there is little roasted barley. That's fine if it's what you want, but it is a very unusual recipe.

 

[brownrice]

final iteration:
i'm going for a more porter-like beverage with a touch of sweetness to bring out whatever a pound of chocolate malt is gonna do. whether it tastes like cocoa or coffee, it's fine with me and fits the "breakfast stout" theme. color may not be jet black, but i don't care enough to buy carafa.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: jiminy cricket oatmeal "stout"

Brew Method: Partial Mash
Style Name: Oatmeal Stout
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 6 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.052
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.062
Final Gravity: 1.016
ABV (standard): 6.13%
IBU (tinseth): 26.12
SRM (morey): 37.38

FERMENTABLES:
7.5 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (63.8%)
1 lb - American - Pale 6-Row (8.5%)
1 lb - Flaked Oats (8.5%)
0.5 lb - American - Roasted Barley (4.3%)
1 lb - American - Chocolate (8.5%)
0.75 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 40L (6.4%)

HOPS:
0.5 oz - Nugget, Type: Pellet, AA: 14, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 26.12

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Temp: 154 F, Time: 60 min

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04

 

[thomasryder]

Sound great, i'll try sometime

 

[brownrice]

update: since i don't measure out liquids too meticulously, i ended up with a 1.070 wort that, after topping off with spring water, was down to 1.040 weaksauce. i added 2lb of xtra dark DME cuz it could use both fermentables AND unfermentables; thin and watery, no evidence of dextrines or cara sweetness, barely a roastiness. i'm bout to give up on dark beer, the only ones i make that i like are RIS's and my homebrew club doesn't seem to like dark beer anyway.

i'm gonna add some vanilla extract at bottling and carb it real low, hopefully i get something quaffable out of it.