Tell me how this sounds . . .

[Primo]

So I have decided to drop my purse hike up my skirt and show a little balls.
I am trying to concoct my own version of a chocolate oatmeal stout based on the grains and hops that my lhbs has.
Tell me how you think this sounds. Mind you I just finished my 4th brew ever and am still very green. I have looked high and low and this is what I have come up with.

7.lbs Amber dme.
8oz. Crystal 120 L
8oz. Victory
8oz. Roasted barley
1.5lbs Flaked oats ( maybe toast them ????)
1lb Malted oats
8oz. Lactose
8oz Fat free coco powder

2oz chinook 1oz @ 60min .5oz @ 20 min .5oz @ 10 min

1 tsp of vanilla ext in secondary ????
or 2 vanilla beans cracked in secondary???

and top it all off with some wlp004 Irish ale yeast.

Primary 2-3? weeks secondary 1-2 weeks?
bottled fro 5-6 weeks

Im thinking 3 galon boil and 1 gallon "sparg"

So what do you fine fellers think???? P.S. please don't kill me for anything that sounds stupid in this one!!!

 

[ongreystreet]

4 lbs of grain, so it's safe to assume this is a partial mash, that seems like a lot of grain on top of a lot of extract.

 

[Yooper]

Well, I'm ball-less but I have some thoughts to share if you're willing to hear them. (An no, I'm so NOT hiking up my skirt!)

First, oatmeal needs to be mashed. You'll need to do a partial mash with oats, so that means adding some two-row. It's simple and it just means steeping at a prescribed temperature for a prescribed time with a prescribed amount of water.

I'd suggest NOT using amber DME, but use light instead and get the color/flavor from the grains. Amber extract has crystal malt in it, but you don't know how much so in my opinion it's best to use the lightest extract you can find and then use grains to get your flavor.

I don't know what you mean by "roasted malt" and then "roasted barley", so I can't give advice on that.

Here's what I'd do, though:

1- 1.5 pounds flaked oats (sure, toast them if you'd like!)
.75 pound chocolate malt
.5 pound roasted barley
.5 crystal 80L (I think 120L is too "raisiny" to be good in this)
2 pounds two-row

Put the grains all togehter in a grain bag, and hold at 155 degrees for 60 minutes. Use 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain, then lift them out when the mash is over. Pour 170 degree water over the grains to reach your boil volume.

7 pounds LME
Lactose to to taste- up to a pound of you like really sweet stout

I don't know about the chocolate, as I've never used it. Someone else will have to give advice on that!

 

[Primo]

Well, I'm ball-less but I have some thoughts to share if you're willing to hear them. (An no, I'm so NOT hiking up my skirt!)

First, oatmeal needs to be mashed. You'll need to do a partial mash with oats, so that means adding some two-row. It's simple and it just means steeping at a prescribed temperature for a prescribed time with a prescribed amount of water.

I'd suggest NOT using amber DME, but use light instead and get the color/flavor from the grains. Amber extract has crystal malt in it, but you don't know how much so in my opinion it's best to use the lightest extract you can find and then use grains to get your flavor.

I don't know what you mean by "roasted malt" and then "roasted barley", so I can't give advice on that.

Here's what I'd do, though:

1- 1.5 pounds flaked oats (sure, toast them if you'd like!)
.75 pound chocolate malt
.5 pound roasted barley
.5 crystal 80L (I think 120L is too "raisiny" to be good in this)
2 pounds two-row

Put the grains all togehter in a grain bag, and hold at 155 degrees for 60 minutes. Use 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain, then lift them out when the mash is over. Pour 170 degree water over the grains to reach your boil volume.

7 pounds LME
Lactose to to taste- up to a pound of you like really sweet stout

I don't know about the chocolate, as I've never used it. Someone else will have to give advice on that!

Thanks for your input yooper!!! I have read a lot of your posts and recipes and loved them all! Yes this is a partial mash your, spot on with time and temp of mash. I was thinking light dme as well but lot of people are using amber!
Roasted malt implies like some special roast or victory. and it looks like I forgot the chocolate malt weird I must of brushed over it. WOW adding the 2 row sure punches up the gravity!!!
What do you think of the Chinook as my hops???

 

[Primo]

4 lbs of grain, so it's safe to assume this is a partial mash, that seems like a lot of grain on top of a lot of extract.

Think maybe drop it down to 6 on the dme?? thats prolly a good idea!

 

[jonmohno]

I was gonna say.. the roasted barley looks a little steep. get some chocolate malt in there maybe and no black malt? I made a similar batch didnt have the roasted barely though. I used dark malt extract and black malt and it was still just a dark cocoa color. Guess i shoulda used a little more black.The roasted barley and chocolate should give it enough color.
I have use vanilla for the first time and used it with grade b maple for a brown ale for the priming sugar and checked one after a week and a half and im glad i did it. I used a bean near the end of my boil with the stout so ill have to see how it comes out when im ready to bottle it. Im thinking about priming it with maple,lactose and vanilla bean.
Im kind confused about having to mash with the oatmeal.I think you can pre cook it with extra water and use it in the steep with specialty grains. Otherwise mash it with some 2 row pale

 

[Yooper]

I had figured the recipe for about 7 pounds of LME. 5 pounds of DME would be about right.

 

[Primo]

Partial mash, steep grains at 155* for 30 or 60 minutes.
60 minute boil probably add the dme at the 30 or 20 minute mark.

Ingredient Name
Amount

Briess Pilsen (Extra) Light Dry Extract
5 lbs, 0 oz

Briess 2-Row Brewer's Malt
1 lbs, 0 oz

Crisp Chocolate Malt
1 lbs, 0 oz

Lactose
0 lbs, 8 oz

Briess Victory
0 lbs, 8 oz

Briess 2 Row Caramel 120
0 lbs, 8 oz

Briess Flaked Oats
0 lbs, 8 oz

Thomas Fawcett Oat Malt
0 lbs, 8 oz

Chinook Pellets
1 oz @ 60 mins

Chinook Pellets
.5 oz @ 19 mins

Chinook Pellets
.5 oz @ 10 mins

8oz fat free coco @ 10 mins

2 vanilla bean cracked in secondary.

White Labs Irish Ale

Now what do you guys think???


OG FG IBU SRM ABV

1.069 1.020 39.5 35.11 6.42

 

[Torg]

Chocolate is already fermented, it is how coco is made. But it does contain quite a bit of tannin as well as acetic acid. It tends to give beer a sort of astringent taste. You an achieve a chocolate flavor with the Crystal 120 much easier then using actual coco. Also you can cold brew some coffee (about half a gallon) and throw that in.

 

[Burtonair01]

Let us know how it turns out, sounds "most excellent"

 

[Primo]

Chocolate is already fermented, it is how coco is made. But it does contain quite a bit of tannin as well as acetic acid. It tends to give beer a sort of astringent taste. You an achieve a chocolate flavor with the Crystal 120 much easier then using actual coco. Also you can cold brew some coffee (about half a gallon) and throw that in.

Coffee huh? that sounds good! I got the idea from some other recipes on here. what do you recommend I change to make it more chocolatey if I drop the coco?

 

[Yooper]

I don't see roasted barley on your updated recipe. I'd definitely use .5 pound of roasted or black roasted barley, to get that distinctive "roasty" stout taste. I'd cut the chocolate malt back to 12 ounces.

By the way, take a look at my oatmeal stout recipe (posted under my avatar) to see my ingredients and my tasting notes.

 

[Torg]

I have used coffee both raw (as in throwing in ground coffee) and have done it as in cold brew and have found the cold brew always works better.

I have tried coco in both meads and melomels and have found that other then giving it very harsh tastes (as in astringent, or bitter+) it does not really impart that cold winter day after skiing type chocolate flavor. But then again I am an Texan and skiing to me means a boat.

It works better to replace that with dark roasted flavors (as in maybe a crystal 250 or so) and roasted grains (as in rye in my oven) then actually adding coco. I have coffee stouts other have made with both ground coffee and with brewed coffee. Anyone who has had coffee at a gas station can tell you it can be very bitter. That bitterness you will not get rid off, not even close(it comes from not washing the coffee maker and the oils oxidizing). Do it with some yeast, let the yeast oxidize the beans, well you get the idea.

But then again it probably had allot to do with the fact the chocolate mead I made came out tasting like alcoholic dirt. Really all the coffee stouts I have made is with cold brewed coffee. And that works almost as well as adding a bunch of roasted grains.