Will Oats Reduce My Stouts Head Retention?

[ADL]

Hi, Ive recently just started home brewing and have actually just bottled my first batch that I made from a Coopers Heritage Lager Complete Kit. I followed all the directions exactly and am not expecting much but it was fun and VERY easy. Seeing how the kit was so easy I'm thinking I wanna step it up a notch. I don't want my next brew to be just following directions on a kit, Id like to make something a little better that I can hopefully be proud of.

I wanted to make an Irish Stout hopefully in time for St. Patties day this year. I was looking for something similar to Guinness that also made use of this can of Coopers Irish Stout kit I have and I found this:

Snow's Leprechaun Stout

INGREDIENTS

1kg Pale Malted Barley
1.8kg Can of Coopers Stout
1.kg Dark Liquid Malt
250g Brown Sugar
150g Black Strap Molasses
50g Cracked Roasted Chocolate Grain
50g Cracked Roasted Black Barley
350g Flaked (or rolled) Oats
30g Super Alpha Hop Pellets (Bittering)
14g Goldings Hop Pellets (Aroma)
2 teaspoons Gypsum
1 tsp Irish Moss
Large Starter of Irish Ale yeast

PROCEDURE

Prepare at least 1 L of yeast starter 2-3 days before brew day. Add gypsum to 6L of water and heat to 70° C. Steep Pale Malt grains and Flaked Oats for 45 mins at 66° C. Add remaining grains and steep for a further 30 mins. Remove and rinse grains in a colander over brewpot with 2L of 77°C water (MUST be no higher than 79° C!). Add dark malt extract, molasses and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Add bittering hops and boil for 1 hour. Add Irish Moss 15 mins before end of boil. Add aroma hops 5 mins before the end of the boil. Remove from heat and gently mix in can of Coopers. Force chill wort. Transfer cooled wort to fermenter, add cold water to 21L. Pitch yeast at around 18-20° C. Aerate well.

FERMENTATION SCHEDULE
Ferment at 19oC for 7 days, rack to secondary and ferment for a further 2 weeks

Most of it seems easy enough, except that I don't have a very big pot to brew it in aside from a couple gallon aluminum pressure cooker (without the lid) I could use. So I might substitute the barley for Light DME because of this, also to keep it simpler. Another change I might make is I'll use Muntons Extra Dark DME in place of the dark LME because I wont have to worry about it not being fresh and it's less expensive and easier to store the leftovers (will this make it taste much worse or different?). I'll probably Omit the Irish Moss as well, not exactly sure what it is or what its purpose is. And for yeast this time I will be using White Labs Irish Ale liquid yeast rather than the supplied Coopers yeast.

What I was worried about was the possibility of the oatmeal killing the beers head retention. I've read that the high amount of lipids in oats can do that. Should I be worried? I don't want to end up with a flat black beer with no head. Should I ditch the oatmeal? If I were to add the Dark DME into it Late into the boil rather than at the beginning, would that reduce the amount of protein degradation therefore giving better head retention? Or would even using some of the Light DME for priming instead of dextrose help the head? (Beersmith says to use 200g of DME for priming)


EDIT: One more question; is the secondary ferment necessary? I don't have a carboy for secondary fermentation or an auto siphon for that and although I probably will eventually buy these things I've already put down a fair amount for equipment and supplies and would rather avoid it for now if necessary. That is, if it doesn't make a huge difference.

 

[Chris1272]

Oats in the mash will actually promote head retention. I assume you plan on steeping them. with out the diastic power of other grain is a partial mash I am afraid all you will end up doing is making oatmeal and not adding anything to the beer. steeping may leach some starches and make the beer slightly fuller but I doubt it would be noticeable. I don't see a good way to get this done other than maybe mash 1 pound of say 6 row with the pound of oats in a small cooler or on the stove, and pour that mixture into your brew pot.
As for the secondary. Its unnecessary for this beer. feel free to do a forum search and see the thousands of "to secondary or not to secondary" debate threads for all the high points on that topic.

 

[ADL]

Ah okay so you say if I want to add the oatmeal I shouldn't substitute DME for the pale barley (I was gonna use 2row) or else there wont be any enzymes to convert the starches?

Do you think the beer would suffer much if I were to still use DME instead of barley and just leave out the oatmeal as well? Just to keep it simpler and less costly as its only my second brew. Is there a substitute for the mouthfeel that oatmeal adds to it without making it too sweet?

 

[Chris1272]

If you steep the 2 row with the oats at 66C you may get the conversion you want I would give the steep an hour to make sure. If you substitute DME for the 2 row then yeah I would also forget the oatmeal. You can enrich the mouth feel a bit by adding maltodextrin to the beer. Just add it in the boil.

 

[ADL]

Ah okay i might try the maltodextrine if it wont make it very sweet. Although getting 2row and just steeping the oats seems pretty straightforward enough to not forgoe it, decisions decisions. Thanks for all your help!

 

[Chris1272]

Steeping the grains really isn't that hard and will be good practice. just make sure you are careful of the temperature. The enzymes that convert the starches to sugars work best at around 66C if you let it heat up the enzymes will start to denature and there is no going back after that. Just keep an eye on your thermometer.