Oatmeal Stout Yooper's Oatmeal Stout

[val214]

Pics

 

[MaxStout]

Anyone get a light oily film in the carboy? Mine's been sitting for about a month, and I'm ready to bottle, but it looks a little odd. Could it be the oats?

Probably the oats, as they contribute a lot of proteins. I seem to recall getting an oil slick on my fermenter from it.

 

[Firewalker11]

I racked off to the keg already but didn't notice any oily film at all, the yeast cake looks good too. That said, I am only four days or so in the primary before racking off to the keg.

 

[burninator]

I'll snap a pic tonight. My initial concern was lacto, as I had an extended lag period before fermentation took off, but the appearance hasn't changed in the past week, so I don't think it's the beginning of a pellicle.

 

[burninator]

Don't worry. That thing in the middle is my flash, not a giant bubble. You might be able to make out what I'd describe as an oily residue just around the flash' reflection, though.

View attachment 1451956289363.jpg

 

[bolus14]

Mine looked similar, but I also added vanilla beans.

 

[brew_darrymore]

Mine looks very similar, it must be the oats.

 

[Yooper]

Mine looks very similar, it must be the oats.

That doesn't look right. It looks more like the start of a pellicle or something. I never had anything oily on the surface of mine.

 

[brew_darrymore]

That doesn't look right. It looks more like the start of a pellicle or something. I never had anything oily on the surface of mine.

The flash overexposed it, the residue is not that white at all. It's been three weeks in primary, so I'm bottling very soon and will taste a sample. What comes out of the airlock smells very nice.

 

[Firewalker11]

I brewed my second batch of Yoopers Oatmeal Stout Sunday and found that I didnt have any S05 so I substituted S04 instead. I did a quick database search (quotes are from other threads) and see that over time, there is some diversion from S04 from Yooper and was wondering if anybody has had a successful brew with S04 in Yoopers Oatmeal Stout to date?

Forgive the two quotes Lorna, I am not trying to irritate you, I am just looking for clarity.

For dry yeast, I like Windsor or S04. The windsor if I'm not using alot of sweet malts, since it's not very attenuative, and the S04 for a standard oatmeal stout. I'd probably use S04 for a stout with lactose, so that it's not too sweet.

For liquid yeast, I like London ale yeast (WLP013).

1335. Definitely NOT s04, no matter what.

 

[Yooper]

Yeah, I used to be an S04 "fanboy", but after I made some changes in my brewing set up with the water, I noticed a "tart" flavor that I just didn't like. It was ok, if the fermentation temperature stayed under 62 degrees or so, but I just didn't like that slight flavor I got from it. I did love the way it left a super clear beer and it finished so quickly.

I used up all of my S04 packages on cider and that turned out great!

My all time favorite yeast strain for this beer is Denny's Favorite 50, Wyeast 1450.

 

[MaxStout]

I've made this twice using Wyeast 1335, and it turned out great both times. I might have to try 1450 next time.

 

[Firewalker11]

Not a fan of smack-packs, both times I tried them, the yeast under-produced in a grand scale. And yes, I did a starter with both of them.

 

[MaxStout]

Not a fan of smack-packs, both times I tried them, the yeast under-produced in a grand scale. And yes, I did a starter with both of them.

That's strange. How old were the smack packs when you bought them? Maybe they were several months old? Occasionally my LHBS won't have very fresh packs of certain yeasts and the ones in stock may be several months old. Not every strain rotates in stock quickly.

 

[GotPushrods]

I brewed my second batch of Yoopers Oatmeal Stout Sunday and found that I didnt have any S05 so I substituted S04 instead. I did a quick database search (quotes are from other threads) and see that over time, there is some diversion from S04 from Yooper and was wondering if anybody has had a successful brew with S04 in Yoopers Oatmeal Stout to date?

Forgive the two quotes Lorna, I am not trying to irritate you, I am just looking for clarity.

I've brewed this recipe quite a few times and have used S-04 twice. It makes a very good beer and if that's what you can get there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, you will be happy. But I LOVE the mouthfeel of something like 1450, it's my favorite so far.

I currently drinking a version fermented with 34/70 lager yeast that is amazing on beergas. Think Baltic Porter with a smooth chocolate coffee note. You can do a lot without veering far from this recipe.

 

[Firewalker11]

That's strange. How old were the smack packs when you bought them? Maybe they were several months old? Occasionally my LHBS won't have very fresh packs of certain yeasts and the ones in stock may be several months old. Not every strain rotates in stock quickly.

From B&G, SLP. Date was good but bought them in the summer and dont know if the truck ride from the distributor was too much for it. I'm a big fan of the Safale yeasts now.

 

[MaxStout]

From B&G, SLP. Date was good but bought them in the summer and dont know if the truck ride from the distributor was too much for it. I'm a big fan of the Safale yeasts now.

I shop at the same store, it's just a few miles down the road from me. If you know when you're going to brew, stop in a couple weeks beforehand and talk to Kevin, the owner. He will add a few smack packs of whatever yeast you want to the next weekly order. You can get Wyeast that's only a couple weeks old.

 

[mattmmille]

Yeah, I used to be an S04 "fanboy", but after I made some changes in my brewing set up with the water, I noticed a "tart" flavor that I just didn't like. It was ok, if the fermentation temperature stayed under 62 degrees or so, but I just didn't like that slight flavor I got from it. I did love the way it left a super clear beer and it finished so quickly.

I used up all of my S04 packages on cider and that turned out great!

My all time favorite yeast strain for this beer is Denny's Favorite 50, Wyeast 1450.

I am actually glad to see this. I tried this recipe once and was not happy with the results. I knew it couldn't be the recipe, but it was a little sour/tart and maybe a little metallic. It eventually overcarbed and got dumped. But now I think I know the culprit: fermentation temperature! I am currently limited to whatever room temperature is in the house...usually 68 to 74F. If I can ever get a temperature controlled fermentation box, I will try this recipe again!

 

[MaxStout]

I am actually glad to see this. I tried this recipe once and was not happy with the results. I knew it couldn't be the recipe, but it was a little sour/tart and maybe a little metallic. It eventually overcarbed and got dumped. But now I think I know the culprit: fermentation temperature! I am currently limited to whatever room temperature is in the house...usually 68 to 74F. If I can ever get a temperature controlled fermentation box, I will try this recipe again!

Get one of those big plastic wash tubs at Walmart and make a swamp cooler. Put the fermenter in the tub, fill up with cold water. Freeze water in some plastic pop bottles and toss 3 or 4 of those in the tub each day. If you can keep the temp down the first few days, that's the most critical part.

 

[tlucarelli]

Get one of those big plastic wash tubs at Walmart and make a swamp cooler. Put the fermenter in the tub, fill up with cold water. Freeze water in some plastic pop bottles and toss 3 or 4 of those in the tub each day. If you can keep the temp down the first few days, that's the most critical part.

This is exactly what I use. It took me a while to find these actually. I thought they would be easy to find but couldn't find them at multiple places. Finally got 4 at a dollar general store and fill with about 1 inch of water, toss the fermentor in, then put two frozen plastic water bottles in. Works great!

 

[Wiscohio_brewer]

Brewing this Saturday with 1099. Wondering if anyone has used 1099 in stouts before and if they liked the results.

 

[Firewalker11]

Yeah, I used to be an S04 "fanboy", but after I made some changes in my brewing set up with the water, I noticed a "tart" flavor that I just didn't like. It was ok, if the fermentation temperature stayed under 62 degrees or so, but I just didn't like that slight flavor I got from it. I did love the way it left a super clear beer and it finished so quickly.

I used up all of my S04 packages on cider and that turned out great!

My all time favorite yeast strain for this beer is Denny's Favorite 50, Wyeast 1450.

I have both in kegs now and will do a blind tasting next week at our home brewers club to see if I have any tart or metallic issues cropping up. We have SO MANY tap rooms around us now (NE) that my perspective of what constitutes a good example of a what is typical of a style is tainted.

Update: Going to add cold brewed coffee to the S04 batch to head off any off flavors from the yeast.

 

[schematix]

Made a 10G batch of this today. It's currently sitting in the BK at about 95*F settling out before i send it to the fermenters. Gotta love plate chillers in the winter... from 212 to 95*F in 5 minutes for 12.5 gallons.

Mash was a huge hassle. The whole grist turned to a solid dough ball as soon as i added it to the strike water. Stirred for a while but then it plugged the false bottom. Anyone else have this grist be so sticky?

I ended up scooping all of the mash into fermenter buckets so i could clean up the false bottom. Cleaned it, put the mash back in, added a few gallons of strike water to heat it back up (lost 15F) and thin it out, then had no problems recirculating for the rest of the time.

Efficiency looks good around 90%.

 

[Firewalker11]

My batches were sticky too but I just poured the brain bill slowly and stirred a lot. A couple of dough balls but nothing big.

 

[AJStank]

I brewed this recipe up yesterday and I'm super excited about it. I couldn't get ahold of any 1335 and I missed the posts about using Denny's so I used 1098. OG was 1.058 because I added an extra pound of Maris to offset any efficiency issues I sometimes have. I'm really excited to try this one out. Can't wait to get it in the keg.

 

[ArthurDigbySellers]

Brewed this yesterday too for the first time. OG was just slightly higher than Yooper's but no big deal. The issue I am having is fermentation.

I used WLP002 using their pure pitch packet and I think I goofed it up. I have never used one of these packets before so I ended up just cutting the packet open and trying to dump it in. The liquid poured off first and then I was just left with the yeast sludge in the packet that I had to squeeze out like a Gogurt packet. Fermentation has not really done much in 12 hours so of course I am freaking out. I usually see pretty vigorous fermentation by now but not much going on here. I've also never used WLP002 before so maybe this is normal?

If I don't see any activity in another 24 hours I am probably going to pitch a packet of S-05 which is my go-to yeast most of the time anyway.

Really hoping I didn't screw this up as it smells and tastes delicious already!

EDIT: OK, well I pulled out the blow-off set up and peered into the bucket and there was a nice brown krausen on it so it is definitely fermenting. Popped a traditional airlock on it and it started bubbling like mad, blowing Starsan out of the top. Switched back to the blow-off since I know it is fermenting along nicely and I'll stop fretting over it and just let it go.

 

[Firewalker11]

We are sitting down with a AHA scoresheet and are going over the batch from December 28th. We hit a 41 out of 50 (amateurs) on this new brew so I would say it's an overall success! So far, this is my favorite stout and is much better than any other off the shelf item that is a straight stout with no adjuncts.

It gets bottled tomorrow as the carb level is almost there. I have the labels printed for the Minnesota Mashup contest and will deliver them by this weekend and since this is my first ever competition, I am WAY psyched!

 

[askchucky]

Brewed this for the first time today. I brew in my garage and probably not a good idea with 15 degree weather out. Had some issues during clean up as things weren't drying as much.

Gravity ended up at 1.058, 5 gallons in fermenter. I'll report back.

 

[arnobg]

If bottling this beer, would it be best bottle aged? How long would be optimal?

I am trying to incorporate home brew into my wedding possibly as a wedding toast and am considering this recipe as one of the available beers. I have plenty of time to plan so just trying to get some ideas.

 

[ArthurDigbySellers]

If bottling this beer, would it be best bottle aged? How long would be optimal?

I am trying to incorporate home brew into my wedding possibly as a wedding toast and am considering this recipe as one of the available beers. I have plenty of time to plan so just trying to get some ideas.

It seems like the consensus in this thread is 3 weeks in the bottle minimum so if you can age it longer, I think it will only get better. I just read through this entire thread (again) the other day because I just brewed this on Saturday and I was trying to get a feel for how long people were aging it in the bottle/keg.