Oatmeal Stout Yooper's Oatmeal Stout

[Horseflesh]

If the beer has only been fermenting a week, and is at 1.022, you should definitely see more of a drop. I'd check it again in a week.

You probably do not need to ferment for 4 weeks, I bet you're ready to bottle by 3. The only way to know is to check the gravity and taste the sample too. Don't be afraid to take samples!

 

[BongoYodeler]

Well nuts, I took another sample today, two weeks in, and it's still sitting around 1.022. No change for a week.

The temperature is holding at 68°

Any advice? Or should I just be patient?

 

[balrog]

In the immortal words of Bachman Turner Orverdrive, "ride ride ride gonna let it ride"

 

[PADave]

Well nuts, I took another sample today, two weeks in, and it's still sitting around 1.022. No change for a week.

The temperature is holding at 68°

Any advice? Or should I just be patient?

Exactly what happened to me. Mine sat 3 weeks. Like I said above, I have no problems with my IPAs, but my dark beers don't come out right. Did my first batch yesterday with distilled water and adding salts.

 

[BongoYodeler]

In the immortal words of Bachman Turner Orverdrive, "ride ride ride gonna let it ride"

Well, The Guess Who has always been one of my favorite bands, and of course Randy Bachman was a large part of that, so I guess these eyes will let it ride.

 

[jakeasaur]

Is the original post the most up to date recipe? The link at the bottom of the OP is not working on the app.

 

[Biscuits]

I thought it would be worth sharing since @Yooper has never, to my knowledge, entered this into a competition. My buddy and I brewed it and sent it into the Colorado State Fair. We scored a respectable 32 with no off-flavors detected and the only real notes were that it lacked a little bit of body and creaminess which the judges attributed to mash temp. This was actually a welcomed critique to us because we have been troubleshooting a problem with over-attenuation in our beers and we hypothesized that it might stem from continued conversion due to lack of a mash-out. We haven't confirmed this is the culprit yet, but I think we are on the right path. This is my 4th time brewing this recipe and it has always been, to my palette, delicious....granted I agree with the judges.

Anyway, just thought I would share.

 

[Kampenken]

Is the original post the most up to date recipe? The link at the bottom of the OP is not working on the app.

Yes the original is up to date. I'm sure others, like myself, have made some changes but you can't go wrong with original, and any changes are just personal mods. I'd suggest you begin with the original, you won't be disappointed!
I'm brewing it this weekend.

Well nuts, I took another sample today, two weeks in, and it's still sitting around 1.022. No change for a week.

The temperature is holding at 68°

Any advice? Or should I just be patient?

So how did it go?
I don't think a rise to 68 is significant. At even one week in I'm not concerned with slow rise (free rise or heat if needed) to 72-74. I generally wait until the main fermentation phase, 3-4 days, is over. You'll be fine.

Exactly what happened to me. Mine sat 3 weeks. Like I said above, I have no problems with my IPAs, but my dark beers don't come out right. Did my first batch yesterday with distilled water and adding salts.

Well my experience is a rise in temp works well on this beer. I've ended 2-3pts higher than Yooper's recipe but started 2-5 pts higher (I've made some tweaks).
I looked back at my notes and noticed other beers with this yeast finished fine and likely with no rise. Interesting. For the past year or so I now have a set template of info I fill in for each beer and ferment temp & # of days at set temp along with same info for ramp temps as part of my records. I find it helps to have a set of regular captured data for replication!

 

[BongoYodeler]

Hi kampenken. I see you're in Lansdale, not too far from where our daughter went to college in Easton, PA, (Lafayette College).

I was planning to bottle this past weekend since its been 4 weeks in the fermenter as of yesterday. Things got in the way though, so maybe some night this week. The last gravity check was about ten days ago and it hadn't budged from the one week mark - 1.022 or 1.023. I guess at this point it's as done as its going to be. I'll check one last time when bottling and hope for the best.

 

[Kampenken]

Hi kampenken. I see you're in Lansdale, not too far from where our daughter went to college in Easton, PA, (Lafayette College).

I was planning to bottle this past weekend since its been 4 weeks in the fermenter as of yesterday. Things got in the way though, so maybe some night this week. The last gravity check was about ten days ago and it hadn't budged from the one week mark - 1.022 or 1.023. I guess at this point it's as done as its going to be. I'll check one last time when bottling and hope for the best.

I know the Easton area well and Lafayette, once snuck into a frat party there!

You should be fine, i would however possibly stay on the low end of the suggested CO2 vol range ( I use Tastybrew.com for the levels). What may occur after time in the bottle is further ferment and you end up with some bottles over carb'd after a few months in bottle. I've seen this where the earlier consumed bottles are perfect carb, and later ones seem fizzier.
You can always try to rouse the yeast (stir it up) and raise temp and see if you get a few more points out of it. At any rate, I'm sure you'll be pleased. Enjoy!

 

[Mothman]

Brewed this last saturday, as per the OP (except scaled batch size to 3.5 gallons).

Great brew-day, hit the numbers expected (sort of... still dialing in my expected efficiency... last batch I was a little higher than predicted, this time was bang on prediction).

Pitched a 1335 starter at around 73F, started bubbling about 4-5 hrs later with temp down to 66F, and has been pretty steady at 63-65F since then.

Was going strong on Day 2-3, and already settled way down. I'll leave it at least 2 weeks, maybe 3 just to stay true to the original recipe before checking FG and bottling. Based on quite a few posts about the beer finishing high, I'll probably allow the primary to rise up to high 60'sF tonight or tomorrow to help it finish up.

Reading all these posts here, I can't wait to have this conditioned and ready to drink.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Good luck Mothman. Mine's been in the bottle for 3 days now. A little goof-up on bottling day - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=637157 - hoping it'll still be ok.
Smelled and tasted very good though.

 

[jakeasaur]

Has anyone brewed this with S04 and if so how did it turn out?

 

[PADave]

Has anyone brewed this with S04 and if so how did it turn out?

I did a little while ago, see a few posts above. Mine finished high, but now I realized I had a couple other issues going on. Haven't tried it yet though.

 

[Biscuits]

Has anyone brewed this with S04 and if so how did it turn out?

The few times I brewed it, I used S04...it was delicious but I prefer Denny's 50.

 

[Mothman]

At about day 5 into primary at 65-66F, most of the activity was done, I allowed my brew to slow-rise to 69F and it's been holding there since then (on day 8 today).

I'll probably plan on bottling after about 14 days (assuming the timing works out for my weekend), or if not, I'll leave it til the following weekend (21 days).

Question... am I better off leaving the primary at 69F until I bottle? Or will I benefit from moving it back to the mid-60's now and holding it there until bottling? Or will it make no difference?

 

[Oldskewl]

At about day 5 into primary at 65-66F, most of the activity was done, I allowed my brew to slow-rise to 69F and it's been holding there since then (on day 8 today).

I'll probably plan on bottling after about 14 days (assuming the timing works out for my weekend), or if not, I'll leave it til the following weekend (21 days).

Question... am I better off leaving the primary at 69F until I bottle? Or will I benefit from moving it back to the mid-60's now and holding it there until bottling? Or will it make no difference?

I don't think 4-5 degrees is going to make much difference at this point.

 

[Oldskewl]

Well I finally brewed this a few weeks ago using a 1 month old packet of Wyeast 1450. I had an OG 1.056 due to an aggressive boil. I aerated the wort using O2 and pitched my 1L starter. I fermented at 66F. Fermentation took off in less than 10 hours. After 4 days the blow-off activity slowed down to almost nothing. I raised the temp 2F/day for 3 days and let it ride at 72F. I checked the FG at 14 days 1.024. Checked again at 18 days and still 1.024. So into a keg it went. I guess I should have roused the yeast.

 

[Biscuits]

Well I finally brewed this a few weeks ago using a 1 month old packet of Wyeast 1450. I had an OG 1.056 due to an aggressive boil. I aerated the wort using O2 and pitched my 1L starter. I fermented at 66F. Fermentation took off in less than 10 hours. After 4 days the blow-off activity slowed down to almost nothing. I raised the temp 2F/day for 3 days and let it ride at 72F. I checked the FG at 14 days 1.024. Checked again at 18 days and still 1.024. So into a keg it went. I guess I should have roused the yeast.

Why? 1.024 is a perfect FG for this beer.

 

[Oldskewl]

I sampled it and it tastes good with a nice roastiness. It is hard to judge the sweetness until it carbed. I was just concerned since the target FG was 1.016 and my attentuation was only 57%. So ended up with a session stout at 4.2%.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I sampled it and it tastes good with a nice roastiness. It is hard to judge the sweetness until it carbed. I was just concerned since the target FG was 1.016 and my attentuation was only 57%. So ended up with a session stout at 4.2%.

Same thing happened to me, and pretty close to the same numbers. I bottle, not keg, and its been in the bottle 9 days now. Going to try one this weekend to see where its at.

 

[Oldskewl]

Keep us posted. I think it’s still gonna be good. Just need to figure out how to improve the attenuation next time. I should have harvested some yeast for another batch. Some say the first gen doesn’t attenuate well. Guess I’ll build a huge starter next time.

 

[Mothman]

I took a refractometer reading today, just to see where it's at, as I'm figuring fermentation is pretty much done for me, and got a (calculated/corrected) reading of about 1.015, right where Beersmith predicted I should be.

I'll confirm with an actual hydro reading later in the week, the hopefully bottle this weekend.

 

[Biscuits]

I sampled it and it tastes good with a nice roastiness. It is hard to judge the sweetness until it carbed. I was just concerned since the target FG was 1.016 and my attentuation was only 57%. So ended up with a session stout at 4.2%.

Kind of strange you had such low attenuation, maybe keep an eye on your mash temps next time

BUT my last batch I used 1450 and it finished at 1.022 and I think it was my best version yet...this beer does well with some body.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Keep us posted. I think it’s still gonna be good. Just need to figure out how to improve the attenuation next time. I should have harvested some yeast for another batch. Some say the first gen doesn’t attenuate well. Guess I’ll build a huge starter next time.

Tried one (ok, two), this evening while watching the WS. Exactly two weeks in the bottle. My fears about it being over-carbed were for naught. Just right for the style as far as I'm concerned. It smells and tastes wonderful. Without a doubt the best tasting homebrew I've done yet. Well, I've only done four, but still, this is a great tasting beer!!

 

[schematix]

Every time i've made this i've had relatively low attenuation (62-68% AA)... but that's why this beer is good. if it were dry it would be too astringent and too roasty.

Look at the grain bill.... lots and lots of unfermentables there.

 

[Mothman]

I bottled my batch this past saturday.

Bottling went smoothly, taste sample was really nice. Excited to start popping these open in a couple weeks.

One thing I noticed was I'm not sure my FG actually finished quite as low as I initially thought.

I was still getting the same reading (within margin of error) as a few days previous, on my refractometer... which, when plugged into an online calculator to correct for the presence of alcohol, came in at 1.015-1.016, right where the recipe predicted.

However, an actual hydrometer FG reading was at 1.018 or so. Guessing the hydro reading is the more accurate reading here, as it's a direct reading.

In either case, close enough.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I bottled my batch this past saturday.

Bottling went smoothly, taste sample was really nice. Excited to start popping these open in a couple weeks.

One thing I noticed was I'm not sure my FG actually finished quite as low as I initially thought.

I was still getting the same reading (within margin of error) as a few days previous, on my refractometer... which, when plugged into an online calculator to correct for the presence of alcohol, came in at 1.015-1.016, right where the recipe predicted.

However, an actual hydrometer FG reading was at 1.018 or so. Guessing the hydro reading is the more accurate reading here, as it's a direct reading.

In either case, close enough.

Excellent!! Anxious to hear yours turned out. I'll be you're going to love it.

 

[Oldskewl]

Tried one (ok, two), this evening while watching the WS. Exactly two weeks in the bottle. My fears about it being over-carbed were for naught. Just right for the style as far as I'm concerned. It smells and tastes wonderful. Without a doubt the best tasting homebrew I've done yet. Well, I've only done four, but still, this is a great tasting beer!!

Congrats! Looks great. Mine will be in the Keg a week tomorrow. I'm going to give it a couple more days before I take a sample. I checked my thermometer and it’s on the money. So I guess next time I’m going to make a bigger starter of 1450 and see how the attenuation goes and maybe drop the mash temp a degree or 2.

 

[Mothman]

Two weeks in the bottle.

Needs another week or so to condition and fully carb but this is a really nice beer.

Mildly roasty, coffee, a little bit of sweetness, really creamy feel, super easy going down.

I gave mine my own name and label... Bowl Full Of Mush Oatmeal Stout with imagery from the Goodnight Moon kids book. Lol

Thanks, Yooper, for a kickass recipe. Quite possibly my best batch to-date.