I just came in from the garage 5 minutes ago after doing some measurements and tastings and found this topic (choice). I just brewed a champion Oatmeal Stout on Sunday- hopefully it's a place getter like the last one. Here's a photo of my boy helping me:
I use rolled oats, but you can use quick oats also. I reckon those fruity porridge mixes would also be nice in some beers.
I used to use coffee in my oatmeal stouts, but it really only makes the stout more astringent so have dropped that ingredient. I like it thick as tar and blacker than black. I use wheat (10-15%), pale malt (60-65%) and oats+ roated malts. Mine is as follows:
View attachment Batch_38_recipe__Oatmeal_Stout.pdf
Oats don't add much to the flavour, but give a beautiful mouthfeel, kind of silky or creamy. Having said that, I toast about half of my oat bill because I think it contibutes a nuttiness that complements choc malt in a stout. I use a fair bit of wheat because it adds to that mouthfeel, and gives an awesome head.
Biggest problem is mashing and sparging. Oats make your grist set like concrete. Use a generous amount of rice hulls and be really patient. The first time I did this it took me about 6 hours to sparge (gravity only). My kit's a little different now but if I used the same kit I think I could sparge it in 90-120 minutes given the rice hulls and the expedrience (pump now, but only modest improvements on this particular beer). The stickness is caused by beta-glucans in the oats and wheat. Do a rest at about 50degrees to allow these to break-down a little bit (15-20 minutes), then bump up as high as possible to retain those complex dextrins (say 68ish, for 40-60 minutes).
In an oatmeal stout, you don't want much hop character or esters. I drop all finishing hops and only use a moderate amount to bitter (25-35 IBUs). I don't think plum belongs in an oatmeal stout- it should be about the roast, the creaminess and the alcohol. Pick a yeast that will be active but not throw up lots of esters at your brewing temperature, it doesn't have to be an attenuative beastie. For me that's a Wyeast Irish ale yeast, which I can keep at about 18 degrees fairly easily. Supposedly, the London Ale yeasts are pretty good (although I'm assuming you'd want to keep track on the temperature) and I've had some sucess with SAFAle.
Looking forward to winter.
jj.
