Oatmeal Stout

[GeoffN]

New here and new to brewing. I have been looking around and finally decided that I would say something

Busy drinking a IPA Blackrock can with DME and 15 g Hallertau hops for aroma. That was the first brew. Tastes a lot better than I expected. Wife says I am drinking too much beer. But it tastes good.

I have another on the go. An expired can from a friend
Coopers Stout Best before date 11/09/11
200 g steeped oats
500 g Brigalow extra malt. (they said it is 1/2 dextrin 1/4 DME 1/4 maltodextrin)
Steeped both together in 1.7 l boiling water for 1 hour
Poured into the sanitised fermenter and then rinsed with boiling water twice.
made up to 16 l
OG 1.049 Don't have a hydromter used a salt refractometer and did some conversions so this number could be wrong. I'll know when it is done.

Pitched with kit yeast (21709) at about 28 degrees. (forgot to check temp before pitching)
Currently bubbling away under the house at about 20 degrees. Good krausen.

I used IanH's spreadsheet to give myself an idea of what I am doing. That is an excellent resource. I added in flaked oats into his grain sheet to use in the calculation. Calculated OG is 1.050

Please let me know what you think.

Geoff

 

[Rodolphe01]

Pretty sure oats need to be mashed, not sure what affect this will have on your beer though.

 

[GeoffN]

Pretty sure oats need to be mashed, not sure what affect this will have on your beer though.

I did this to improve mouth feel and hopefully add some sweetness. I read somewhere on this forum of someone doing oats for this reason. Without mashing the complex sugars are not converted to fermentables and should add body and mouthfeel to the beer. That is why I only used 200 gm. FG should be higher than predicted and ABV should be lower than typical for the style.

After I did it I started wondering if I had done the right thing.

 

[Braumoasta]

I've steeped rolled oats in one of my stouts. From memory I roasted them the oven for a while before steeping them. I couldn't really taste or notice any difference in the final beer, but they certainly didn't wreck the beer.

 

[GeoffN]

I've steeped rolled oats in one of my stouts. From memory I roasted them the oven for a while before steeping them. I couldn't really taste or notice any difference in the final beer, but they certainly didn't wreck the beer.

Thanks Braumoasta

 

[seemax]

Roast them until they go crunchy brown. Steep (ie mash) them with some ale malt and even some choc malt for 30mins or so at maybe 65C. Add in your normal way.

 

[wvbrewer]

That should make for a good brew. I am going to start a Coffee Stout here soon.

 

[GeoffN]

Airlock stopped bubling after about 5 days. Kept the fermenter at 18-20 degrees for 2 weeks almost. I checked the gravity. I have a refractometer not a hydrometer. FG calculates at 1.005. This is much lower than I expected. IanH's spreadsheet predicts 1.013. So I expect that that fermentation is complete. That is the same value 24 hours apart. I'll check again tonight and if it is still the same then I will bottle. I want to get an ale on as I will be running out of the first brew in another 2 to 3 weeks and need some drinking stock. Will be doing a Coopers real ale kit with LME and some fuggles.

When I tasted the first gravity sample it had distinct yeasty aroma and vegemite flavour. When I tasted the second one it was much nicer still a bit strong on the bitterness side but there was a slight sweetness with a bitter end. So not very dry which is what I was aiming for. From reading here I think it may end up aging into a drinkable beer.

I was hoping for a little more fruitiness but that is what you get when you use a standard kit yeast. I will soon invest in some better quality yeast but for now I want to get some more brews under my belt so that I get a handle on all the processes.

 

[pyrosx]

Airlock stopped bubling after about 5 days. Kept the fermenter at 18-20 degrees for 2 weeks almost. I checked the gravity. I have a refractometer not a hydrometer. FG calculates at 1.005. This is much lower than I expected. IanH's spreadsheet predicts 1.013. So I expect that that fermentation is complete. That is the same value 24 hours apart. I'll check again tonight and if it is still the same then I will bottle. I want to get an ale on as I will be running out of the first brew in another 2 to 3 weeks and need some drinking stock. Will be doing a Coopers real ale kit with LME and some fuggles.

When I tasted the first gravity sample it had distinct yeasty aroma and vegemite flavour. When I tasted the second one it was much nicer still a bit strong on the bitterness side but there was a slight sweetness with a bitter end. So not very dry which is what I was aiming for. From reading here I think it may end up aging into a drinkable beer.

I was hoping for a little more fruitiness but that is what you get when you use a standard kit yeast. I will soon invest in some better quality yeast but for now I want to get some more brews under my belt so that I get a handle on all the processes.

Give it a few more days. 5 days may be enough to get to FG, but another 5 days will improve flavour and clarity.

I use a refractometer as well - you have to be REALLY careful with temperature calibration. My method these days is to recalibrate it every time I use it, with "room temperature" water (from a large cup). Then, put some sample in your pipette, and swirl the bulb around in the cup of water for a few minutes - pretty much guarantees that the sample is then at the same temp as you've calibrated for.

 

[NewtownClown]

I was hoping for a little more fruitiness but that is what you get when you use a standard kit yeast. I will soon invest in some better quality yeast but for now I want to get some more brews under my belt so that I get a handle on all the processes.

G'day Geoff,
Long time lurker, first time poster.

Your recipe is very similar to my Breakfast Oat Stout. Even though I AG now, I always have one of these in a keg as my mates love it (as do I), I have lost count of how many of these I have brewed! The steeped oats do add to body and mouth feel (very "silky") and I believe aids in producing the big soft head that lasts till the end. The difference being I roast (toast?) the oats (250grams) first and add 200 grams of steeped JWM Chocolate.

You will find a big improvement in flavour (including fruity/flowery notes you seek) by using a re-cultured Cooper's yeast and brewed 18-19 C

 

[GeoffN]

Thank you NewtownClown

I'll keep your recipe in mind when I do this again. Do you also reduce the volume of the brew? I think the chocolate will be a good addition too.

I see I am going to have to upgrade yeasts. Doing some reading about that. I don't live anywhere too near a good HBS so I have to wait until I get to do some business in Melbourne and hope that I complete what I need to do before closing time.

Yes I can order online but I would like to talk to someone before I buy.

Reculturing is something I will read up about.

 

[freezkat]

this is what I did and it was/is great... just take the rye out

10/4/2011


2 LB 2-row barley malt (about 900g)
1 LB flaked Rye
1 LB Rye Malt
1 LB Oat Malt

mashing in the oven worked great. I heated up the water to 69C on the stove and the temp dropped to 65C when I threw the bag in. Even though my oven only goes down to 80C, with a tiny crack in the door the digital thermometer stayed at 65C for 65 minutes. I had the sparge water at 67C and it dropped back to 65C when I put the bag in after some squeezing. In the sparge water I used my potato masher again. I realized I couldn't squeeze all that by hand. I used another smaller bag and scooped in smaller manageable amounts (1 cereal bowl size).
I poured the 2 together after I was done sparging then cranked up the heat. I added the 3.75LB Cooper Stout can with 2.5 cups dex. When the temp got up to 100C I added:

1oz of Nugget pellet hops Boil 60min.
1oz of Williamette pellet hops boil 10min.

3tsp DAP yeast nutrient.

I used a pitcher to gently transfer the wort from the pot to the fermenter.

I topped it up with ice to 6 US Gallons.

OG 1.048 at 134F calculate 1.061 actual gravity

10/16/2011

1.011 @ 68F = 1.0119 actual

from og 1.061

that gets me a 6.45%abv

 

[GeoffN]

Can someone please comment on using Safale s-33 for making an Oatmeal stout with some residual sweetness.

Reading here and elsewhere it is a low attenuating yeast that will leave some unfermented sugar in the beer and so some sweetness.

I tried surching the forums and have not found much that will tell me about the taste profile of S-33.

This is from Fermentis "A very popular general purpose yeast, displaying both very robust conservation properties and consistent performance. This yeast produces superb flavour profiles and is used for the production of a varied range of top fermented special beers (Belgian type wheat beers, Trappist, etc.). Sedimentation: medium. Final gravity: high."

Superb flavour profiles does not tell me if it is fruity spicy or what. I am not familiar with Belgian type wheat beers or trappist.

I am a noob learning, thanks for all the comments so far.

 

[DUANNE]

if you want to do a stout with dry yeast thet will not fully attenuate out and leave some body and sweetness behind it would be hard to go past windsor imo.
otherwise there is a large selection of liqued yeast that will do the job my favourite being wyeast 1968.

 

[GeoffN]

This has been in the bottle since 1 jan.

I took one to mates place yesterday arvo and he was impressed with it. Good head retention slight sweetness at the start and good bitterness in the end. Good mouth feel. The bitterness will diminish slightly as it ages and I am sure that will give me what I was looking for in the begining.

I am happy with my experimental twocan. Or should I call it a half can?

 

[petesbrew]

if you want to do a stout with dry yeast thet will not fully attenuate out and leave some body and sweetness behind it would be hard to go past windsor imo.
otherwise there is a large selection of liqued yeast that will do the job my favourite being wyeast 1968.

+1 for the Windsor yeast in dark beers.

 

[jakethedog]

Wife says I am drinking too much beer.

I have been told that too. I told her that when her arse is smaller than my beer gut I will cut back a bit.