Oats In A Witbier

[King Brown]

So I was looking to make a witbier as my next brew, my first all extract brew. I downloaded beer smith and worked it out so everything was in the proper range for the style (except for the colour, but I doubt I'll manage to get it pale enough without doing it AG)

I was thinking of putting about 5% raw oats in the bill, was just wondering how exactly to use oats in an extract brew? Do I steep them as I would a specialty grain, or throw them in the boil?

 

[lokpikn]

So I was looking to make a witbier as my next brew, my first all extract brew. I downloaded beer smith and worked it out so everything was in the proper range for the style (except for the colour, but I doubt I'll manage to get it pale enough without doing it AG)

I was thinking of putting about 5% raw oats in the bill, was just wondering how exactly to use oats in an extract brew? Do I steep them as I would a specialty grain, or throw them in the boil?

As far as i can under stand you cant just use raw oats as you need some enzymes to convert the starch in the oats to sugar. So you would have to do i mini mash with some wheat malt (for a wit) or any modified base malt to help the enzymes in that to work on the starch in the oats. So you need to do i mini mash.

 

[GMK]

Generally that is correct.

But i have just thrown them in the boil before with no mashing.

Will give extra body as the protiens/starches are not converted to sugars for the yeast to use.
This does work well.
Also, can add a tablespoon of Spelt flour at the end of the boil - this will keep the beer cloudy as in a wit.

Hope this helps.

 

[King Brown]

Generally that is correct.

But i have just thrown them in the boil before with no mashing.

Will give extra body as the protiens/starches are not converted to sugars for the yeast to use.
This does work well.
Also, can add a tablespoon of Spelt flour at the end of the boil - this will keep the beer cloudy as in a wit.

Hope this helps.

It does. I don't really need any more fermentable sugars, was just after some extra protein haze and of course flavour from the oats. I may look into mini mashing though, perhaps try this batch just throwing the oats in the boil and the next one do a mini mash and compare the difference in the finished product. Thanks for the replies :beer: