Oat's??

[beer gut]

Hi i have a quick question about wich oat's to use in a oatmeal stoot? I have seen some Flaked oat's at the Home brew shop but the thing that confused me it said un malted what does this mean? plus how will this effect the finished brew? in the past i have used rolled oat's from porrage but i have been told not to use porrage because there have not been prepared for brewing and that is why you put the porrage oat's through the oven before mashing them.It's all a bit confusing for me.

[jimp2003]

I use poridge oats but toast them in the oven first to give the beer a lovely cookie flavour in the background. I have always thought that the process of rolling the oats has gelatinised them so they can just be added to the mash....

[beer gut]

I wondered why you had to put the oat's through the oven before adding to the mash and now i know Thanx

[Wolfy]

While both Flaked and Rolled Oats are unmalted grains, the heat and pressure of the manufacturing (rolling/flaking) process means that the starch has been gelatinized, so either work fine (and you don't need to boil them for ages, like you would for something like rice).

Part of the reason you add them is because they are unmalted (not prepared for brewing) thats what helps impart the mouthfeel and creamyness.

As explained in How To Brew here, 'Instant' or 'Porrage' Oats are totally fine to use, however the old-fashioned-type-whole oats are not manufactured with heat/pressure (which is why they need to be cooked much longer when making porrage) so you'd need to cook them up before adding them, the cooking process (to make them all soft and mushy just like porrage) is what gelatinizes the starches and makes them available for conversion in your mash. Just putting them in the oven would toast them, which makes it taste nicer in the beer.

If you do want to use unmalted grains such as (old fashioned-type) whole oats or rice, it's simply a matter of cooking them up with lots of water (which is usual to make porrage) to ensure that they are soft, squishy and all mushed up before adding them to your mash.

[simco999]

I use poridge oats but toast them in the oven first to give the beer a lovely cookie flavour in the background. I have always thought that the process of rolling the oats has gelatinised them so they can just be added to the mash....

You glorious bastard - I'm nicking that!!

[beer gut]

Thanx for clearing that up for me it will be very helpfull when i come to brewing my Tripple oat stout in september and i will buy some instant porrage oat's for the stout.