Oats confusion.

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LeeH
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Oats confusion.

Post by LeeH » Thu Oct 04, 2018 12:56 pm

If I'm correct adding a few percentage of oats can aid head retention with little to no impact on flavour, and I have made a decent oatmeal stout a 2-3 years back.

So, I'm looking to stock up but I'm fully confused with the choice and Im looking at making my first 'NEIPA'
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/ ... ipa-neipa-

I remember being told i had to make a 'porridge' out of them before adding them to the mash too.]

Can somebody clear up what oats I need and how to use them.

:?

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gr_baker
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Re: Oats confusion.

Post by gr_baker » Thu Oct 04, 2018 1:06 pm

As long as you have plenty of pale malt in the recipe too, you can use porridge oats that you buy from the supermarket. Just make sure that they're not the instant porridge sort with built in flavours. I tend to use the jumbo oats just because they help with allowing the wort through during the recirculation in my Grainfather but you can use the cheap oats that are 75p a kilo or so.

Oh and you don't need to do anything special with the oats, just mix them in with the malt in the mash.

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Re: Oats confusion.

Post by LeeH » Thu Oct 04, 2018 1:52 pm

Thanks.

Do you know the difference in the ones above though?

And why did I make a mini mash the last time.....I wonder. #-o
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gr_baker
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Re: Oats confusion.

Post by gr_baker » Thu Oct 04, 2018 2:09 pm

Well they're all malted which you don't need unless you don't have enough pale malt to achieve conversation.

The difference between 1 and 2 is that one is flaked and one is torrified. They are two different processes that release the starch from a grain kernel. Flaked uses steam and high pressure rollers. Torrified uses high heat like popcorn. You can use them in the same way in the mash. There may be a slight flavour or extraction efficiency difference.

2 and 3 are exactly the same.

As for why you did a mini mash, I can't say. I presume this is an all grain brew?

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Re: Oats confusion.

Post by Eric » Thu Oct 04, 2018 2:36 pm

gr_baker wrote:
Thu Oct 04, 2018 2:09 pm

As for why you did a mini mash, I can't say. I presume this is an all grain brew?
Could be because it was American, where most present day brewers are advised to brew ales as one does lager? It was somewhat similar in Britain before Dave Line, when winemakers wrote books to teach us how to make beer.

See page 253, Mashing : cereal cooker.

I think it is why they, well nearly all, also advise keeping calcium levels low and a number of other differences to traditional ale brewing in Britain and Ireland.
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Re: Oats confusion.

Post by Kingfisher4 » Thu Oct 04, 2018 4:27 pm

Eric,
Just wanted to thank you again for your words of wisdom, you and several other “senior” (in the most respectful sense) forum members have made my learning curve this year so much easier and more interesting.

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Re: Oats confusion.

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LeeH
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Oats confusion.

Post by LeeH » Thu Oct 04, 2018 7:54 pm

Awesome information, thanks for taking the time out to answer in detail.


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Kev888
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Re: Oats confusion.

Post by Kev888 » Thu Oct 04, 2018 10:47 pm

Probably there are subtleties, but about the only real distinction I've ever made with oats is whether they're gelatinised or not. As far as I can see, all of those in the OP are, so IMO they can therefore just go in the main mash of a grain brew. Unless perhaps you have worries about clogging with the run-off or sparging - they can be a bit sticky in large percentages.

Those in the OP all claim to be malted and flaked. I don't know of sufficient reason to pay double for the non-torrified version (though this doesn't necessarily mean there isn't one) and the other two torrified ones sound the same.
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Re: Oats confusion.

Post by Robwalkeragain » Fri Oct 05, 2018 10:36 am

You only need to gelatinise chunky steel cut oats and the like - maybe even not then - flaked rolled malted etc are all good to go. Gelatinizing is a bit of a myth imo and really comes from cereal cooking where big German breweries will buy in raw unprocessed product by the tonne. Golden Naked Oats are huskless crystal oats as well, which add a nice subtle grainy flavour.
Not sure about head retention properties as they're quite oily, but certainly you'll get a smooth mouth feel using them. I always feel there's something rejuvenating for the soul and hearty in adding oats to the beer. In the right beer of course, don't use them in everything as is the trend at the moment.

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Re: Oats confusion.

Post by Kev888 » Fri Oct 05, 2018 11:05 am

It may perhaps also depend on the quantities involved. A few oats (for a bit of mouth feel or similar) aren't likely to be here nor there, whereas large percentages (such as in a very oatmeal stout) might be more significant. In that case, they can certainly gum things up if their sugars show reluctance to get dissolved/diluted easily.
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Re: Oats confusion.

Post by gr_baker » Fri Oct 05, 2018 11:35 am

Actually I tried making a beer entirely out of malted oats and golden naked oats. It set into a horrible mess and some of the liquid burned onto the bottom of the Grainfather. It all ended up in the bin.

On the other hand 10% of jumbo oats in a porter works really well.

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Re: Oats confusion.

Post by RobP » Fri Oct 05, 2018 5:33 pm

I made Koyte once, which has 50% malted oats. Worked fine, though I did do a Beta Glucan rest (amongst others).
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