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Took a craving for an Oatmeal Stout so got to work on this. I'm hoping this will deliver rich lush silky sleek deliciousness.

I brewed something similar before but am confident this will be better. The last batch was brewed without crystal malts and I remember wishing I'd added some to the mash when I was drinking it. A friend and I both agreed "needs crystal". Can't get more crystal than dark crystal!

I also fermented with Harvey's of Sussex yeast last time. This time I'm fermenting with S05 with a high mash temp. Prob around the 74c mark as I also want this to be big and sweet.

The molasses and treacle are for extra richness and depth.

Brought my efficiency down to 75% so that I don't have to push loads of liquor through the mash and boil for hours on end. May even bring this down to 70%. Will see how I feel. It WILL begin at 1.061. I've promised myself that!

Hoping to brew tomorrow...

Oatmeal Stout

Size: 28.0 L @ 20 °C
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 78.0%

Original Gravity: 1.061 (1.048 - 1.065)
Terminal Gravity: 1.013 (1.010 - 1.018)
Color: 58.67 (22.0 - 40.0)
Alcohol: 6.25% (4.2% - 5.9%)
Bitterness: 40.2 (25.0 - 40.0)

Ingredients:
5.7 kg (72.3%) Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt - MM - added during mash
900 g (11.4%) Oats Flaked - added during mash
400 g (5.1%) Chocolate Malt - added during mash
230 g (2.9%) Roasted Barley - added during mash
250 g (3.2%) British Dark Crystal - added during mash
200 g (2.5%) Crystal Rye Malt - added during mash
100 g (1.3%) Torrified Wheat - added during mash
100 g (1.3%) Molasses - added during boil, boiled 20 m
50 g Black Treacle - added during boil, boiled 20 m
50 g (100.0%) Northern Brewer (9%) - added during boil, boiled 90 m
Yeast - S05

AMEN

Looks great, should have layers and layers of dark complexities. I love Northern Brewer hops for that kinda thing, too.

Happy brewing!

OK... mash is on. Managed to get 8kg of grist into my 25L mashtun. Mashed in with 16L. Result!

I mixed the mash with a drill using a paint stirrer. MISTAKE! It turned the oats into a thick gloop. I tried running off after around a min or 2 just to see what I was dealing with and it gooped out as thick as slick oil then stopped... Oh oh... The wort never flows after a few mins of mashing anyway so I'm hoping it will flow at the end of 90 mins. I'm expecting it to only give trouble at the start then as the sparge water starts coming through it'll loosen up. DId I say 'expecting'? I meant 'praying'!........

What a bitch of a brew this has been! That stuck mash was near impossible. I had to continuously stir mash to get it through the false bottom then even that failed. I transferred to my 10G mash tun and things looked OK. Then that stopped too. Had to stir/scrape at the false bottom to get the wort to run. This was passed through a fine sieve before entering the boiler. So much trub! I knew I just had to get the gummy thick first runnings out then things would start loosening up. Eventually, after 11 or so litres, I was able to stop stirring and scraping and the wort finally began to run. Man, those first runnings were THICK!

Had everything on target for 1.061 then drained the last runnings out of the mash tun. 4 litres came out. Gravity was around 1.025. I thought... f*ck it - I went through enough stress creating the wort, I'll boil the lot! So... this will be a pretty strong beer and I'm excited about that.

At 31L at the min. so still 3L to boil off. I'll get there. Expecting a BIG cold break during the chill. Will allow to sit for 45 mins before running into the fermenter. should all settle out and stay in the boiler.

Off the top of my head I think with that % of oats a Glucan rest (I think its called that) would have helped as it stops the oats becoming gloopy and porridge like.

O.G is 1.070 so I've re-categorised this beer as an Oatmeal Foreign Extra Stout. I like the sound of that!

The wort didn't clear going into the fermenter as I hoped. It was still very 'powdery' as if there was flour through it which to be honest is what it was. Oat flour!! I can see this taking a few months to settle out and clear. I'm hoping to be enjoying this in the new year but reckon it'll get better and better as time goes by.

Tastes in the trial jar is very promising. Deep and rich.

Although today was a stressful brew, I enjoyed the challenges it threw up.

Here's the beer as it sits now:

Oatmeal Foreign Extra Stout

Size: 28.0 L @ 20 °C
Efficiency: 83.0%
Attenuation: 80.0%

Original Gravity: 1.070 (1.056 - 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.018)
Color: 58.71 (30.0 - 40.0)
Alcohol: 7.38% (5.5% - 8.0%)
Bitterness: 51.4 (30.0 - 70.0)

Ingredients:
6.0 kg (73.3%) Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt - MM - added during mash
900.0 g (11.0%) Oats Flaked - added during mash
400.0 g (4.9%) Chocolate Malt - added during mash
230.0 g (2.8%) Roasted Barley - added during mash
250.0 g (3.1%) British Dark Crystal - added during mash
200.0 g (2.4%) Crystal Rye Malt - added during mash
100.0 g (1.2%) Torrified Wheat - added during mash
100.0 g (1.2%) Molasses - added during boil, boiled 30 m
50.0 g Black Treacle - added during boil, boiled 30 m
90.0 g (100.0%) Fuggle (6.4%) - added during boil, boiled 90 m
Yeast - S05.

HLA91 wrote:Off the top of my head I think with that % of oats a Glucan rest (I think its called that) would have helped as it stops the oats becoming gloopy and porridge like.

Cheers. Just reading up on this... You could be right! I can't raise and lower my mash temp though as I don't have that type of set up. From what I've read, it won't make much difference to the finished beer other than affect clarity which I don't mind really since it's a stout. A clearer beer is always welcomed though! Gelatine should help in a few weeks then maybe time will do the rest.

You don't need to raise and lower the temp, a glucan rest is just a mini mash of the oats with an addition of pale malt at a rate of 10% the weight of the oats. Mashed for 20 mins at 35-40c then you just add it all back into the start of your mash. Remember to either to put it on the stove to get it up to mash temp or use a higher strike temp to compensate. Hope that helps

It sure does. Cheers! Glad to hear that I can manage this then if i'd like to repeat the recipe. Don't want to go through that again...

Ok... So this brew is fermenting like crazy now. However, no krausen! Weird. Must have something to do with the oats.

Fearing this will end up with head retention problems now...

floydmeddler wrote:Fearing this will end up with head retention problems now...

It won't. You're gonna have crazy cool head retention and lace, trust me. It'll taste incredibly smooth and creamy too. You're in for a treat.

floydmeddler wrote:

HLA91 wrote:Off the top of my head I think with that % of oats a Glucan rest (I think its called that) would have helped as it stops the oats becoming gloopy and porridge like.

Cheers. Just reading up on this... You could be right! I can't raise and lower my mash temp though as I don't have that type of set up. From what I've read, it won't make much difference to the finished beer other than affect clarity which I don't mind really since it's a stout. A clearer beer is always welcomed though! Gelatine should help in a few weeks then maybe time will do the rest.

Rice hull or Oat husks are said to help with lowering the viscosity, I have the latter to try on just such a brew so will have some practical experience to base it on, might up the liquour ratio as well though .

Cheers lads.

Went away for the wknd and had a look at the fermenter. The krausen did appear in my absence. Luckily it didn't blow off though.

Took a reading. 1.016. Still VERY muddy as expected. Will leave in primary for around 2 weeks then rack into a jerrycan to clear. Will bottle from there a few weeks later.

Gravity is 1.014 and beer is racked. Will bottle in 2 or 3 weeks time I reckon. Then I have to keep my mitts off it until Feb!!!

Took a taste. Tasting very promising. However, it's only 5 1/2 weeks old so lots of conditioning still needed.

floydmeddler wrote:Gravity is 1.014 and beer is racked. Will bottle in 2 or 3 weeks time I reckon. Then I have to keep my mitts off it until Feb!!!

Took a taste. Tasting very promising. However, it's only 5 1/2 weeks old so lots of conditioning still needed.

Sounds good!

Would using malted Oats for part of the 11% reduce the stuck mashes?
Would they still contribute that silkiness of mouth feel that flaked oats give?

I ask as a local micro I know uses some and I maybe able to 'obtain' some...


Cheers!

Guy