oat malt

[DaveyT]

Brilliant! Have decided to split the brew over two days. I'll mash the oats one night and monitor progress with iodine. If it goes pear-shaped, I'll replace it with CaraPils the following night. The rest of the evening will be the same with or without the previous night's results.
I'll let you know how it goes. In fact, I'll try and get some pics up, but I've said that before and not managed it.

The banana wine is cooling as we speak. I boiled it last night and have re-heating it to kill any beasties as I had to leave it in the kitchen all day. I added a few extras as I got a bit carried away. Bit embarrassing, really... Started steeping some crystal and black malts, then put some molasses in and a bit of ginger. Hoping it'll be a bit chewy. Hmm... let's see.

Thanks chaps.
David

[6470zzy]

Look forward to hearing about both the Oats and the Bananas What yeast did you use for the wine? I prefer d-47 myself for the added mouth feel.

Cheers

[DaveyT]

Thanks! Not sure which yeast it is, tbh. It's only the second time I've usted it. Young's, for what that's worth. I'm not at home atm so I can't check it. I'll keep you posted. I'm sure I'll have queries regarding clearing.
The oat malt should get the go-ahead in the next few days. There's a phenomenon in the Canaries called calima when the Saharan winds come over bringing heat and dust. As it's over 30C I think a saison will be the yeast of choice!

[DaveyT]

Finally got this started last night and it's looking both good and bad. The good news is that the oat malt converted nicely. I raised 5l of water in a pan to 67 C in 15 min then held it by turning the hob on and off. I took an iodine test at 7.15pm (after an hour) but nothing had happened. I then had to get the kids bathed and to bed so didn't get to check it for an hour. I had only lost 4 C in that time and the iodine test came out positive. Rock n roll!
The bad news... Ages ago I bought what I thought was crystal wheat malt but turned out to be roast barley (mis-labelled and everything). That also went in so now I have a black-ish brew. I wasn't expecting this. On the plus side, when this last happened, I was pleasantly surprised with the result. This is going to be a Saison, by the way.
So, my options are:
- keep the 8% roast barley as it is, add a touch of coriander and brew on
- add other grains to make it an even darker saison.
Anybody have any ideas as to how I can add to this to make it better? Or shall I just cut my losses and brew it with only 8%?
I guess I could starts again, but then last night's mash would've been for nothing.

[DaveyT]

Finally got this started last night and it's looking both good and bad. The good news is that the oat malt converted nicely. I raised 5l of water in a pan to 67 C in 15 min then held it by turning the hob on and off. I took an iodine test at 7.15pm (after an hour) but nothing had happened. I then had to get the kids bathed and to bed so didn't get to check it for an hour. I had only lost 4 C in that time and the iodine test came out positive. Rock n roll!
The bad news... Ages ago I bought what I thought was crystal wheat malt but turned out to be roast barley (mis-labelled and everything). That also went in so now I have a black-ish brew. I wasn't expecting this. On the plus side, when this last happened, I was pleasantly surprised with the result. This is going to be a Saison, by the way.
So, my options are:
- keep the 8% roast barley as it is, add a touch of coriander and brew on
- add other grains to make it an even darker saison.
Anybody have any ideas as to how I can add to this to make it better? Or shall I just cut my losses and brew it with only 8%?
I guess I could starts again, but then last night's mash would've been for nothing.

[DaveyT]

I've brewed but had to leave it to attend to the kids. Another quandry has arisen. My usual method is to split the brew three ways into three FVs. My original plan was to do two blond saisons and one dark. As the main batch is dark, I thought of upping the ante on the third dark brew so that I could experiment with a proper dark saison while the other two would be slightly 'miscoloured' and a it toasty.
I looked at the Mad Fermentationist and looked at his grain bills for dark saisons. I tried to match his with what I had and decided to add some chocolate malt, black malt, more roast barley and soem CaraMunch. I usually boil this in a separate pan and add it to the third FV. The thing is, I also usually calculate it with my software as the main batch (14l) then divide it by three to fit the single 4.65l FV. For example, 210g in 14l becomes 70g for the single FV.
This time I forgot so I have a pan with the runnings of grains fit for a larger brew. They taste really nice; very chocolatey and rich. I'm thinking of chucking the lot into all three FVs and rethinking my experiment. One as is, one with mandarin marmalade and one with lemon.
Still to mix and pitch will won't ne for another hour.

[6470zzy]

I imagine that you have continued your brew by this time, which way did you go? I would have voted for "brew on"

I too had a similar adventure recently , the crystal wheat that I steeped tasted absolutely horrific, I tossed the lot and started over without the wheat.

Cheers

[DaveyT]

That's tragic, mate; the whole lot? Sorry to hear it.
I'm still away from the action. Thinking of keeping one FV with what's in the boiler and adding the extra to the other two. I've just realised I haven't boiled it. Not sure if I should bother. At least one litre is sterile. I I want to extract more I might have to rethink or just gamble. It's getting late and I'm actually across town right now. Bloody brilliant.

[DaveyT]

Done. Let's have a look at those stats:

Main batch 14l
OG 1.038
DME 700g
WME 400g
Golden syrup 200g
Oat malt 100g
Roast barley 120g

Hops:
Flyer 10g 60min
Progress 25g 5min (user upper)
N Sauvin 5g 5min (user upper)
Flyer 10g 5min
IBU 25

This is what's in FV1. In FV 2 and 3 we also have:
OG 1.040
Roast barley 15g
Black malt 15g
Chocolate malt 35g
CaraMunch 80g

I'll have them in water for a few days then onto the floor then maybe to the balcony. Ambient temp in my flat is 28C atm, hence the yeast. Would've gone for Windsor otherwise.
Hope this works!

[6470zzy]

How did you make out with your brews?

Cheers

[DaveyT]

Thanks for the nudge. Sorry for the delay - bottled these last weekend then hit the first week of school and now hitting the first week of illnesses!

Everything got sown to 1.004.
They seem very promising. I racked FV 1 onto mulberries and liquorice after 9 days for a further 9 days. The primary FV smelt amazing, complex but fresh. By the end, it tasted vinous and fruity with the liquourice being nicely in the background.
FV 2 was very dark chocolatey and I'm really positive about this one. I think it's the most promising.
FV 3 had some mandarin marmalade added but tasted a bit odd when bottled. I'll try it in a couple of weeks and endeavour to elaborate on this. It made my hair stand on end and seemed to have 'hot' flavours. Perhaps this one is the least promising!

I didn't take the OGs as I still getting use to portioning the stuff out and I didn't top the FV up all the way to allow space for the yeast. That's a thing to change next time.

I'm not sure on the success of the oat malt. I'd forgotten about that when I bottled. Seems like a cracker atm, though.

[6470zzy]

Good to hear the news of the brews. I just tasted an IPA that I made with marmalade in it and it has a touch of a vinous character to it. Thats all right though because I love to experiment.

Cheers