Oatmeal Stout

[Frothy]

I've read that oats give a stout a good head and characteristic silky texture. Rolled oats are common but haven't had the heat treatment of flaked cereals so they need heat treating to gelatinize the starches before they can be added to the mash.

How can you treat the rolled oats? & I hear that instant porridge oats are ready gelatinized but I don't understand what they are - reddybrek or something like that?

cheers
Frothy
P.S. Could anyone lend a good Oatmeal Stout recipe?

[shiny beast]

I've always used cheap supermarket porridge oats and have never had any problems. I'm asuming they must be the correct type of oats.
As for head retention, oats contain oil which affects foam stability but gives the beer a nice creamy mouthfeel.
I'm working my way through a keg of oatmeal at the moment. o.g 70. Very nourishing indeed

[guildofevil]

Oats need to be gelatinized for the starches to become available for conversion, by the enzymes from the barley.

I gelatinize the oats by cooking them before I start brewing. Basically, I make a thin porridge with some of the strike water, then mix it with the rest, in the mash tun, adjust the strike temperature and dough in.

[tubby_shaw]

P.S. Could anyone lend a good Oatmeal Stout recipe?

Can't guarantee it's good
But from Wheelers BCEBAH
Sam Smiths Oatmeal stout
For 25 Litres, OG 1.048 4.7% abv, 30 IBU 135 EBC

4760gm pale malt
285gm chocolate malt
135gm black malt
335g flaked oats
Mash at 66C for 90 minutes

25gm Challenger hops
45 gm Fuggles
90 minute boil

[Garth]

Frothy, I have just done an oatmeal stout and after some advice I used flaked 'Jumbo Oats', they are bigger and don't mash up as easily leading to a stuck mash. this is the first time I have used them though so I wouldn't know if smaller ones cause any problems. You can get them in health food shops and Te*co.

ps just re-read the thread, it's the Wheeler recipe in Tubby's post, can't really say how good it is but I got good efficiency and it's fermenting away nicely for 10 days now. I used S-04

[onlooker]

I have used both plain rolled oats and pre gelatinsed "instant porridge" oats and have found no differnce between the two, both give a good oatmeal character and I have never had a stuck mash.

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Primary : Berhampore Best Bitter, OSB Ordinary Bitter, Chilka IPA
Conditioning : Berhampore Best, OSB, Brooklyn ESB
On the Handpump : Berhampore Best
On the CO2 Serve: zilch
Bottle aging: Merchant Of The Devil Imperial Stout
Up Next: Berhampore Best, OSB, Alfreds XXXX Stock Ale

[johnmac]

I roasted my oats at 150 deg for 45 mins. I found the Sam Smiths Oatmeal Stout pleasant enough, not as good as GW Beamish though. Poor head retention, as expected.

[mysterio]

Whenever I've used oats, it's killed the head. They do give the beer a nice taste though.

[onlooker]

My Oatmeal Stouts always hold a massive head, I tend to mash them pretty high tho.

[Frothy]

Hi there onlooker. How's the summer? 4" of snow here

So Good head vs Bad Head I guess I'll have to give it a go. I've had a look at some of the "instant" porrige cereals and they just seem to be rolled oats + oat flour and most seem to cook in the same way as regular porridge so I'm a bit confused really.
Will try making a porridge and cooling it to ~ 65oc so that there's no temp issues with adding it to the mash.

Frothy

[onlooker]

Hi there onlooker. How's the summer? 4" of snow here

Im very jelous, Im a winter kind of guy. Early summer was great, nice and cold everyone but me moaning, the beer fermented and conditioned in perfect conditions, but things have heated up in the last month. Im starting to see odd off flavours developing in my kegs while they condition due to them getting to warm. I have a cellar fridge which sits at 13c but there is only room for which every corny Im serving , the rest have to chance it in the walk in pantry where things get significantly warmer.