Oatmeal Treacle Stout - advice needed

[Skittlebrau]

Hi all

Looking to brew a nice chewy stout to bottle and hopefully save most of until autumn. I've done Four Shades before and it was fantastic, so I've used it as a base and simply added oats and treacle. I've got some questions though -

1. Too much/too little oats/treacle?
2. To protofloc or not?
3. Mash temp okay? I've set it low as I want the yeast to attenuate to its maximum but is this lower than necessary?
4. Is the extract value for the oats right or should it be a bit higher/lower?

Anyway, here's what I've got so far

Oatmeal Treacle Stout
Sweet Stout

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 25.0
Total Grain (kg): 5.444
Total Hops (g): 70.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.050 (°P): 12.4
Final Gravity (FG): 1.012 (°P): 3.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.93 %
Colour (SRM): 36.0 (EBC): 70.8
Bitterness (IBU): 37.3 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 75
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
3.314 kg Maris Otter Malt (60.87%)
0.508 kg Flaked Barley (9.33%)
0.500 kg Toasted Porridge Oats (9.18%)
0.256 kg Amber Malt (4.7%)
0.256 kg Chocolate, Pale (4.7%)
0.205 kg Carafa Special III Malt (3.77%)
0.205 kg Roasted Barley (3.77%)
0.200 kg Black Treacle (3.67%)

Hop Bill
----------------
45.0 g East Kent Golding Leaf (6.45% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1.8 g/L)
25.0 g East Kent Golding Leaf (6.45% Alpha) @ 20 Minutes (Boil) (1 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
0.5 g Whirlfloc Tablet @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 63°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 18°C with WLP004 - Irish Ale


Recipe Generated with BrewMate

[seymour]

I think it looks delicious, but you'll definitely want to stir-in a pound or two of oat hulls to prevent a stuck mash and/or excruciatingly slow sparge. Another minor tweak to consider: you may not want nearly 4% roasted barley in addition to the treacle, both of which will contribute burnt/roasty notes. Maybe only 2% or so, and make up the difference with more Pale Chocolate which will contribute a more desireable complexity. Best of luck!

[Skittlebrau]

Cheers seymour, made the adjustment you suggested. Never used oat hulls/husks before - at what stage are these added? Stirred in at the end of the mash or at the beginning with everything else? If the latter, presumably they have no extract value or negative influence on the flavour of the beer.

[seymour]

Cheers seymour, made the adjustment you suggested. Never used oat hulls/husks before - at what stage are these added? Stirred in at the end of the mash or at the beginning with everything else?...

Simply stirred into the mash tun, with everything else, for the whole duration.

If the latter, presumably they have no extract value or negative influence on the flavour of the beer.

Exactly right. They're completely inert, just some tasteless organic matter to keep it from clumping-up.