Oatmeal Stout Mini Mash

Martyn1989

Im very intrigued by oatmeal stouts and as they are few and far between in offos and pubs so Im going to brew one! I tried the Broughtons Oatmeal Stout a good while ago and cant remember much about it.

Apperently Ill need to mash the oatmeal, Ive done many extract brews now at this stage but this will be my first mash, any tips on how I should go about this.

I have an electrim mashing bin at my disposal

Thanks

rubadub

I think I read before about how oat whiskey is not made, or rarely made because it is a very sticky mess of a wash/brew to deal with, and it burnt onto the area of the still being heated.

You might have a tough time cleaning the element.

Could have been some other grain though.

oblivious

Hi Martyn1989 you need to add equally amounts of pale malt or lager malt, this will provide the enzymes need to convert the starch

Here is a very usualy and easly way tio do in you your oven , those electrun mashing bin are really for boiling

http://www.byo.com/stories/techniques/article/indices/48-partial-mashing/198-beer-the-partial-mash-way

Martyn1989

oblivious wrote: »

Hi Martyn1989 you need to add equally amounts of pale malt or lager malt, this will provide the enzymes need to convert the starch

Here is a very usualy and easly way tio do in you your oven , those electrun mashing bin are really for boiling

http://www.byo.com/stories/techniques/article/indices/48-partial-mashing/198-beer-the-partial-mash-way

Thanks for the reply
Yeh I bought the Mash Bin as a boiler, but thought I might get some use out it for 'boil in the bag' mini mashes until I deicide to buy/make a dedicated mash tun (around december if all goes to plan), Ive had great results from my extract brews and want to move on to mini mashes.

I have a large stainless steel brewpot (12L or so) I can use to mash in the oven.

So if I base my recipe on an Irish stout recipe (loosely), and match the pale malt measurements with flaked oatmeal, I should be ok?

Thanks

Martyn1989

The recipe Im basing my stout on calls for 6-row pale malted barley, our homebrew suppliers dont seem to carry anything under that name though, what should I use thanks.

Martyn1989

It also calls for dark malt extract? Would I be better off using maybe an amber malt extract too get more from my oats and grains Ill be mashing? Thanks

oblivious

Martyn1989 wrote: »

The recipe Im basing my stout on calls for 6-row pale malted barley, our homebrew suppliers dont seem to carry anything under that name though, what should I use thanks.

Your recipe is probably from an america site, standard pale ale malt or lager malt will do fine

Martyn1989 wrote: »

It also calls for dark malt extract? Would I be better off using maybe an amber malt extract too get more from my oats and grains Ill be mashing? Thanks

i would not use either, use a pale extract and a 250-350g of black, chocolate malt or roasted barley to the mini mash. This will provide the color but much better flavor

Martyn1989

oblivious wrote: »

Your recipe is probably from an america site, standard pale ale malt or lager malt will do fine




i would not use either, use a pale extract and a 250-350g of black, chocolate malt or roasted barley to the mini mash. This will provide the color but much better flavor

Thanks oblivious, I was wary of using Marris Otter as I heard it was a less forgiving grain to mash

My recipe, not yet finalised has been lifted from the Complete Joy of Homebrewing

450g rolled oats
1.8kg Marris Otter
225g crystal malt 145ebc
225g pale chocolate malt
110g roasted barley
1.5kg light DME
16g Willamette hops 60 min boil
56g Cascade hop pellets (dry hopping)

Theres a bit of gypsum and irish moss going in there too

White labs Irish ale yeast

Im looking forward to getting this done, should be good

Thanks again

oblivious

Look like a nice recipe Martyn1989 ,so be a good brew. Just one word of advice, it would drop the gypsum, as you may easily add to much especially if you don't know your water profile. Furthermore as your are using extract this will already had mineral added when they did there mash. Also I Irish water is generally good for mashing stout and porter without any mineral additions


All the best

Martyn1989

oblivious wrote: »

Look like a nice recipe Martyn1989 ,so be a good brew. Just one word of advice, it would drop the gypsum, as you may easily add to much especially if you don't know your water profile. Furthermore as your are using extract this will already had mineral added when they did there mash. Also I Irish water is generally good for mashing stout and porter without any mineral additions


All the best

Yeh I wasnt sure, Ill drop it, thanks!

rubadub

One other thing to watch in books and online is for US gallons, which are only 3.78L while imperial gallons here are 4.54L. Many will know this but even still you might overlook it.

Martyn1989

Brewed this today, all went well (just about).
My mash temps went from a little hot to a little cold with all the fumbling about, would I be right in saying a hotter mash creates more sugars and a higher abv, and a cooler mash creates less sugars but a beer with greater body?
My target OG was 1.052, I came out at 1.049 but that was at 30C, I didnt get to take a cooler reading as there was a little spill, but by my calculation that would put my OG in around 1.051?
The finished wort was tasting absolutely delicious, by far the tastiest wort Ive had so far, lovely aroma from the oats aswell, I hope that dosnt ferment out too much!!!
Thanks for the advice lads, I think this one is going to turn out really good!!!

mayto

Well done on the brew, looks like a nice recipe. A high mash temperature of about 69C will give the beer more body and a higher final gravity. A lower mash temp of about 65C will make the beer more fermentable and will get a lower final gravity= higher alcohol content. If mashing low at 65C you might extend mash time to 90 min from one hour to be sure of full conversion. 67C is a common mash temp for most recipes in between the two. No doubt you will be doing full mash brews soon

Martyn1989

mayto wrote: »

Well done on the brew, looks like a nice recipe. A high mash temperature of about 69C will give the beer more body and a higher final gravity. A lower mash temp of about 65C will make the beer more fermentable and will get a lower final gravity= higher alcohol content. If mashing low at 65C you might extend mash time to 90 min from one hour to be sure of full conversion. 67C is a common mash temp for most recipes in between the two. No doubt you will be doing full mash brews soon

Ah I thought it was the other way around :rolleyes: I mashed at about 63 for 30mins and 68 for 45 mins, as per the recipe in the complete joy.

Im going to get a few more partial mashes under my belt, and then once I sort out a mashtun, Ill defo be doing full mash brews, (Cant wait!) :cool:

Martyn1989

I'm getting alot of sediment at the bottom (about an inch/inch and a half), even in the secoundry fermentation, is this normal in a partial mash brew? should i transfer it a thrid, even a fourth time as I do want to leave this 3-4 weeks before bottling?
Thanks

The Homebrew Company

The sediment is fine. I would generally leave most my all grain beers for two weeks in primary and then put into secondary for one week. I find I even get sediment straight away after transfer from the boiler as some of the trub can get through my hop strainer. It has never did any harm.

Martyn1989

The Homebrew Company wrote: »

The sediment is fine. I would generally leave most my all grain beers for two weeks in primary and then put into secondary for one week. I find I even get sediment straight away after transfer from the boiler as some of the trub can get through my hop strainer. It has never did any harm.

Yeh, Im presuming the large amount of sediment is mainly grist that got through my nylon straining bag? I was just surprised by the amount of it

Martyn1989

Ok quick question, this has been in the secoundary fermenter for a week and a half, after a week of primary. Its down to an FG of 1.019, giving a healthy approx abv of 4.3%, but theres still activity, target FG is within the range of 1.018 to 1.010.

The recipe states it should be kept in the fermenter for 3-4 weeks to mature, however Im not sure whether to keep it in my kitchen at its constant 20C or maybe move it down to my shed, the weathers going a little cold now, which could do it some good

thanks

Martyn1989

Update for anyone interested, this has been bottled with a final gravity of 1.015, please god it'll turn out well as it has a sharp taste at the moment which seems to be mellowing out. fingers crossed anyway.

I broke every rule and went in and bottled 1 bottle about 2 weeks ago (I didn't have time to do it all) and here it is poured, needs alot of time to mature though.

mayto

Looks like a nice pint Martin, all-grain awaits now . I did an oatmeal stout a few years ago, could have been an extract attempt which I think turned out nice.