AG#4, Effin Oatmeal Stout aka Nappi Stout - pics added

This is a slightly tweaked Aleman concoction. The mash is on and life is good.

for 23 liters:

pale ale 4200
roasted barley 270
flaked oats 250
toasted flaked oats 750
crystal (120) 330
brown 330
chocolate 190

Bramling Cross 6.25%, 20g as first wort hops then 50g for 90 mins

WL002 English Ale yeast

A glucan rest for the flaked adjuncts + 200g pale, 30 mins at 40C, then brought to 66C and added to the main mash. More to come with pics!

I decided to give this one the name Nappi Stout as well to honor the memory of Juha "Nappi" Nabb who played bass for pioneering Finnish hardcore punk bands such as Kaaos, Riistetyt and Kuolleet Kukat. Nappi passed on after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage in late January, totally unexpectedly and all too soon... He was a very nice and friendly person and will be sorely missed. 25.07.1965 - 31.01.2011 R.I.P.

Good luck with the brew :thumb: Don't forget to take pics

Cheers. All done but photobucket seems to be awfully slow at the moment so pics will have to wait...

How did it go? I alwys get a stuick sparge with this brew I put it down to the oats. I was going to sugest a bottle swap but finlands a bit far :). :) I look forward to the photo's.

Cheers

AG

No big disasters, no forgotten hop strainers and no stuck sparges whatsoever! I'm all for a swap if there's a way to do it Checked photobucket again and they seem to be hopeless tonight...

Better hair day for PB, so here goes...

The brewday took me just six and a half hours this time, so at least I'm getting a bit quicker as I'm getting more familiar with my gear. And this was the first thing I did:

the b**tard hop strainer fitted before anything else


Decided to my mash in a slightly revised way. I batch sparge and instead of adding half of the total boil volume (+ making up for the losses), I mashed in with the 2.5 liters of water per kilo of grain ratio, then added the first batch of sparge water after 90 minutes, stirred, lautered, drained - then repeated the procedure with half the volume of boil liquor. Added a about 1/8 of a teaspoonful each of gypsum and chalk in the mash along with half a campden tab.

the mash sans flaked barley + oats


i like my new electric thermometer - getting there temp wise...


Did a glucan rest for the flaked adjuncts. Put the lot in a pot with 200g of pale ale malt and 3,5L water, heated it up to 40C, left for half an hour, then heated it up to about 68C and added to the main mash. Some hot water was needed for temp correction after this. No problemo sparging.

good ole sludge


recirculating


hops


I thought I'd try first wort hopping, so as I was draining my first I threw 20g of the hops in the bucket. Mmm, nice smell.

green and pleasant things


After the second sparge I ended up with 31 liters of wort as intended. (Did a slight miscalculation with the first batch and got more than I bargained for but adjusted my 2nd sparge accordingly and lived to tell the tale.) The BG was 1.042. As my boil losses were quite excessive last time, I now boiled with the lid partially on for all but the last 15 minutes. The evaporation stayed in check a bit better but it seems like it's kinda hard to control the boil. I tweaked on the thermostat knob but the boil was either full-on or non-existent. My apartment wasn't as tropical as when I was brewing my brown ale, though. A secret weapon was still needed for the walls and the ceiling.

a necessary brewing utensil


50g of Bramling Cross take a dip


Had a moment of inevitable panic not really having a clue how to use the rest of my brewing salts, so I ended up throwing them all into the boil. Might have been more useful in the mash, but so it goes... At least the wort didn't taste ruined. Got smack dab 23 liters after 90 minutes so my loss calculations were holding up better. OG 1.050 and I'm satisfied with that too.

black gold


Since this brewday came at a short notice, I had made a 1,5L starter with one of my bottles of split WL English Ale yeast on Wednesday. I just chucked it all in. Smells terrific. The airlock started gurgling after a couple of hours, great!

the worker


I'd have a question to people with experience using WLP002. It is quite flocculant and the manufacturer recommends shaking or stirring the vessel a couple of times a day to keep the yeast in suspension. Would this be enough or should I be rousing it occasionally until it's finished? Wouldn't like to risk infection doing this but I guess I could get away with it paying attention to proper sanitation...

Two darker beers in a row now, it's time for a bitter or pale ale next!

Great post - looks amazing, my oatmeal stout is a week in the FV - can`t wait :drink:

not sure about heating up a plastic bottle on an electric hob :shock: :shock: :?

robsan77 said:

not sure about heating up a plastic bottle on an electric hob :shock: :shock: :?

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Ah, he's just trying to give the impression of being well 'ard!

Great work GP!
Great pics too! That's a great colour, were you getting a dark condensation on the walls?

Mine has been in the bottle two weeks now and at 5% it really should do another couple of weeks. I'm not particularly happy with it to be honest - too much licorice and coffee going on, not balanced. But, I should know better than to judge too early. I'll leave it and have another tasting in a couple of weeks!

Tony said:

Great work GP!were you getting a dark condensation on the walls?

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Yes, a bit of that... But this time I was prepared with my weapon of mass destruction and started battling the condensation from the very start!

Tony said:

Mine has been in the bottle two weeks now and at 5% it really should do another couple of weeks. I'm not particularly happy with it to be honest - too much licorice and coffee going on, not balanced. But, I should know better than to judge too early. I'll leave it and have another tasting in a couple of weeks!

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I'm not really sure what to expect myself... This is my first ever stout and I don't really know how much burt/coffee/licorice notes that combo of dark and roasted grains will give and how much the oats mellow it out. I'm pretty damn sure that it will be drinkable and what's a man to do if the results don't completely please his palate? Make another one!

Did you stir the wort daily to get that English Ale yeast back in suspension, Tony?

gurtpint said:

Did you stir the wort daily to get that English Ale yeast back in suspension, Tony?

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No, didn't bother GP .. just left it to it I'm a big believer in keeping well away and not giving any nasties the opportunity to squat. I know that (some) brewery yeast quite often needs a bit of rousing, but the stuff we're used to using is, by and large, quite capable of getting of it's own backside

Tony said:

gurtpint said:

Did you stir the wort daily to get that English Ale yeast back in suspension, Tony?

Click to expand...

No, didn't bother GP .. just left it to it I'm a big believer in keeping well away and not giving any nasties the opportunity to squat. I know that (some) brewery yeast quite often needs a bit of rousing, but the stuff we're used to using is, by and large, quite capable of getting of it's own backside

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Right. I have stirred mine a couple of times but I think I'll leave it at that. Made sure that my paddle was well sanitized and avoided splashing of course. Checked out the gravity when I did that for the last time and it was down to 1.020 so the yeast seems to be on a roll. Tasted good already - I think it will be a tough call to let this one mature for a month or so...

Great pics dude, and a really nice brewday account. If yours is anything like my OS it'll be hard to leave it for a month! :

f



(the missing f from the post above, damn wireless keyboard)

Great Pictures Gurt. I'm bottling my effin OS this morning so in about 3 weeks I will be drinking it again. : :

^ : Hope yours will be a joy to quaff!

Bottled 108 bottles yesterday looks smells and tastes rather good. I'm going to leave it for a month before I taste it but I am certain it will be a good one, it smelt divine.

: :