11/11/12 Effin' Oatmeal Stout

[Belter]

Thought I'd have a go at Aleman's Effin' Oatmeal Stout. It was the first time brewing without my 'Brew Brother' so I was a bit apprehensive about it.

I scaled Alemans recipe down to 25L but messed around with it a little. I always do a 25L batch for a 23L brew as I'm BIAB and it works better with efficiencies.

I went for 34L as we've pretty much worked out that that is what we need but we're still experimenting (I'm not schizophrenic, I usually brew with my brother Matt12398)

Recipe

Effin' Oatmeal Stout
Oatmeal Stout
Type: All Grain Date: 11/11/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 25.00 l Brewer: Belter
Boil Size: 34 l Asst Brewer: The Voices in my head
Boil Time: 90 min Equipment: Electric Urn (10 Gal/40 L) - BIAB


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4.75 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 71.3 %
0.70 kg Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC) Grain 2 10.5 %
0.33 kg Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC) Grain 3 5.0 %
0.31 kg Barley, Flaked (Thomas Fawcett) (3.9 EBC) Grain 4 4.6 %
0.25 kg Brown Malt (128.1 EBC) Grain 5 3.7 %
0.25 kg Crystal Malt - 60L (Thomas Fawcett) (118.2 EBC) Grain 6 3.7 %
0.08 kg Roasted Barley (Thomas Fawcett) (1199.7 EBC) Grain 7 1.2 %
49.00 g Bramling Cross [6.89 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 31.1 IBUs
7.81 g Bramling Cross [6.89 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
1 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [11g] Yeast 10 -
Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.054 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.057 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.2 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.5 %
Bitterness: 31.1 IBUs Calories: 484.7 kcal/l
Est Color: 57.3 EBC
Mash Profile

Mash Name: BIAB, Medium Body Total Grain Weight: 6.66 kg
Sparge Water: 0.00 l Grain Temperature: 17 C
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C Tun Temperature: 17 C
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE Mash PH: ?
Mash Steps
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Saccharification Add 34 l of water at 70.3 C 66.7 C 75 min
Mash Out Heat to 75.6 C over 7 min 75.6 C 10 min
Sparge Step: Remove grains, and prepare to boil wort
Mash Notes: Brew in a bag method where the full boil volume is mashed within the boil vessel and then the grains are withdrawn at the end of the mash. No active sparging is required. This is a medium body beer profile.


My mash out over shot slightly. Everything else went to plan. I ended up with a gravity of 1.057 so I was 3 Points higher than what I was hoping for. That's without modification to my mash and despite the grains not converting very well.

I toasted half the oats for 20mins at 170oC as I couldn't get access to the internet to see what Aleman does and figured it was just an experiment anyway.

Everything ran out really clear and my siphon stopped flowing bang on the 5Gallon mark, so it seems I could be a litre or two off from hitting the mark but anymore in the boiler and I'd have had liquor everywhere. It was full to the brim which inspires me to get on with buying a thermopot and getting on with my brewery build. I feel BIAB is holding me back.

I'm not sure if my Gravity was due to The Malt Miller giving me a fine crush when I usually use a standard crush or whether the Mash Out made a big difference.

I did an 80oC steep for 30 mins when I usually just throw the hops in at flame out, so I'll see what difference that makes. I ended up dropping to 73 degrees as it's so cold outside.

The wort in the fermenter smelt like really nice stout. I've now realised at 17:50 a few hours later that 1.057 fermenting dry to... 1.008 I'm going to end up with 6.4% stout. Way out of range. I don't usually drink anything over 5ish. Have I totally f*&ked it? I don't have the room in the fermentor to liquor back.

 

[Belter]

Actually didnt realise it'd be as little as 1.27L of water to liquor back. I'm on it now

 

[Aleman]

I wouldn't have worried about it . . . it's very unlikely you'll hit 1.008 as an FG . . . . it 'll be more like 1.012 to 1.016, it's NOT a dry stout after all

 

[Belter]

I wouldn't have worried about it . . . it's very unlikely you'll hit 1.008 as an FG . . . . it 'll be more like 1.012 to 1.016, it's NOT a dry stout after all

Really? That would still make it 5.9% Would you drink that?

Are you suggesting that there's a lot of Dextrins in there? So I'd get a 'false' gravity reading? I haven't liquored back yet. I think i'll leave it as an experiment. I'll let you know how it turns out. As I'm BIABing and I f*&ed up the mash out a little perhaps I have got a massively high body and it wont ferment that low?

It's all fun isn't it... if it turns out undrinkable I'll bottle it and give it to my alcoholic mates.

 

[Belter]

Will the Notty not see to that though as it's a 'dry' yeast?

 

[olriley]

What stage are you at? Has this been tasted yet? Actually proably not as its only been a few weeks :

 

[Belter]

it's carbing in the kegerator and in a couple of bottles. my brother tried one last night and it isn't ready yet. I imagine i'll try it on Christmas Day

 

[Belter]

Just poured a pint from the Kegerator. Nice smooth head on it. Smells the part... Tastes like s*%t. After a very promising brewday. A beautifully smelling wort. I'm very disappointed. I can see how this is supposed to taste but it has a massive Tannin flavour coming through. I followed Beersmiths BIAB mashout and am pretty sure I overshot. All in all it confirms the need for a mashtun and more realistic temperature control. I've never really liked BIAB and this inspires me to stop messing around 'hoping' my beer will taste good and just doing it properly in the first place. It's drinkable and given more time to condition may turn out quite nice but after my brothers IPA turned out with exactly the same taste it confirmed we need to improve our setup. I'm not suggesting good beer can't be made with BIAB. We have had some outstanding tasting ales. I'm just saying it's not for me.