Oat milk stout quandary

[Experimentalbrewer]

Hi everyone
I’m sure I’m going to sound like an idiot but I’m asking anyway.
Can you use shop bought oat milk as a base for a beer such as a stout or porter without making a wort as long as you add enough sugar and nutrients for the yeast to do its thing? And if so is there a preferable yeast?

 

[MyQul]

Welcome to the forum First off there are no stupid questions and the answer to your not stupid question (if I'm understanding it correctly) is no it wouldnt work (although I'm sure our own mad scientist @Drunkula would give it a bloody good go)

The 'milk' in milk stout comes from lactose which is a type of sugar in milk. There isnt any lactose in oat milk as it's made from oats not milk. Secondly when you brew with oats you need to mash them to convert the starches to sugars. You wouldn't be able to somehow mash oatmilk

 

[Experimentalbrewer]

Thanks for that MyQul, I completely hear what you’re saying, I was thinking of the oat milk more as a flavour and mouth feel but I get it won’t ferment itself. I was contemplating the idea of adding malt extract along with oat milk as well as sugar just to see what happens?

 

[MyQul]

Oats add mouthfeel because of the proteins in the oats. Im not sure adding oatmilk would have the same effect. As for adding flavour, it may do but Im unsure as I've never heard of anyone doing this. At the end of the day you could always try it and see what happens

 

[Experimentalbrewer]

Out of pure dogged curiosity and the fact I’ve got a lot of time on my hands right now I’m going to dabble with the idea but I hear what you’re saying, it will probably be a waste of time and effort but nothing ventured and all that! I’ve made stranger beers that have been surprisingly good so wish me luck and I’ll let you know how it goes, thanks again for your support

 

[Drunkula]

I feel like I've had a weight lifted off.

There are others out there that will continue my work for when I am withnot!!

Somebody did ask me how to make oat milk and I looked it up and it's basically squeezing some wet Alpen through a j-cloth. But I'm loving this because this is the kind of thing I'd have done before I'd assume it was disastrous. And that's a good thing.

The Bird Food brew when I picked up the bag I was giggling because I knew it would be trolling and cause some people's catheter bags to fill faster than usual. Then when it was bloody lovely I was partially amazed, even though I shouldn't have been because it was a lucky bag of popular adjuncts.

Go... expand my work amongst the new universes! Our time is coming!

And you get the idea with that.

 

[Experimentalbrewer]

Thanks for Drunkula!
I now have hope restored in my hair brained inventions. The reason I want to give this a go is purely curiosity! I once made a nettle and crab apple cider which turned out to be one of the most popular brews I’ve made. So I’m with you, innovate, explore and expand your horizons.

 

[Leon103]

One issue - milk stout are sweet, they are also known as sweet stouts. Adding sugar won't make it sweet.

 

[Experimentalbrewer]

i get that Leon103 and agree! I was looking at using a malt extract along with the oat milk and stopping fermentation at a point where there is still a gentle sweetness left! I don’t even know exactly what I’m aiming for, I’m basically looking at replacing some of the water used in brewing with the oat milk to see if it improves taste and mouth feel. I had a friend who went to Russia and they had a local drink that was made from fermented oats called Kvas although the alcohol content was less than 1% but that’s what got me thinking.

 

[MyQul]

i get that Leon103 and agree! I was looking at using a malt extract along with the oat milk and stopping fermentation at a point where there is still a gentle sweetness left!

Brewing beer isnt like brewing wine whereby I believe (I dont make wine so am o shaky ground on this) you can stop fermentation using potassium something or other. You have more sweetness in beer by a) mashing higher but seeing as you would be doing a extract brew this option is unavailable to you b) using lower attenuating yeast - this option is available to you b) using grains or adjuncts like lactose that produce dont ferment well and give more body - some unavailable as to as your extract brewing

 

[PhilBrew]

Hi

While I agree with MyQul when he says ...

You wouldn't be able to somehow mash oatmilk

... there does seem to be some recognition amongst extract brewers (particularly in the US where there is a much larger community of extract brewers) that they get "something" from steeping oats in water with the rest of their specialty grains ... recipes for doing so appear all over the place, e.g. there from maltster Briess (link) and ISTR there being a similar recipe in one of John Palmer's books too ... I have no idea what that "something" might be, but presumably it gives enough of the effects of mashed oats in finished beer for all those brewers to persist with the practice

As Drunkula explains (so graphically, though I can't imagine the people at the Alpro factory use j-cloths ), ultimately oat milk is just the product from oats steeped in water, but TBH since you're probably going to steep some (roasted) grains to make your stout dark anyway, I can't see any real advantage for using oat milk over adding oats to the grains you'll be steeping

Cheers, PhilB

 

[MyQul]

Hi

While I agree with MyQul when he says ... ... there does seem to be some recognition amongst extract brewers (particularly in the US where there is a much larger community of extract brewers) that they get "something" from steeping oats in water with the rest of their specialty grains ... recipes for doing so appear all over the place, e.g. there from maltster Briess (link) and ISTR there being a similar recipe in one of John Palmer's books too ... I have no idea what that "something" might be, but presumably it gives enough of the effects of mashed oats in finished beer for all those brewers to persist with the practice

As Drunkula explains (so graphically, though I can't imagine the people at the Alpro factory use j-cloths ), ultimately oat milk is just the product from oats steeped in water, but TBH since you're probably going to steep some (roasted) grains to make your stout dark anyway, I can't see any real advantage for using oat milk over adding oats to the grains you'll be steeping

Cheers, PhilB

Interesting. I never extract brewed so wasnt aware that you can get 'something' by just steeping them. Everything I've read is that you need to mash them with grain as there not very convertable especially on their own

 

[PhilBrew]

Hi MyQul

To be clear, I think you're right and I don't think there's any conversion going on when steeping oats, whether with or without specialty grains ... if I was to hazard a guess as to what the "something" that was extracted by steeping oats like this was, I guess it'd be some sorts of unfermentable starches and/or proteins ... maybe even similar unfermentable starches and/or proteins to those that are extracted and survive the mash, boil and fermentation when making an all-grain brew with oats, that give the finished brew that creamy mouthfeel ... but it's not extracting the sugars in the oats that a mash would unlock, so I suppose that makes it a pretty inefficient use of oats.

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Experimentalbrewer]

Thanks for your reply and your advice! I appreciate the help every one gives on here to help less experienced brewers like me. . I’ll let you all know how it goes.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Here's my recipe for an extract milk stout
10 litres batch no boil
Fermentables
1200g LME
300g DME
150g Brown Sugar
250g Lactose
Steeping grains, 45 minutes at 67C. I put them in a bag and heat with a Sou Vide
200g Roasted Barley
100g chocolate malt
100g Flaked Oats
100g Flaked Barley
40g Challenger hops separate bag in same pot.
Drain to fermenter and add the fermentables
Let the wort cools
Yeast CML Beoir
Additions
200ml filter coffee to 2FV
100g Cocoa nibs
ABV 5.5%

 

[Experimentalbrewer]

You’re a diamond! Thankyou for that. I’ll have a tinker with it and let you know how it goes