Just was studying up on oats in beer and decided to give this one a try. I browsed around the web and saw that it can be done. Here is the Recipe:
-75% Fawcett Oat Malt
-15% Flaked Oats
-5% Simpsons Golden naked Oats
-5% Rice Hulls
SRM will be around 9.
-Willamette/Cluster @ FWH, 15min about 15-20 IBU.
-Either WLP002 or WLP004
I want to hit 1.050 OG and get it down to 1.015. I will be doing a 2 hour multistep mash. Dough-in @ 104F hold for 20min, Protein Rest @ 122F for 30min, Beta Rest @ 144F for 30min, and finally Alpha rest @ 158F for 40min, then mash out. Standard 60min boil adding a Whirlfloc tablet then cool and pitch yeast. I have no idea how it will turn out but sounds fun for a 1 gallon experiment.
What’s the thinking on the complicated mash? I can see wanting to go a little longer if you are unsure about the enzymatic power of the oat malt, if the average diastatic power is above ~40 Litner and you’re okay.
Well I was just basing it off my findings. The recipes I looked at said that a longer multistep mash is a must because to promote good enzymatic activity. Those who did a typical 60min single infusion mash found their beer to be starchy or not completely converted at 60min. I figured just doing the long mash and the certain rest would help the enzymes work. I agree it seems complicated and I probably will simplify it but I think the long step mash should pay off.
How does this sound?
70min Mash- dough in 104F for 20min, 144F for 20min, 158F for 30min. I still want to do a multistep and it will be easy to do so with a 1 gallon batch.
So 104 is an acid rest. This is used to lower the pH of the mash into an acceptable range. If you don’t know your pH to start with you’re shooting blind. 144 is on the edge between protein rest and beta rest. More towards beta. And 158 is high alpha with no beta activity to speak of. I ask mostly because with experimental stuff like this it’s helpful to say least have a clear idea of what each variable will do so that you will know if your initial idea is correct or incorrect.
The purpose of the 104F temp was not for an acid rest but a Beta-Glucanase rest. I think I will drop this to a 10 minute rest. I am using ‘How To Brew’ as my guidelines to justify each step mash. The 15% flaked barley is the reason for this step plus this temp range is shown to improve enzymatic ability. I have changed my rest temp again… but this time I did as you said and tried to understand more why I have each variable.
- 104F for 10 minutes(Beta-Glucanase rest, breakdown gumminess and promote enzymatic activity)
- 125F for 30 minutes(Protein Rest for high amount for Oats)
- 148F for 30 minutes or until conversion(highly attenuable wort, and light body).
I think this mash schedule will work well and I am going to stick with it. Thank you again for your help and input. Prost!
Good luck! I’m interested to hear how it turns out.
I will try to find a very informative blog where the brewer did a 100% oat malt beer.
EDIT - Ryan Brews: 100% Oat Malt & Mt Rainier Hops - SMaSH Beer
maybe you have already seen it. There is a link to a review toward the bottom…
3 hr mash on 10lbs of malt yielded 1.040 OG on a 5.5 gal batch. Does not seem like a good conversion… And yours is less than 2/3 that mash time. I think that may be 1 leg into a foot race, maybe start with some amylase enzyme? May want to try and hit the higher end of your IBU range
I have read that article and recipe along with about 4-5 other ones. I have read people doing 3 hour mashes as above and also people doing as short as 60min. I think the problem some people have is that they just do a single infusion mash for longer at too high of a temp. I feel like the first to rest are crucial for getting good conversion from all the oat malt. I plan on having some amylase enzyme on hand just in case. I think it will be a good experiment.
Are you expecting to like the beer?
I don’t know if I will or not that’s just part of the fun for me. I have used up to 15% flaked oats, in brown ales and a stout and liked what they contributed. I have no experience with oat malt before or Simpson’s Golden naked oats so I am interested to see what they bring to the table.
For me at least experimenting with small batches of homebrew that are super unique is not limited to what I think I will like. I love to expand my experience and maybe I will stumble upon some ingredient or recipe that I and others will love.
Cool I was just curious. Didn’t catch that I was a 1 gallon batch so it make more sense. I don’t care for oat malt but it was a very different type of beer that I brewed…
I have read a lot of mixed reviews on the oat malt but the biggest descriptor I noticed is grainy flavor. I probably wont brew this batch for a few weeks but I am definitely interested, either ill have 8-10 beers of decent brew or 8-10 beers I will be giving to friends and family 
Keep us posted. Definitely worth it for a 1 gallon batch. I have done plenty of 5 gallon experimental that didn’t turn out too well…
Will do! yeah after making a pretty bad 5 gallon Belgian wit I decided all experiments will be done on the 1 gallon scale
Also in the event that this beer is a keeper I have already dubbed this beer “Rock the Oat” Ale. So lame but so clever.
For the record, I really LOVE the concept for this beer! Whether it ends up tasting awesome or not, it NEEDS to be brewed!! I want to do this now. I’m gonna brew an all oat beer this year!! Yeah!!
Personally I would skip a protein rest and probably just go with a single infusion at like 150 F for 75 minutes. Maybe throw in an acid rest if I think it needs it, or not. No need to go too hog wild with step mashing in my humble opinion, although I’ve never done this before so maybe it would actually be helpful? Not entirely sure.
Definitely keep us all posted!!!
I plan on ordering all the ingredients tomorrow morning. Here is my 1 Gallon batch.
1.7lbs Oat Malt
.11lbs Golden Naked Oats
.33lbs Flaked oats
.11 Rice Hulls
Cluster Hops for about 20 IBU
The one thing I cant decided on is yeast. I have harvested WLP568 that I don’t really want to use. I have WLP036 also but again don’t want for this beer. I am thinking like US-05 or Nottingham or s-04 I cant decided any suggestions??
How about an altbier yeast 1007, or maybe the dry lager W-34/70. I think I might try one of those when I brew this.
So the ingredients are in and I will probably brew a little later this week. I picked up some us-05 and us-04 so I will probably use one of those. I will probably use the us05 to keep it clean. I will post again when the brew day commences.