An oldie…but a goodie.
Anyone want to share their tips, tricks, secrets 
or recipes for an Oatmeal Stout.
Don’t be shy.
I prefer my stouts to have a very smooth, more subdued roasted quality than is probably advised. I minimize roasted barley and use more pale chocolate and midnight wheat to get a smoother quality. I also like to split the flaked oats and toast half of them.
This one got posted yesterday: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=17659.0
I have been tinkering with an American style oatmeal stout sort of in the shakespeare vein. My last run included 5% golden naked oats and 10% flaked oats.
+1 on toasting some of them.
i personally like my stout to have a significant bite to it - not quite like espresso but not subtle either, so i’m on the other side of the field to goschman - i use a huge amount of roasted barley. I also try to target 5.3-5.4 mash pH, so a good dose of lime is incorporated.
+1 to lightly toasting the oats. I like the flavor contribution quite a bit.
BN just posted a Brewing with Style on oatmeal stout. Listened to it while doing the dishes. Give it a listen, unless that is why your brought it up. Haven’t made one in years. I will need to add it to the schedule.
What about the contention that Michael Lewis makes in his book, Stout, where he said that oats were not a good contributor? I recall that he said the beer was rough or astringent, or something like that.
I don’t understand how oats could impart that sort of flavor to beer since they don’t seem to have that flavor in oatmeal.
Martin, I limit oats to ~ 10% at most in oatmeal stout. But I love the silky,velvety mouthfeel they give a good stout. But I agree that they don’t give a direct flavor, and that’s why I like to lightly toast them. It doesn’t add the flavor of oats per se, but a light, subtle toastiness. I feel that Sam Smith’s is doing something right !
Thanks for the link!
I like this idea. I might try this…
Interesting opinion here Martin.
I’ve always thought oats provided a sort of mouthfeel effect more so than a flavor effect. Maybe toasting them would lend some flavor?
Having done it both ways, I agree that lightly toasting the oats brings out the flavor. I also buy the freshest oatmeal I can find, usually from a cooperative grocery store where the oatmeal smells and tastes very fresh. My last couple of stouts I have also added cocoa nibs and cold-brewed coffee – very nice.
I’ve thought of going bigger, like an Oatis or Shakespeare, but the lower-alcohol stouts have their charm. I use McQuaker’s Oatmeal Stout from Brewing Classic Styles. Edit: having recently done a coconut porter that was delicious, I’m going to do the same with a stout, using lightly toasted organic coconut (large shred), and add chocolate nibs.
This is what I use oatmeal for. Personally, I don’t like the toasted oats taste in a beer. I don’t like Sam Sniths oatmeal stout because of this flavor. (According to another thread, I shouldn’t be trusted
Interesting opinion…can you describe the flavor that you don’t like from the toasted oats.
Is the flavor overwhelming?
How did you toast the oats, and to what level/color did you toast them?
I’ve never used toasted oats myself. I like most oatmeal stouts… Samuel Smith is the exception. The toasted flavor in that beer is very overwhelming to me and doesn’t work for me. Obviously many a people put that beer on a pedestal, which is perfectly fine… It just doesn’t do it for me.
Here’s my breakfast stout recipe…
Batch = 5.5 gallons
OG = 1.078
24 hour cold steep (room temperature) in 2 gallons of water (2 quarts per pound)
Chocolate Malt = 2 lb
Roasted Barley = 1.5 lb
Black Patent Malt = .5 lb
60 minute mash @ 155
Mash Water = 5 gallons (Strike Temp 173)
Sparge Water = 3 gallons (185)
Total Water = 10 gallons
80% Two Row Pale = 12 lb 6 oz
18% Flaked Oats = 3 lb 4 oz
2% Caramel/Crystal 120L = 5.5 oz
60 minute = 1.5 oz Nugget
30 minute = .5 oz Willamette
20 minute = Add the 2 gallons of dark grain tea from cold steep (return to boil to start 20 count)
0 minute = .5 oz Willamette
0 minute = 2.5 oz ground Sumatran coffee
0 minute = 2.5 oz Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate
0 minute = 1.5 oz Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powder
White Labs 001 California Ale Ale (Starter)
Rack onto 2.5 oz of ground Kona coffee in the secondary
The coffee was a bit strong. I think I’m going to cut it to 1.75 or 2 oz additions
+1 to Midnight Wheat. Recently started putting it in my oatmeal stout in place of black roast and I love the results. Extra smooth. The lower roast has also turned it into a gateway beer for friends that “don’t like dark beer.”
Blasphemy!
An interesting tidbit that I stumbled upon was the addition of brewers licorice to an Oatmeal Stout. Anyone else ever try this addition to a beer recipe?
I’ve used dried licorice root in an oatmeal stout before, but never had tried the brewers stick.
I remember some of the old recipe books (that were spotty at best) having RIS recipes that used brewers licorice. I never tried it because I hate licorice, and a little too much would’ve given me 5 gallons I wouldn’t drink. I have had a few strong stouts that seemed to have a hint of that type of flavor though that were really good beers.