Just received a 5 lb bag of flaked oats from a major homebrew online retailer. On a whim, I decided to make some oatmeal the day before brewing, and it tasted just horrible. Even though the raw oats smelled OK, the cooked oatmeal was incredibly stale, and I had to spit it out.
If I had not cooked them, I would probably have added them to my batch, surely adversely affecting my beer.
Does anyone know if Flaked Oats sold for brewing are processed the same way as rolled oats in the supermarket? Most commercially available oats are steam-heated, which prevents staling from interaction from lipids and enzymes once the grain is milled. It makes rolled oats shelf stable for over a year if stored properly. My understanding is that this heat treatment does not affect beta-glucans that are one of the main reason to use oats in brewing.
You can buy unprocessed (non-heat treated) oatmeal in heath food stores that has a very short life, and has to be refrigerated.
But I don’t think these oats I bought were unprocessed - they were probably just sitting around for too long.
Anyone had a similar experience?
I buy most of my grains unmilled, and often chew on raw grains before milling. I’ve noticed differences between new and old batches of the same grain from the same maltster. I’m going to be a lot more vigilant going forward.
P.S. Just went down to my local Trader Joe’s to buy some rolled oats, and the only ones they had were Gluten-Free. My first reaction was " I don’t want no stinkin’ gluten-free crap in my beer". Turns out all oats are gluten free - this designation just proved that it had been processed in a facility that does not also process wheat.
Flaked oats are way cheaper at your local supermarket than from home brew shops.
And fresher as well.
I’ve always heard this. Is it Quaker Oats that cook in one minute or some other variety? I have used Golden Naked Oats but have rarely used other types.
Most manufacturers including Quaker have “quick cooking” rolled oats, and slower “old fashion” ones. Technically, they’re all pre-cooked in the steaming and hot rolling process, and you’re just rehydrating them. The time that takes depends on how thin they are. I like them thick for some texture in my breakfast bowl or baking, but I suppose thinner might be better in the mash, making the starch more readily accessible.
I’ll be mashing with Quaker’s 1-minute oats in a Chocolate Oatmeal Stout this weekend. Love 'em for breakfast (hmm…Chocololate Banana Blueberry Oatmeal Stout?? Yeah, maybe not), and I got good results with them in an IPA as a low percentage, silky addition. Cheap, fresh and tasty.
Golden Naked Oats are described as a “huskless crystal malt”. The starches have already been converted to sugars, so you don’t need to mash them, but you do need to grind them. Flaked oats on the other hand, whether 1 minute or regular, still have the starches and need to be mashed to convert the starches to sugar, but you don’t need to grind them. I just use regular oats in my beer because I always have a lot around for breakfast cereal, meat loaf filler, etc. I plan to use Golden Naked Oats for the first time in a Scottish Ale in a few months. I am looking forward to seeing what it brings in terms of flavor and mouthfeel.
The only oats I’ve ever brewed with were Quaker. I think rolled and flaked are interchangeable terms. Quick vs Regular is simply the size, smaller cooks (rehydrates) faster.