Tomorrow I'm planning to brew my first oatmeal stout. I have plenty of
recipes to select from and I've spent some time doing a bit of research
but haven't had much luck finding a definitive answer about the oatmeal.

I will be doing an all-grain using batch-sparging. The oatmeal I have is
"Quick Oats" -- what one buys in the grocery store for breakfast, but I
don't know if it has been gelatinized or not. The cooking directions
say to bring water to a boil, add oatmeal, reduce to medium heat and
cook for one minute, stirring occasionally, then cover and remove from
heat and served in two to three minutes; I don't eat enough oatmeal to
know whether they are considered "instant" oats or not. I guess the
safe play would be to cook them first, but that sounds like it could be
rather messy trying to mix it into the grist or mash. The easier way,
obviously, would be to thoroughly mix the dry oatmeal in with my grist
and then strike, but if the oats have not been gelatinized, I presume
that will present a problem. I did think about cooking them first and
then thinning the oatmeal with all of my strike water and then _MAYBE_
it would still be thin enough to easily stir into the grist, but I
decided it would be better to see what some "experienced" brewers do.
Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Bill Velek
[url]www.2plus2is4.com[/url]

Bill Velek wrote:[color=blue]
> I will be doing an all-grain using batch-sparging. The oatmeal I have is
> "Quick Oats" -- what one buys in the grocery store for breakfast, but I
> don't know if it has been gelatinized or not. The cooking directions[/color]

They should already be pre-gelatinized. If you're only adding a little
bit I can't see how it would matter too much either way though.

[BierNewbie]

I use flaked oats not rolled oats (quick or instant). The LHBS sais there was a big difference and I'd guess that to be more than the grind. I have not used the rolled oats you have in a beer. I hear they make a nice breakfast cereal though. I wouldn't risk the batch to save a few cents on the grain.

: Bill Velek wrote:
: > I will be doing an all-grain using batch-sparging. The oatmeal I have is
: > "Quick Oats" -- what one buys in the grocery store for breakfast, but I
: > don't know if it has been gelatinized or not. The cooking directions

: They should already be pre-gelatinized. If you're only adding a little
: bit I can't see how it would matter too much either way though.

I've heard that the "Quick Oats" are pre-gelatinized, but I've only used the regular "old-fashioned" ones. Even if they
are pre-gelatinized, cooking them more won't hurt. Basically, with either oats, rice, or corn as an adjunct, it's best if you can
boil the hell out of it for at least 1/2 hour, but be very careful to watch for sticking. A cereal mash helps that a lot:

Take 2 lbs of your base malt and your oatmeal (1-2 lbs probably?). Mash in with enough water for both... probably a gallon or
so. Hold at 150F for 1/2 hour or so, and then raise to a boil for another 1/2 hour. The enzyme rest will help liquify some of
the starches to reduce scorching/sticking tendencies. After the boil, add the gloop to the rest of the mash.

-Cory

--

*************************************************************************
* Cory Papenfuss, Ph.D., PPSEL-IA *
* Electrical Engineering *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
*************************************************************************

Hi Bill,

I have had the best results when using flaked oats from my LHBS. You
can just mash these along with the rest of your grains with no issues.
I tries using Quick Oats before and it caused my one and only stuck
sparge. Go with the flaked oats if you can...otherwise use less Quick
Oats.

Also, keep the amount of oats at 10% or less of total grain weight. I
usually use about 5% oats in my oatmeal stout.

Later,

M


Bill Velek wrote:[color=blue]
> Tomorrow I'm planning to brew my first oatmeal stout. I have plenty of
> recipes to select from and I've spent some time doing a bit of research
> but haven't had much luck finding a definitive answer about the oatmeal.
>
> I will be doing an all-grain using batch-sparging. The oatmeal I have is
> "Quick Oats" -- what one buys in the grocery store for breakfast, but I
> don't know if it has been gelatinized or not. The cooking directions
> say to bring water to a boil, add oatmeal, reduce to medium heat and
> cook for one minute, stirring occasionally, then cover and remove from
> heat and served in two to three minutes; I don't eat enough oatmeal to
> know whether they are considered "instant" oats or not. I guess the
> safe play would be to cook them first, but that sounds like it could be
> rather messy trying to mix it into the grist or mash. The easier way,
> obviously, would be to thoroughly mix the dry oatmeal in with my grist
> and then strike, but if the oats have not been gelatinized, I presume
> that will present a problem. I did think about cooking them first and
> then thinning the oatmeal with all of my strike water and then _MAYBE_
> it would still be thin enough to easily stir into the grist, but I
> decided it would be better to see what some "experienced" brewers do.
> Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Bill Velek
> [url]www.2plus2is4.com[/url][/color]

I used 18 oz. of quick oats with no problem. I also batch sparged, so
the stuck sparge issue may have been less important.

Mmmmmm Oatmeal....

May be time to do another of those myself.

On Sun, 5 Nov 2006 03:38:55 +0000 (UTC),
[email]papenfussDIESPAM@juneauDOTmeDOTvt.edu[/email] wrote:
[color=blue]
>: Bill Velek wrote:
>: > I will be doing an all-grain using batch-sparging. The oatmeal I have is
>: > "Quick Oats" -- what one buys in the grocery store for breakfast, but I
>: > don't know if it has been gelatinized or not. The cooking directions
>
>: They should already be pre-gelatinized. If you're only adding a little
>: bit I can't see how it would matter too much either way though.
>
> I've heard that the "Quick Oats" are pre-gelatinized, but I've only used the regular "old-fashioned" ones. Even if they
>are pre-gelatinized, cooking them more won't hurt. Basically, with either oats, rice, or corn as an adjunct, it's best if you can
>boil the hell out of it for at least 1/2 hour, but be very careful to watch for sticking. A cereal mash helps that a lot:
>
>Take 2 lbs of your base malt and your oatmeal (1-2 lbs probably?). Mash in with enough water for both... probably a gallon or
>so. Hold at 150F for 1/2 hour or so, and then raise to a boil for another 1/2 hour. The enzyme rest will help liquify some of
>the starches to reduce scorching/sticking tendencies. After the boil, add the gloop to the rest of the mash.
>
>-Cory[/color]
What is the reason for the boiling after the enzyme rest?

Also, FWIW, I've had success doing a short protein rest for the oats
alone, using quick oats, by holding them at about 118-120F. A source
I don't recall said something about reducing gums or something. This
may have helped prevent a stuck sparge, I believe.

John S.

--
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"Bill Velek" <billvelek@alltel.net> wrote in message
news:527af$454cfa2e$471e87d0$8108@ALLTEL.NET...[color=blue]
> Tomorrow I'm planning to brew my first oatmeal stout. I have plenty of
> recipes to select from and I've spent some time doing a bit of research
> but haven't had much luck finding a definitive answer about the oatmeal.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Bill Velek
> [url]www.2plus2is4.com[/url][/color]

I've had several goes at oatmeal stouts and also with flaked barley which is
similar in so much as it's a flaked grain. I have got far better results
with cooking oats even though they are the 1 minute variety.
To avoid a stuck run-off & sparge, I mash-in malted grain and use a fairly
thin mash. After 15 minutes or so, I add the cooked oats to the top of the
mash tun being carefull not to mix them into the grain bed.
To replenish the supply of active enzyme, I re-circulate the wort a few
times during the mash.
Although I usually batch sparge, with oatmeal stouts, I fly sparge so as not
to mix the oats into the grainbed, especially down to the bottom where the
screen is.
This method works well and you can use lots of oats if you want to,
providing that you don't disturb the grainbed after the oats have been
added.
Steve W (in Aus)

: I've had several goes at oatmeal stouts and also with flaked barley which is
: similar in so much as it's a flaked grain. I have got far better results
: with cooking oats even though they are the 1 minute variety.
: To avoid a stuck run-off & sparge, I mash-in malted grain and use a fairly
: thin mash. After 15 minutes or so, I add the cooked oats to the top of the
: mash tun being carefull not to mix them into the grain bed.
: To replenish the supply of active enzyme, I re-circulate the wort a few
: times during the mash.
: Although I usually batch sparge, with oatmeal stouts, I fly sparge so as not
: to mix the oats into the grainbed, especially down to the bottom where the
: screen is.
: This method works well and you can use lots of oats if you want to,
: providing that you don't disturb the grainbed after the oats have been
: added.
: Steve W (in Aus)

Have you ever computed your "oats efficiency" using this method? It seems
like it would work pretty well, but I'd think you'd need a lot of circulation to do a
good conversion.

-Cory


--

*************************************************************************
* Cory Papenfuss, Ph.D., PPSEL-IA *
* Electrical Engineering *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
*************************************************************************

Thanks, everyone. Some very good suggestions. I actually came down
with the flu and felt so bad on Sunday that I spent nearly the entire
day in bed. Not feeling too bad now, and since I have nothing else
scheduled for tomorrow, and my starter is ready to go ... I'll be
brewing as long as I don't have a relapse.

Anyway, I have 2 carboys to bottle, too. They are from a party-gyle I
did 16 days ago, and they're still in their primaries. I had meant to
transfer them to secondaries a week ago, but couldn't find the time. Now
I figure I'll just bottle instead.

I purchased BeerToolsPro a weeks ago or so, and will see what I can do
with it now.

Looks like I have my work cut-out for me, but I have plenty of cold
beer. ;-)

Thanks again for the input. I'll post a report later.

Cheers.

Bill Velek
[url]www.2plus2is4.com[/url]