Batch #4 – Oatmeal Stout
This is a recipe taken from Greg Hughes’ book Home Brew Beer.
I realised I don’t think I’ve ever drank an Oatmeal Stout, but I have a can of one from a local brewery to compare to.
Recipe
Grain:
- 2.74 kg (86.2%) Weyermann Pale Malt
- 130 g (4.1%) Crisp Medium Crystal 240
- 100 g (3.1%) Crisp Chocolate Malt
- 50 g (1.6%) Weyermann Roasted Barley
- 160 g (5%) Oats (Porridge Oats)
Hops:
- 25 g (27 IBU) Challenger 6.1% – Boil – 60 min
- 10 g (2 IBU) Challenger 6.1% – Aroma – 20 min hopstand @ 80 °C
- 10 g (2 IBU) Goldings, East Kent 6% – Aroma – 20 min hopstand @ 80 °C
Yeast:
- 1 pkg – Fermentis S-04 SafAle English Ale
Other:
- Water: 1/2 Campden Tablet
- 15 minutes: 1/2 Protofloc Tablet
Process
Mash
I followed what is becoming my standard process: measured out slightly more water than required into a fermentation bucket, and added the crushed Campden Tablet.
I added about 14.5 litres of water to the mash kettle and set the temperature to 71°C. I added the grain basket and began to pour in the grain.
I then mashed for 60 minutes at 67°C. I turned on the recirculation pump, and I mixed the mash after 15 minutes and 15 minutes before the end.
Sparge
I sparged with the remaining water (at ambient temperature), to bring the total volume up to about 21.5 litres.
I noticed my pre-boil volume was a couple of points lower than anticipated. I suspect this was because the amount of base malt was lower than expected – a slight error made by the shop!
Boil
I set the kettle to 2200W at 100°C, and boiled for about 15 minutes. I checked the gravity again, and it was about where I expected it to be.
I set the timer to 60 minutes, and I added my 25g of Challenger hops into the kettle in a hop bag.
15 minutes before the end I added the wort-chiller to sanitise, and the 1/2 protofloc tablet.
Whirlpool & Chill
I had to pop out briefly after the boil, so I removed the hops and put the lid back on the kettle. When I returned the temperature was about 75°C, so I heated it to 80°C and added the whirlpool and original boil hops. I left the hops for 20 minutes, before removing them and then turning on the chiller.
I forgot to Whirlpool, so we’ll see what happens in the final beer!
Fermentation
I transferred the wort to my sanitised fermenter, mixing in the yeast as it went. I used the tap on the kettle with the bazooka filter – hoping to filter out some of the trub. I don’t know how successful it is at filtering, I suspect the mesh isn’t fine enough.
I put the fermenter into my new fermentation fridge, set to 20°C.
Original gravity (measured by refractometer) was about 1.042.
Original gravity (measured by hydrometer) was about 1.036.
I’m not sure which to trust!
More to come…
