The Lie that is Oats

Hmm, do you think it might be a personal palate thing?

I brew three batches of Oatmeal Stout a year using 10% flaked oats. For my palate it does provide a noticeable smoothness to the mouthfeel.

Maybe it is a case of specific ingredient selection? Where do you purchase your flaked oats?

Cheers!

 

No . . . I feel exactly the same.

 

Well, based upon the information contained in this thread I do not have any ideas as to "doing something wrong" here.

I have never purchased flaked oats from Midwest Supplies but...

Hopefully some other BA(s) will have some ideas here.

Cheers!

 

I recently experimented with oat contribution. I basically steeped oats in a mesh bag in only water for around 45 mins. A viscous liquid seeped from the bag. The water + oat solution became a milky white, opaque liquid. If left alone, some heavier material would sink to the bottom of the the jar.

Of course I drank some. The body was much silkier than water itself, and much fuller. However, what I found interesting was that the finish was noticably dry and almost had a desicating effect like you might get from cranberries or grape skins. It tasted thin.

So my conclusion is that the oats contributed significant silkiness along with a dry finish.

After that, I used oats in an ale which is currently fermenting, and it has that exact same dry finish.

 

I no longer use oats in NEiPAS.

Seems like mouthfeel comes from a higher FG with enough IBUs to balance it out so its not “overly sweet”

 

I get "silky" from oats. Not sure about "full," given that the beers I've used oats in would probably have felt just as full without them.

IIRC, I've never bought flaked oats from Mideast. I normally buy them from the grocery store. But I can't imagine how to use them wrong if they're going in the mash. I suppose it's possible the oats you got were processed in some way that didn't gelatinize them. Not accusing Midwest of anything, just shooting in the dark. At the end of the mash, do you notice that the oats are basically "gone," i.e. completely dissolved? If not, that could (I guess) say something about the oats themselves.

 

I get silk and creamy mouthfeel from oats, lovem

 

I too think oats are not silky. Now rye, on the other hand.....

Recent related thread....

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...al-smooth-viscous-and-silky-mouthfeel.666100/

 

Brülosophy! exBEERiment:
One batch made with oats.
Another with silk.

Advertise brewing equipment ... find nobody could tell the difference ... and conclude homebrewing is a hoax perpetrated by Xi Jinping.

 

Sometimes oats seem to do the trick, can't say I always notice. Echoing @dmtaylor, I think, regarding rye. Just used 2#s (33%) in a 2.75 gallon batch and there is noticeable impact on mouthfeel, sort of silky, or maybe oily?

 

What level carbonation are you putting on those? If your carbonation is too high it will offset the perception of creaminess.

 

I use around %18 in my NEIPAs. A standard 42 oz carton in my recipe formulation. Convenient. But I do find that it gives a more viscous body to a beer. I think it’s a combination of yeast, mash temp, carbonation, recipe percentages that give to the whole of the beer. But it plays a part.

I prefer oats over flaked wheat just as a personal preference.

 

I'm going to try maltodextrin for the first time with this oat ale that I mentioned. Planning on 4 oz in about 5.5 gallons. I'm choosing it because I've heard/read that is doesn't add a sweetness like lactose does. I put 8 oz of lactose in a beer last month and it definitely adds sweetness.

 

I've used both maltodextrin and lactose, and I can assure you that maltodextrin is tasteless (including not being sweet), and lactose is sweet.

The two times I've added a pound of maltodextrin to ~6.25 gallons to the fermenter batches I did not notice any mouthfeel or silkiness improvement. It does noticeably raise the FG though. After trying it twice, I now consider it a waste of money and effort. But then I see Carapils the same way.

 

IMHO, a better way to improve mouthfeel and silkiness is to add ~7% to 7.5% of 10L Caramel or Crystal malt to your grist.

 

Another way to increase mouthfeel is to add ~7% to 7.5% of 6L to 9L Munich malt to a grist. The added maltiness is great for mouthfeel.

 

I've seen the sweetness of lactose listed as anywhere between 16% and 20% as sweet as sucrose. Maltodextrin is a little trickier, because it's not a single carbohydrate, but a class of them. Class may not be the right word. Anyway, Maltodextrin is (are) glucose chains of varying length. Shorter is sweeter. Longer is less sweet. The shortest Maltodextrins are reportedly sweeter than lactose. However, I've used maltodextrin more than a few times, and am more or less convinced that the stuff we get as brewers is made up of longer (less sweet) chains.

Rather than call maltodextrin (the stuff from the LHBS) "not sweet," I'd say that in the amounts we typically use it, the sweetness isn't very noticeable.

 

FWIW I brewed a smash pale ale with 100% oat malt and I thought it was thin.