Oatmeal IPAs

Jeezus...what's next? Coffee IPAs?

 

Burn Em Brewing's HippoOATamus is darn good. Oatmeal Pale Ale

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but adjuncts add sugars which turn to alcohol, not flavors.

 

... Abrasive.

 

Omnipollo Fatamorgana hasn't been mentioned yet??

 

I agree that it is usually done for the added body, creamy mouthfeel, and head retention due to the proteins it adds to the wort. However, I would not agree that it is "without extra abv." Oatmeal contributes around 1.032 (some sources have slightly different numbers) gravity points as long as the starches are converted with your regular 2-row or other malt. In other words, the starches are convertible and would increase abv in typical usage.

 

Usually when the word adjunct is used it is in reference to rice and corn used by big brewers to make their low-flavor pale lagers*. However, adjuncts are a very broad category of additives that brewers use for a variety of reasons, including improving body (by thickening or thinning), head retention, color, and added flavorings brewers can't get from just malt/yeast combinations. Examples of adjuncts include, oatmeal, rye, wheat, sorghum, candi sugar, honey, molasses, pumpkin, chilis, fruits/vegetables, coffee, spices, etc. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjuncts

And just a minor nitpick on your comment on sugars turning into "alcohol, not flavors." Alcohol does have flavor (hot, fusel, mildly chemical), but it's usually considered an off-flavor for most beers with some exceptions for high ABV styles. Furthermore, more or less alcohol can influence the overall balance of beer's flavor profile, particularly for styles with more subtle flavor profiles.

* - However, the american/euro adjunct lager has a distinct flavor profile, albeit subtle; so in that sense adjuncts are creating flavor, but not the flavor people on these forums usually prefer.

 

Monkey Paw here in San Diego brews an Oatmeal Pale Ale that is phenomenal! I know the thread is Oatmeal IPA but it's hoppier than most IPAs out there, as are all their Pale Ales......

 

Deep Ellum out of Dallas makes their Pale Ale with Oatmeal

 

IMO the proper definition of adjunct is the one detailed by Dr. Charlie Bamforth in the Oxford Companion to Beer. The first sentence of the write-up is: “Adjuncts are alternative sources of extract used to replace a proportion of the malt.”

The terminology of “alternative sources of extract” may be confusing to some but it means that an adjunct needs to provide some fermentables to the wort.

So, of your above list the following ingredients would be consistent with this definition: “oatmeal, rye, wheat, sorghum, candi sugar, honey, molasses, pumpkin,fruit/vegetables”.

The other ingredients you listed do not provide fermentables and they would best be described as being flavorings/spices in my opinion.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/brewing-ingredients/flavorings

Cheers!

 

Fair enough. I did some Googling before I posted that and there are plenty of references that supporting a similar definition to yours. I thought maybe some of those sources were being a little narrow in their focus on just fermentables or splitting hairs- either way it's adding something other than malt, hops, water, and yeast that changes the flavor right? But I won't argue about it if that's the accepted definition.

 

I would not necessarily use the word "flavor" in the above sentence. For example, let's consider oatmeal. I brew Oatmeal Stout three times a year (I have a batch bottle conditioning right now) and I add the oatmeal not for its flavor contribution but because it adds a silky mouthfeel to the resulting beer.

I have brewed with rye in the past and I have read where some folks opine that it provides a 'spicy' flavor to the resulting beer but for the times where I used it I was not able to strictly perceive a flavor that I would label as 'spicy'. I would state that it adds some 'complexity' to the beer but I am at a loss to offer up a flavor descriptor for it.

Now the ingredients that I label as flavorings/spice do indeed consistently add a flavor aspect to the beer.

Cheers!

 

Huh, I was under the impression it was used to thicken body without adding extra abv to bump those beers up into pale ale/IPA territory.

 

+1 on equinox!

 

Oats effect body and head retention as well

 

It's not a style.
It's a permutation of an accepted existing variance within a classic and basic brewing fundamental.

Not every description that a brewery puts on their label is a 'style'.

 

other half makes an awesome one: oat junkie

agree that equinox was nice too (apparently didn't rate it).

hill farmstead / grassroots legitimacy is also amazing. i wrote a review but never posted it. oh well.

 

styles are just family resemblances anyway. rough guidelines to help guide learning brewers and curious bar goers. not much else.

 

Yeah, I know they do, but again, that's not considered an effect of an adjunct. As others have pointed out, the definition of an adjunct is an ingredient that provides fermentible sugars.

 

It seem that if the Oats are mashed they do provide fermentable sugars.

http://byo.com/hops/item/1521-topping-off--brewing-with-oats