Hi, long time forum lurker, first time poster. I've been brewing for several years, primarily partial mash/extract, and enjoy making hoppy pale ales. A local brewery that I follow recently posted pictures of brewing with oatmilk, which I'd not seen before. Google hasn't turned up any homebrew recipes / experience with oatmilk either. So- has anyone here used oatmilk in brewing, particularly in pale ales? I recently made a version of the Averagely Perfect NE IPA that turned out nicely. However, after about a month in the bottle, the cloudiness of the beer started to wane. I'm wondering of oatmilk can be part of the mix for these types of ales. Thanks in advance- FYI - quick search on nutrition info on oatmilk yielded the following. I wonder how much of the sugar is fermentable, vs. lactose for example. It doesn't seem like a lot of protein or fat, but I could be wrong about that. The average cup of oat milk available for purchase will contain about 4 g of protein, 130 calories, 2.5 g fat, 110 g sodium, 19 g sugar, 2 g fiber, and 24 grams of carbohydrates. Oat milk is also completely void of cholesterol and saturated fats.
Funny you mention this. I saw Omnipollo post a picture using oatmilk the other day and it got me interested as well. From what I researched they just steep oats in water....spin the hell out of it....and voila!!! Dairy free oatmilk. One bottle on amazon described it as having a creamy and grainy flavor. I think it would go great in a hazy hoppy NE ale. I also think it might go well with fruited beers as well.....maybe hoppy fruit beers as well? I will be using oatmilk within the next month or 2. Will report back.
We probably saw the same picture - head brewer of The Veil posted on their page from a visit to Omnipollo. Here's what I'm thinking for a 2.25g simple single hop test batch: 2.5# Golden Promise - mashed 1# DME Pilsen Light 1 cup Oatmilk -- ???? 0.5 oz Amarillo at each of 15 / 10 / 5 1.5 oz Amarillo at flameout S-04 Should get me in the neighborhood of a 5%-ish pale ale - without knowing what the oatmilk actually contributes to gravity. Any thoughts on the amount of oatmilk? I'm thinking it's probably not altogether different than mashing with oats - best I can tell that's kind of how oatmilk is made.
You could always force ferment some oat milk. Take og and fg readings and you'll know EXACTLY what it adds to the beer.
Here's what first got me interested in this. http://tenemu.com/news/omnipollo-veil-collaborate-amun-oat-milk-double-ipa/01/2017 I'm currently fermenting a small batch of an oat DIPA (Simcoe / Amarillo / Galaxy) where I reduced the flaked oats I normally use and added 2 cups of homemade oatmilk to the boil. We'll see how it turns out. I'll also be keeping an eye on The Veil to see when they release AMUN and try to get my hands on some.
I've got some in the fridge. I just love the stuff. It tastes like very sweet oaty goodness. I'm sure I'll use some in a batch eventually, especially for an oatmeal stout. Not sure how much. It is pretty strong. Maybe 10-15% of the total liquids? Add at flameout or only boil for 5 minutes, that's what I'd do. But it sure is tasty stuff. Too rich even to drink on its own as it is so sweet -- I blend mine 4:1 with something else like soy milk or regular milk, that's really good. Should also make fantastic chocolate malted milk... mmmm................ I've always figured they absolutely MUST be malting and mashing the oats, as I don't know how the hell else it gets as sweet as it is. Plain oats are nowhere near this sweet. This stuff is like syrupy sugar sweet. They MUST be mashing it, gotta be. So I expect it is approximately 75% fermentable sugars like any other mash.
Finally got around to brewing with Oatmilk!! Did a hoppy Pale/IPA, hopped with Australian Vic Secret, Mosaic, and Columbus. Grist was 85% Rahr 2 row and 15% Rye. (didn't want to add actual oats so I can get an idea of what the oat milk is doing) The oat milk came in at 1.050 on my hydrometer, but i'm unsure how fermentable it is so that number really doesn't matter too much. Pitched some WY1098. I used that yeast on a recent NEIPA and it was really nice. I added 16 oz of oat milk into a 5 gallon batch with about 5 minutes left in the boil... i then added all my kettle hops at FO and let those steep for 5 minutes hot, then chilled to 170 for another 15 minute steep. Wort smelled amazing. I'm super excited for this batch. Plan on doing a multi stage dry hop early during fermentation then kegging the beer around day 10-12. I'll be sure to update once the beer is carbed. Cheers.
I started cold crashing my DIPA today, planning to bottle toward the end of the week. What did you use for your oatmilk? I made my own, using a 3:2 ratio of rinsed steel cut oats to water. I added some maple syrup, vanilla, and salt - I know those are now in my beer as well, but in very small amounts. FWIW, I was able to get some AMUN from The Veil .... while certainly a very good beer, I didn't get anything different from it than most of the other Veil beer I've had. Maybe a little sweetness right up front, but I'm not sure that has anything to do with the oatmilk. I'm saving a couple cans to see how it holds up over the next few weeks.
I used organic oat milk from Walmart. It's delicious. Some sweet grainy character. Not sure if 16 oz in 5 gallons will come through but we will see.
First couple bottles from my test batch oatmilk DIPA have been ..... unsuccessful. I get a grainy / oaty character that is OK but fights with rather than compliments the hops. Two things are really off - (1) it's way boozier than the standard version of my recipe, and (2) it turns dark once I chill it - moreso and quicker than any other beer I've made. Regarding the boozy quality, I think that's simple - I didn't do the suggested force fermentation, so I didn't really know how fermentable the oatmilk would be. Shame on me for flying blind. Regarding the color change, that's a little more interesting to me. Holding the bottle up to light prior to chilling, it appears pale and semi-opaque. After 24 hrs chilling, it's dark (pours brown) and completely opaque. It could be oxidation, but I've never seen a beer turn color that quickly before - and nothing in my process suggested that I introduced abnormal oxidation. A little googling suggested that yeast in suspension reflects light and makes beer appear pale, and upon chilling that yeast falls and the color darkens - that makes some sense to me, as the oatmilk prior to brewing separated in my refrigerator and had to be stirred to regain its consistency. So .... while not my best, it's still drinkable and it's a test batch. If I use oatmilk again (and I think I will, at least once more) I'll use commercial rather than homemade, and I'll drastically simplify my test recipe (that was my first instinct in this thread anyway).
By dark I mean the shade, as in it appeared pale in the bottle prior to chilling, and was noticeably darker after chilling. By opaque I mean the ability (or lack thereof) to see through the beer, as in I could see my fingers through the bottle prior to chilling, and could not do so after chilling.
