Oats question

Flaked oats from the supermarket are just fine. Ideally, you'll mash them with a little grain to avoid starch issues.

 

I used quick oats in my imperial stout a few weeks ago... I used normal rolled oats in a milk stout before that with no issue. I added them in my grain mixture and mashed with my grains.

I had a few stuck mashes though with my imperial stout which was a bit of a pain, but I should have just added some rice hulls when it occurred. Either way, live and learn! That beer came out stunning regardless. Along with my high mash temp (155-156) and the addition of cara-pils and a pound of oats, that stout has an incredible mouth feel... Mmmmm.

 

Are you doing an extract beer where you are going to steep the oats or are you mashing? Whole oats, or old fashioned oats, need to be mashed. If you are steeping, use instant oats.

 

I just want to point out that even instant oats should be mashed. I guess it's true that if you are going to steep your oats, instant oats are probably the best to use, but you will still end up with a bunch of unconverted starch in your beer. (Actually, the best approach if you want to steep oats is probably Golden Naked Oats, which don't need to be mashed, but I am not sure how easily available those are.)

 

Interesting idea. For OP's info: GNOs are not the same as unmalted oats. GNOs are malted, and specifically are a crystal malt. They will add some sweetness, which unmalted oats won't. I also suspect the mouth feel proteins from GNO would be a bit different (and probably less) than from unmalted oats. Still, from a best practice standpoint, I wouldn't steep unmalted oats. I would steep GNO, if it fit the recipe/goals.

 

and then there are malted oats...but if using extract only, as mindbender says...GNOs are your best bet.

btw: oatmeal (flaked oats) are a lot cheaper at the store usually than at a homebrew supply

 

Yes, put them in with the grains an mash as usual.


This kind works fine.

 

• I have used oats described as instant, quick, flaked, and rolled directly in the mash.
• I have used steel cut in the mash following pre-cooking, not quite like a cereal mash, but a cereal mash would do fine.
• I have also used Oat Malt, just to be different. I'm not 100% sure how this affects sensory profiles (i.e., taste and mouthfeel) but it probably helps if you are prone to stuck mashes because oat malt has husk material that can become part of the grain "bed."
• And Golden Naked Oats are something akin to an oat version of crystal malt that I find pretty tasty in a pale beer with minimal amounts of other specialty malts. If you are making an oatmeal stout, it probably does add some of the mouthfeel elements as Vikeman suggests, but I would guess the flavors can get lost among the roasted malts. I probably wouldn't use any other crystal malts in this beer if I hoped to taste the GNOs. If I were steeping, I would do this. However, I think that it is almost as easy to do a minimash with a pound of 2-row and a pound of oats as it is to steep grains.