I got a Northern Brewer Big Honkin’ Stout extract/specialty grains kit as a holiday gift and I decided to tweak it to a (hopefully) Oatmeal Stout. The idea to start tweaking came when I saw that, according to Beersmith, 1 packet of yeast wouldn’t cut it for the estimated OG of 1.068 (and that’s all I had). So I decided to lower the gravity by reducing the second infusion of Dark Malt Extract by 33%. I also cut the Willamette hops (bittering) in half and added 8oz quick oats. According to the style guide in Beersmith this brought everything to within the parameters of an Oatmeal Stout (except the color which is just a bit too dark). My new target OG is 1.053 (estimated ABV 5.2%)
Brew Day (1/9/16)
Ingredients:
Amt |
Name |
Type |
# |
%/IBU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.0 oz | Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) | Grain | 1 | 5.5 % |
| 8.0 oz | Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) | Grain | 2 | 5.5 % |
| 8.0 oz | Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) | Grain | 3 | 5.5 % |
| 4.0 oz | Carafa III (525.0 SRM) | Grain | 4 | 2.7 % |
| 4.0 oz | Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) | Grain | 5 | 2.7 % |
Amt |
Name |
Type |
# |
%/IBU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 lbs 2.4 oz | Dark Liquid Extract (17.5 SRM) | Extract | 6 | 34.4 % |
| 1.00 oz | Willamette [5.50 %] – Boil 60.0 min | Hop | 7 | 19.5 IBUs |
| 4 lbs | Dark Liquid Extract [Boil for 15 min](17.5 SRM) | Extract | 8 | 43.7 % |
| 1.00 oz | Cascade [5.50 %] – Boil 15.0 min | Hop | 9 | 9.7 IBUs |
| 1.00 oz | Cascade [5.50 %] – Boil 1.0 min | Hop | 10 | 0.8 IBUs |
| 1 tsp | Irish Moss – Boil 15.0 min | Misc | 11 |
Amt |
Name |
Type |
# |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 g | Nottingham Yeast (Lallemand) – rehydrated in 4 oz water | Yeast | 1 |
- Breakfast of champions on an Oatmeal Stout brewday: oatmeal
This is not what went in the beer. - Heated 2.5 gallons water (under sink filtered) to ~163F.
- Added specialty grains and oatmeal, dunked and steeped for 25 mins with the flame out. These grains smelled amazing in the bag: chocolately and delicious. (Now that it’s steeping I can’t say I love the way this is smelling – kind of a burnt-something smell). My steeping bag is not completely submerged so I’m turning it over once in a while without pressing on it too much
Big teabag of specialty grains - Drained mesh bag, discarded and brought wort up to about 190F
- Turned off flame and stirred in 3.15 lbs of Dark malt syrup
- Brought up to boil and did hop / syrup additions.
mmmm, hops. The smell is up there with coffee. - 1 oz Willamette at 60 minutes (start of boil)
- 4 lbs Dark malt syrup, 1 oz Cacscade, 1 tsp Irish moss at 15 minutes (and wort chiller)
- 1 oz Cascade at 1 minute
- Started rehydration of yeast with 4 oz of sterilized (boiled) and cooled water per manufacturer instructions
Rehydrating yeast: once the boiled water got down to ~90F, I sprinked, waited 15 mins, stirred gently and my timing was almost perfect for pitching time. - Collected 2.5 gallons cold water in fermenting bucket (from faucet)
- Cooled wort to 100F with immersion chiller
- After combining, wort reached 67.5 F
- Pitched at 12:30pm!
- Measured OG when the bubbles finally dissipated some: OG 1.053 – Nailed it!
Finally bubbles reduced enough that I can read this (sort of) - Drank some tasty wort
Ok, so I dumped about half of this. Tastes like it’ll be good though. Secondary (1/15/16)
- Racked to secondary fermenter on 1/15 (6 days). I may’ve jumped the gun a bit, but being still relatively new to brewing, no airlock activity and no smell near my fermenter had me wondering, and thinking the longer I wait the less chance I can salvage it if something went wrong. Next time I’m definitely using a clear fermenter! Gravity is 1.019. I’m seeing more and more advice on message boards, and from experts agains racking to secondary. The reasoning being the risks of oxidation and contamination. For this one I did it because the kit’s instructions say to, and to leave it in secondary for 1 month. But my best beer so far (#4) was 2 weeks in primary and no secondary.
Bottling (2/11/16)
Bottled with 3.15 oz corn sugar dissolved in 2 cups boiling water. FG: 1.017 (ABV 4.7%) Got about 4.2 gallons in the bottling bucket and ended up with 41 bottles. It tastes delicious. Very deep roasted, chocolately, coffee flavors. I think I’m going to really enjoy this one. Could be my best yet.
Tasting (2/29/16)
I’ve been drinking this a while! What I’ve noticed so far is you really have to pour it aggressively to get a nice head on it. My habit is to pour down the side of the glass most of the way, but not for this one. It’s pretty good. Possibly a bit under-attenuated (?). It’s got maltiness and sweetness to it, but a pretty dry finish.
I am doing a taste test today, comparing it to Otter Creek’s Couch Surfer Oatmeal Stout. The Couch Surfer has a much roastier coffee-like note to it. The color is very close. The Couch Surfer is just a bit darker (blacker), and has quite a bit more mouthfeel. I’d say mine is more sessionable because it’s not so bitter and deep-chocolate-coffee-ish,
Still going… (3/9/16)
