Oatmeal Stout

[mr_pinball]

I had an aul crack at all grain brewing a few weeks ago as I was sick to death of doing kits. After much agonising, I decide to go with an Oatmeal Stout to break my all grain cherry. I begged my missus to get me a mash tun and boiler for my 30th birthday (poor woman is now a homebrew widow) and carefully created a recipe. So finally brewday arrived and I thought I had everything organised (I didn't) and that my calculations were correct (they weren't) and that I would be just a simple step by step process (it wasn't). Took me all bloody day and I kept panicking and I made the mistake of brewing it outside, in the freezing cold. Took forever to get a good rolling boil. Anyway, finally got it in the FV pitched the yeast and sat back and admired my handi work (then looked at the mess I'd made). It was brilliant craic!

Here's the recipe

5 gallon batch
Strike water: 4 gallons
Sparge water: 4 gallons (batch sparge)
Equipment loss: 1.5 gallons
Mash temp: 67 Celsius
Mash time: 90 mins
Efficency: 79% (I think)
OG: 1.066
FG: 1.013

Grain bill

8lbs 6Oz Marris Otter
12Oz Special B
10Oz Chocolate Malt
4Oz Carafa II
8Oz Roasted Barley
1lb Flaked oats

0.5Oz Challenger (start of boil)
0.5Oz East Kent Golding (Start of boil)
0.7Oz Challenger (end of boil)
(I kinda messed up my hops, the start of boil ones were meant to go in at the end and vice versa.....oops)

Whirlfloc tablet (15mins at end of boil)

Wyeast Irish Ale yeast


It was bubbling away after a few hours and I let it sit in the primary for about 2 and a half weeks, then bottled it.

I tasted one after 4 weeks, not fully carbed yet and head retention wasn't great. The flavours werent completely settled, but I got lovely chocolaty notes coming through that turned to a smooth coffee aftertaste. Can't wait to see what it'll be like in a few more weeks.

Onwards to my next adventure, and American Pale Ale....

[Drum]

LOL that sounds very like my first all grain brew day. Hang in there, it gets easier as you get used to your equipment and its quirks.

[mr_pinball]

Cheers bud,  I finished the American Pale Ale the other day, and it went a whole lot smoother. Just finished bottling it. Couldn't stop taking wee samples to taste, even at this early stage it was lovely! Now I've no room to store any more bottles and have to wait until these are drunk before brewing another batch.