Coopers Stout with Oatmeal

[Billythegypsy]

It was an alcohol tincture. IIRC.


Now I'm second guessing myself

[LordEoin]

Like one of these? If so, you're golden

[Billythegypsy]

Like one of these? If so, you're golden

It was bourbon actually, liberated from Herselfs baking supplies.

[Garry]

Time for bottling I think. This has been in the FV for 7 weeks so I suppose the yeast has done all it's going to do. It finished at 1.016° which gives me an ABV of 4.7%.

I'm carbing to 1.5vols so I need to add 45g of dextrose.



I'm also adding 500g of lactose for a little extra sweetness and body.



I add these to some water and bring to the boil. I didn't measure the water but I needed about 1 litre to disolve all the lactose. It was very creamy at this stage but it really thinned out when it came to the boil. Maybe 0.5L of water would have been enough.





I draw off a small sample to clear the FV tap and to have a little sup myself. Tastes good, even without carbonation you could drink this straight from the bucket! That would solve the bottling/kegging debate!



I add the priming solution to the bottling bucket and rack the beer on top.



Blub blub blub! SHIT! I forgot to take out the bubbler! AGAIN! I don't think much got in this time 



I cover the bottling bucket and jack up the back of the FV with a towel. Then leave it alone while I start sanitizing the bottles.





When the FV is drained I give the beer a gentle stir with a sanitised spoon and put it up on the counter to let it settle.





Once all the bottles are sanitized I start filling and capping them.





It's very satisfying to see a few crates of bottled beer! These go in the hot press for 2 weeks. Then out to the garage where they will happily reside. (Until randomly chosen and consumed  )

[irish_goat]

What temp did you ferment at? I may be wrong but I don't think it's good to put the beer in the hot press for priming as it can cause thermal shock to the yeast. Room temperature will be grand for it.

[Garry]

What temp did you ferment at? I may be wrong but I don't think it's good to put the beer in the hot press for priming as it can cause thermal shock to the yeast. Room temperature will be grand for it.

I fermented at 20°C for 2 weeks. Then I took off the heat belt so it would have dropped to around 17-18° for the remaining 5 weeks. My hot press isn't actually hot! The cylinder is well insulated so I need a small heater and stc-1000 in the hot press to get it up to 20°.

[CB_Phil]

Very interested to how this turns out, Loved the Anderson Valley Oatmeal I had in Long Beach. curious if you get such a smooth flavour

[Garry]

Aroma is malty/sweet, no hops.

Taste is sweet. Good body. Bitter/roasty after taste. Maybe a but too sweet.

Carbonation is Goldilocks

Head retention is shite

Overall I'm pleased. This beer will only improve with time.

If I did it again I'd add some wheat dme to improve the head retention. Maybe 500g? And half the lactose to reduce the sweetness.

[Blueshed]

im planning on brewing something similar over the next few days, this is what i have to use.

1 Coopers kit, Porridge oats, 1kg dark spray malt

Carapils, Pale ale, Cara red, Aroma, Chocolate, Carafa III

Fuggles, Dana, Cascade, Chinook, Willamette, Perle, Saaz.

Any advice on a recipe from the above or anything else i should use.

[Garry]

im planning on brewing something similar over the next few days, this is what i have to use.

1 Coopers kit, Porridge oats, 1kg dark spray malt

Carapils, Pale ale, Cara red, Aroma, Chocolate, Carafa III

Fuggles, Dana, Cascade, Chinook, Willamette, Perle, Saaz.

Any advice on a recipe from the above or anything else i should use.

You will need some base malt to mash the oats properly. So use 500g of pale ale with 500g of porridge oats.

Add 200g of carapils or carared to help head retention. Carared might give you a sweeter taste.

Add 50 to 100g of chocolate if you like (I've gone off the stuff myself)!

I don't think a stout needs much hop aroma myself but you could boil 15g of fuggles for 10min if that's your thing.

[benji]

Hey Garry, just wondering how this brew matured, have you some left now and if you do how does it taste

[Garry]

There's still a few left. I haven't tried it in a while but the lactose sweetness has definitely mellowed. I've been sparing them for the father in law, he's fond of the stout!  I might crack one open tomorrow night and let you know.

[Garry]

Taste is still a bit too sweet to be honest. I'd definitely cut down on the lactose next time. It's still a nice drop. Only 2 litres left now.

I've sorted out the head retention using my ghetto nitro system. (Idea  stolen from homebrewtalk.com)

[Garry]

Link to cheap skate nitro:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/entries/free-the-nitro.html

[benji]

Thanks Garry, I'm thinking of starting my winter brews for next winter and letting them sit for 9-12 months , think I might try your recipe for this stout and the imperial stout and bigfoot clone we talked about in other threads,
I tried Dungarvans oatmeal and coffee stout a couple of weeks ago and I though it was quite tasty, it also had poor head retention I wonder does the oats cause this problem, btw poor head retention doesn't bother me its all about the taste