Adding specialty malts after fermentation

Mashing
1

I posted this in the general forum but got no replies, so I figured I’d try here. I apologize if you’ve read it already.

I just made an oatmeal stout and it doesn’t have near enough roasty flavor for my tastes. In fact, I used s-04 for the first time and all I really taste and smell is the fruitiness from the yeast (Fermentation got up to 70 near the end of the 2nd day, then slowly came down, FWIW).

Anyway, I want to add maybe .75 roasted barley to this to give it some more flavor (or at least something other than fruitiness).

My plan:
cold-steep .75# Roasted Barley in about 1.5L of water overnight
boil for 15 mins
ferment for a few days in a growler with US-05
decant and add to an already carbed keg.

Does anyone foresee a problem with this, or does anyone have any experience with this?

2

Should work. The only problem I can see is the keg foaming up when you add it. Shouldn’t be too big an issue, though.

3

Thanks, man.

4

Just a Q that I don’t have an answer for but am curious.
Will you get any fermentables out of the cold steeped roasted barley, so do you really need to ferment it?
My guess is no. I’ll be interested in seeing opinions by the more knowledgable.

5

Like James R said, roast barley won’t ferment since it hasn’t been malted. Go with the cold steep & pasteurize, then add your liquid to the keg.

6

[quote=“James Rausch”]Just a Q that I don’t have an answer for but am curious.
Will you get any fermentables out of the cold steeped roasted barley, so do you really need to ferment it?
My guess is no. I’ll be interested in seeing opinions by the more knowledgable.[/quote]

Well, I should’ve read this thread again. After I boiled I added dry yeast, but no fermentation after 24 hours. The gravity reading was about 1.040. So, last night I rehydrated a few grams of yeast and added. This morning, no signs of fermentation. I’ll take another gravity reading this evening, but looks like nothing’s going to happen.

I guess now we know for sure. I would’ve thought the chocolate malt would ferment though. After the malt was crushed by my LHBS, I ground it pretty fine in my coffee grinder. I would’ve expected a gravity around 1.050 with 70% efficiency, but maybe I got much higher with the fine grind. I didn’t take a gravity reading after steeping, so I don’t know for sure. But, maybe I just missed the quick fermentation of the sugars from the chocolate malt, and this would explain the current ~1.040 gravity. Either way, I guess it’s ready for the keg.

7

Chocolate malt won’t ferment without some base malt since it has no enzymes to break down the dextrins.

8

OK. Thanks all.