So I’m looking to make an Oatmeal stout and I noticed a lot of recipes use either Pale malt DME or Amber malt DME.
I’m not quite sure what are all of the differences between Amber, Pale, Dark, and Light malt extracts.
I talked to the owner of this brew shop about what DME I should use to make Oatmeal stout and he said I should use “Dark DME”, but then I asked him whats the difference between the profiles of the malt extracts, and he told me it was the “Color” of the beer.
So is color really the only difference between malt extracts like Light and Dark DME? I doubt it, but what do you guys think?
Just for the record, here is the Oatmeal stout recipe I’m thinking of…
6.6 lb Pale Malt DME
1.5 lb Amber Malt DME
1 lb Crystal Malt 60L
.5 lb Roasted Barley
24 oz Flaked Oatmeal
2 lb American six-row pale ale malt
1 oz Nugget Hops
White Labs WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast
I wanted the OG to be about 1.065 so the alcohol content will be around 6-7%, and I wanted it to be full-bodied with good head, silky smooth, and give a mouthful of oatmeal.
What are your constructive criticisms on this recipe?
Well you are doing the right thing by doing a mini-mash with the pale malt. The problem with amber and dark extracts is that you really don’t know what kind and percentages of specialty malts are in them. You are much better off, IMO, using a light extract for the base and then adding the types and quantities of specialty malts to the recipes as you see fit.
As to constructive criticism beyond using just light extract would be to back off a bit on the crystal malt (a full pound could make this beer a little too sweet) and to up the dark roasted malt(s) as I don’t think a half pound of roasted barley will make this brew quite dark enough.
Maybe something like this:
8 lb light DME
.5 lb medium crystal
.25 lb dark crystal (UK 120L, German CaraAroma, Belgian Speical B), optional for added complexity
.5 lb roasted barley
.5 lb chocolate malt or Carafa II to increase color
1.25 lb oatmeal
2 lb pale malt
Awesome, thank you very much. I’m definitely going to use light DME then.
Good looking out on the crystal malt. I’m going to make that .5 lb then. So what about increasing the roasted barley to 1 lb? What kind of affect do you think that will have on the beer?
I also have a question regarding the mini-mash procedure if you don’t mind answering.
When I mash the pale malt with the flaked oatmeal for an hour in about 150 degree Fahrenheit water, should I also add in all the specialty grains (Roasted Barley, Chocolate Malt, Crystal) as well? Or should I steep the specialty grains after or before the mini-mash?
[quote=“Nohone”]Awesome, thank you very much. I’m definitely going to use light DME then.
Good looking out on the crystal malt. I’m going to make that .5 lb then. So what about increasing the roasted barley to 1 lb? What kind of affect do you think that will have on the beer?
I also have a question regarding the mini-mash procedure if you don’t mind answering.
When I mash the pale malt with the flaked oatmeal for an hour in about 150 degree Fahrenheit water, should I also add in all the specialty grains (Roasted Barley, Chocolate Malt, Crystal) as well? Or should I steep the specialty grains after or before the mini-mash?[/quote]
You could certainly just bump up the roasted barley to a full pound. Not everyone likes it flavor, however, so that’s why I put in the other dark malt. That will make it a little smoother. Roasted barley is often the only dark grain in a traditional dry Irish stout but with the oatmeal and crystal malts I thought the chocolate might be interesting. But if you prefer all roasted then by all means go that way. As for the mini-mash put all the grains in together.
Making an oatmeal stout is the reason I started mini-mashing, many years ago. You’ll see recipes for “steeped” oatmeal stouts but I would not recommend it. I’ve never done it though.
First of all, I would never use anything other than pale extract, you are doing the right thing. What you should do is indulge in a little research. Purchase several commerical examples of the style and get a feel for what you enjoy.
Personally, I would use the chocolate malt because in my humble opinion an oatmeal stout is going to come off as less roasty than a dry stout for example. You want the beer to be sweeter than a milk stout but not as dry as a Guiness type beer. By the way, you can toast the oats in the oven to add interest, just something to think about.
8 Lb Light DME
.5 lb Crystal Malt 60L
1 lb Roasted Barley
.25 lb Specialty B
1.25 lb Flaked Oatmeal
2 lb Six Row
Irish Ale Yeast
Nugget Hops
I was talking to the dude at the shop and he recommended I do six row instead of two row, but I can’t remember why. I was gonna get chocolate malt too but then I didn’t because I wanted to bring out the flavor of roasted barley more. So I know it’s going to be a bit dry, which is fine by me really. Please share your opinions about the recipe and how you feel it might turn out.
I also have a question too. After I do the mini-mash with the oats and grains, do I need to sparge? Because I don’t really have the equipment to do that.
[quote=“Nohone”]So I ended up getting the following:
8 Lb Light DME
.5 lb Crystal Malt 60L
1 lb Roasted Barley
.25 lb Specialty B
1.25 lb Flaked Oatmeal
2 lb Six Row
Irish Ale Yeast
Nugget Hops
I was talking to the dude at the shop and he recommended I do six row instead of two row, but I can’t remember why. I was gonna get chocolate malt too but then I didn’t because I wanted to bring out the flavor of roasted barley more. So I know it’s going to be a bit dry, which is fine by me really. Please share your opinions about the recipe and how you feel it might turn out.
I also have a question too. After I do the mini-mash with the oats and grains, do I need to sparge? Because I don’t really have the equipment to do that.[/quote]
Re the six-row I’m going to assume the LHBS guy recommended it because he thought it had a lot more diastatic content than two-row and he thought it would be needed to convert the oats. In both cases the answer is, no. While six-row pale has more enzyme content than two-row the difference with the current malts is negligible. Two-row pale has more than enough diastatic power to do the job and in this beer it will taste better. For sparging with your mini-mash don’t worry about specialized equipment. Just rinse it with some hot (170F) water and collect the runnings for your wort. You can put the grain bag in a kitchen colander or just dip & soak in a big bowl of similarly hot water to rinse out more of the malt goodies. :cheers:
Figures, I should have just stuck with two-row. Oh well.
Thanks for the sparging advice. I’m going to do just that. I’m brewing this stout this Saturday. I’ll let you guys know how it turns out like 6 weeks later lol.
