Operation Homebrew: Ebony & Ivory Oatmeal Stout

Hello all, Evan here.



Spring break at UMD + Homebrew = New blog post.

I kicked off the start of spring break by immediately rushing home to see if my brew ingredients arrived in the mail. Indeed they did, so I prepared everything for an evening of homebrewing. A great, relaxing start to spring break!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm an avid homebrewer. However, I am also relatively new to it. I decided that for my fourth batch, I would modify my first batch, the Oatmeal Stout extract kit by Midwest Supplies.

Oatmeal stouts are generally sweeter and thicker than traditional stouts. They lack the bitterness of normal stouts, have cleaner malt profiles, and use oats as a thickening-agent. Roasted barley contributes a subtle roasted flavor, while hops are used only for bittering. The stout shout emphasize malts and oats, rather than hop bitterness. Hop aroma is traditionally avoided.

The original recipe consisted of Dark liquid malt extract, Rolled Oats, Chocolate Malt, and Roasted Barley specialty grains, with Fuggle pellet hops for bitterness. It was a good debut brew, but it left more to be desired. I thought it lacked flavor complexity and body.

This time around, I made several changes to the recipe. To improve the body and thickness, I doubled the amount of flaked oats used. I significantly increased the chocolate malt amount, while keeping the roasted barley amount constant. Chocolate malt contributes chocolate (duh!!!), nut, and toasted flavors, while roasted barley adds burnt and roasted flavors. I also used crystal 60°L malt (60°L refers to the lovibond, or darkness, rating) for complexity. Finally, I switched the extract source from dark to amber. This should improve the nuttiness of the brew and lighten it slightly. As for the hops, I added Kent Goldings to complement the Fuggle hops. I reduced the boil time of each to reduce the overall bitterness.

I realize that many changes were made to the original recipe. However, I consider this a development of a personal recipe, as opposed to perfecting an original. My excitement for the recipe makes waiting even more difficult.

Here's the stout just before the boil.

More about homebrewing to come later this week. Thanks for reading!

Evan