Here is the recipe I’m going with. I’m planning on doing a long (~120 minute) boil to get some caramelization of the wort for color and depth of flavor and also because I think having a fairly thin mash will help avoid a stuck sparge.
Original post:
My homebrew club has an annual fundraiser every year where all the brewers have to adhere to a theme that changes every time. This year’s theme is adjuncts and I’ve been assigned Oats as an adjunct. Now I have brewed several Oatmeal stouts in my time and I want to go for something more interesting and out of the ordinary. I was thinking of Brewing a Barley wine with a hefty portion of the grain bill switched out for oats to make an Oat-wine if you will.
I was just wondering if anyone had any other wacky suggestions? I have access to pretty much all the ingredients available (I actually manage a Homebrew store) and several months before the event itself which is in mid October. As an aside, if anyone is going to be in NYC in mid October and wants to go to a fantastic event where you can try approximately 30 different beers made by some excellent home brewers have I got the event for you!
Any kind of oats are allowed. I have access to Malted oats, Flaked oats and Golden Naked Oats and I’m planning on using all 3.
Oh and I also have access to beta-glucanase itself which I might have to use in the interests of not having a 12 hour sparge…
If you will make lager style with pills malt enzymes shouldn’t be necessary. My dad made some porridge consistency wort with some malt and after adding some Pilsen malt it was less viscose.
I know I could add either some pilsner malt or even 6 row to help with consistency but I don’t want that kind of cereal grainyness in this beer. My thoughts were to do a 50:50 split of the base malt between Maris Otter and Golden Promise because they give such a nice nutty, biscuity flavor in the final beer that I think the oats would compliment nicely.
Reicipe you added looks good. Do update us on how it went? I’m especially interested in the sparge phase and the mouthfeel on the finished product.
You may just have invented a new beer style.
Oh I’m certainly not the first person foolish enough to make an Oat-heavy Barleywine but I’ll definitely post an update on how the process goes after brewday tomorrow. Today I’ve started making a yeast starter for the Scottish Ale so I have a nice healthy pitch.