[Carson B]

Hey all -

I'm planning on brewing an oatmeal stout around New Years. I want it to have a fairly thick mouthfeel and lean more towards chocolate than roast but still have a slight roastiness. Looking for critiques on this recipe, as it's the first one I've brewed.

70% - Maris Otter
10% - Flaked Oats
10% - Pale Chocolate Malt
5%   - Crystal 120
5%   - Roasted Barley

I figure I'll mash around 155 or so to try to help the mouthfeel. I'm wondering about using midnight wheat. I use wheat in all my NEIPAs for mouthfeel in addition to oats and have had success, so I was thinking why not try midnight wheat in a stout? In reading about it, it seems its main purpose is for Black IPAs and the like where you want the color but not the roast. I'll already have color and roast from the rest of the grain bill, but I figure the extra protein could help the mouthfeel. I'm also wondering if perhaps I should cut down a bit on the roasted barley - I'm not sure how much "roast" that will give me.

Any help would be appreciated. Feel free to rip it to shreds! I'm looking to learn, not get defensive haha. Thanks!

[mabrungard]

I’m a fan of roast barley, but not of black patent. Roast barley typically has coffee notes. I don’t see a problem with the percentage of roast barley in that recipe and could go higher.

[denny]

IMO, Midnight Wheat would be too mellow for a stout.

[Carson B]

Thank you for the response. I'm hoping that relatively low percentage of roast with using pale chocolate malt instead of chocolate malt will help build a true chocolate character rather than a more roasty, coffee profile. Although, again, I want a little roast. Trying to find that balance

[Carson B]

Denny, even with all the other grains adding color and flavor, do you think the midnight wheat would just be a waste of time considering the oats?

[Steve Ruch]

When I brew a milk or oatmeal stout I sub blackprinz malt for the roasted barley.

[denny]

Denny, even with all the other grains adding color and flavor, do you think the midnight wheat would just be a waste of time considering the oats?

Yeah, i think it's a mistake to use it in place of more roast.  That's for my tastes.  IMO, your recipe currently looks more like a porter than a stout, but those definitions are pretty malleable.

[Carson B]

Thanks for the input. How would you make it more stout-like?

[Megary]

More experienced brewers will correct me, but I'm not sure you are going to get "chocolate" by using Chocolate Malt.  You may keep the roastiness down and maybe that's what you are after, but if you want actual chocolate flavor, you might consider crushed cacao nibs somewhere along the line.

And I would probably push the roasted barley to (at least) 8% if you are trying to make it more Stout like.

Or leave your recipe as is, brew it, and make any necessary adjustments next time. It looks like it would make a fine beer without any changes.  Good luck!

[Carson B]

Thanks Megary! It seems the consensus is to push up the roasted barley. And I wasn't quite clear on the chocolate. I'm not aiming for it to taste like a chocolate bar; I just wanted the roasted malt character to lean more towards chocolate than dark roast coffee, for example. That was the idea behind using pale chocolate instead of normal chocolate and keeping the roasted barley relatively low. Not sure if that's what would happen, but that was the plan!

[grambo]

For comparison's sake here's mine, which I enjoy immensely:

8lbs Maris Otter
2lbs Flaked Oats
0.75lbs Roasted Barley (6.7% of grist)
0.5oz Chocolate Malt 350 SRM (4.4% of grist)

Mashed at 153 (was shooting for 154 but this worked out nicely)
Fermented with Imperial Pub / WLP-002 yeast

OG: 1.052
FG: 1.014
Attenuation: 72%
ABV: 5.0%

Mouthfeel was thick even without lots of crystal malts, I would say it was a bit more roasty than chocolatey though. Color was black.