It is well documented that they give beer a fuller body and silky mouthfeel, making them a popular addition in dark beers such as stouts. Heat to around 70°C (158°F) and hold for 5-10 minutes. The barley had a noticeable burn’t like astringent character when I roasted it, the longer it was roasted the more prominent that character was. Flaked oats are most commonly associated with styles like Oatmeal Stout and, more recently, New England IPA, but they’ve been used in a variety of styles over the years. An adjunct that seems to have seen a rise in popularity recently is flaked oats, an unmalted grain used to impart a creamy mouthfeel to beer, which is due to its high beta glucan content. While anecdotal reports on the impact of toasting oats are all over the board, my ability to reliably distinguish a Brown Ale made home-toasted flaked oats from one made with non-toasted oats suggests it had a perceptible impact. Beers high in oats could potential reduce common off flavors as well as improve beer stability. What’s the reason for leaving them to sit for 3 weeks? Yes indeed you can use them, but only in a fully mashed beer (not extract) and then not as the main grain. Hey Lee, both! Like barley, wheat, and rye, oats are a cereal grain that can be used in home brewing. I’ve not been a huge user of flaked oats in my brewing, though given my experience with these xBmt beers, I’m inspired to see how this grain works in less traditional styles– Oatmeal Lager, anyone? No rice hulls on this one, if I wasn’t single vessel I definitely would have been more worried about it. Oats contain starches and gums (beta glucan) which thicken the body of a beer. Similar to other malted grains and can be used as such but we would recommend including a beta-glucan rest if you choose to use oat malt. Traditionally, the addition of oats had mainly been reserved for stouts since they add a silky smoothness to the finished beer due to their high polyphenol. And actually the toasting didn’t change the weight enough for my scale to (.01 lb granularity, I believe) pick it up. If you enjoy this stuff and feel compelled to support Brulosophy.com, please check out the Support page for details on how you can very easily do so. As beta-glucans in the wort increase, so too does mash viscosity though according to Scott Janish it may take up to 18% of the grist before you begin to perceive this silky mouthfeel from oats. Out of the 10 semi-blind triangle tests I completed, I needed to identify the unique sample 7 times (p<0.05) in order to reach statistical significance and did exactly that (p=0.02), indicating my ability to reliably distinguish a Brown Ale made with toasted oats from one made with non-toasted oats. There is another techniques which calls for adding oats towards the end of the boil (last 10-15 minutes) which the Mad Fermentationist looked into and didn’t appear to be overly impressed with but it might be something you want to try. Medieval and renaissance beers were characterized by the use of large amounts of oats. You can then add this to your main mash. MoreBeer! Thanks again for your great insights. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. After consulting with my friend, Sachin “Chino” Darji, who has previously presented on brewing with oats, I settled on a Brown Ale recipe that included a fairly large portion of flaked oats. Nice one Matt. So what are the different types of oats that you can use in your beers? But the surge of popularity of oats in the craft brewing world, starting with stouts and then exploding with hazy IPAs, has made oats a staple in many homebrewers’ grain bins. As the water was heating, I weighed out and milled the grain for each batch. The creaminess flaked oats purportedly imparts in a beer stems from the high beta glucan content, a gum produced during the malting process by the breakdown of hemicellulosic cell walls. Beers high in oats will likely have poor head retention. Jul 3, 2013 #9 An adjunct that seems to have seen a rise in popularity recently is flaked oats, an unmalted grain used to impart a creamy mouthfeel to beer, which is due to its high beta glucan content. Subscribe to BYO Magazine! © 2019 Grainfather Brewing Community. What I’m wondering is whether you “learned” to detect the difference over time/with practice.. I felt the version made with toasted oats did have an oatmeal cookie-like character to it that wasn’t at all unpleasant, just not necessarily what I’m looking for in a Brown Ale. I placed both sets of oats in separate brown paper bags and left them alone in a cool, dry spot in my kitchen. The Maillard reaction is highly studied and the impact it has on flavor is arguably well established, so it’s not suprising a beer made with toasted oats was perceptibly different than one made with non-toasted oats.