American Extra Oatmeal Stout

Brewer: Yours truly
Style: Oatmeal stout
ABV: 5.7%
IBU: 28
Serving Type: On tap into an English pub glass

Back when this was brewed, I wanted three things: 1) To brew a stout, 2) to follow a recipe out of Brewing Classic Styles, and 3) to use only ingredients I had on hand. Unfortunately, my inventory did not allow me to use any of Jamil's stout recipes, so I was left to improvise. What I wound up with was some bizarre mash-up between an American stout, a foreign extra stout, and an oatmeal stout. I give you: American Extra Oatmeal Stout!

9 lbs Domestic 2-row
1 lb Flaked oats
12 oz Chocolate malt
8 oz Crystal 60L
8 oz Roasted barley
8 oz Victory malt
2 oz U.S. Tettnang @60 min
Irish Ale yeast WLP004
Mashed 75 min @150 F

Appearance is super dark, nearly black (estimated at 31 SRM by BeerSmith). Several fingers of tan head takes its sweet time in settling to a persistent film, but lacing is minimal. Lots of chocolate on the nose, with some good roasted malts coming in behind. A little caramel sweetness too.

Where the aroma was all chocolate, the taste is all roast. Chocolate is there, mostly in the aftertaste, and more subdued. Plenty creamy from the oats, with a medium-to heavy body and mild carbonation. A sweet finish if you can find it behind the roasted flavor.

A fairly solid brew overall. I would definitely cut back on the roasted barley next time, try and let some of the subtleties of the victory and chocolate malts come through.

My score: 3/5

Brewing Classic Styles: Saison

The local homebrew club's August meeting is featuring Saisons, and I've been tasked to present. What better way to honor a style than to pull the recipe from the gold standard text on brewing classic styles, Jamil Zainasheff's Brewing Classic Styles?

Unfortunately, the day was fraught with troubles, starting with two broken thermometers. The mercury thermometer I was left with was very difficult to read, and my mash temperature was well too low. I'm hoping it will still turn out okay, as the style calls for a low mash temp and highly fermentable wort anyway.

However, my mash stuck to no end. There was only 12 oz. of wheat malt in the grain bill, and I didn't think rice hulls would be necessary. When the mash was finally through, I discovered this thick slime caked all over the bottom of my grain bag.

Finally, I was simultaneously building a table. I tried to keep track of both tasks, but both my mash and boil time may have been a bit too long. The mash time I'm not worried about. Low temperatures call for a longer mash to get full starch conversion anyway. A too long boil, while helping DMS, could easily throw off my color. And, oh yeah, I nearly forgot the pound of table sugar, which didn't go in until the rest of the beer was already in the fermenter. As such, I have no reliable gravity reading.

It ferments from 68-80 degrees, rising steadily to make the yeast attenuate as much as possible. At least this part I can control, now that I have a temp controlled spare fridge to ferment in. I'm really hoping that, even though it's not the best beer I could have made, it will remain true to the classic Saison.