Oatmeal IPA

[cbates]

Had a first taste of this one from the mini-keg last night and I'd say it's the best beer I've made so far, so thought I'd share in case anyone else fancies giving it ago. I was aiming to combine some of my favourite aspects of Kernel and BBNo beers and it's ended up like a Cloudwater... I am not complaining!

23l batch

Malt
8.15kg total
74% Dingemans pale malt
18% flaked oats
5% wheat malt
3% light crystal malt
(I also added 500g of oat husks to try and prevent sticking)

Hops
Colombus - 15.3% AA
Azacca - 12% AA
Experimental grapefruit (batch one) - 15.2% AA
Experimental grapefruit (batch two) - 16.6% AA

60min boil
9g Colombus - FWH
5g Colombus - 20
12g Azacca - 20
6g Colombus - 15
15g Azacca - 15
10g Exp GF (1) - 10
20g Azacca - 10
22g Exp GF (1) - 5
20g Azacca - 5

4 day DH - 15g Exp GF (2) and 15g Azacca
2 day DH - 15g Exp GF (2) and 18g Azacca

Added wort chiller and irish moss with 10 mins of boil to go.

Conan yeast (combination of Omega Labs and Gigayeast versions) - started at 21.5c, peaked at 24.8 then hovered around 20.5-22.5 for 2 weeks (no temperature control, unfortunately)

Mash
50c for 30mins
Raise to 60c for 20mins
Raise to 70c for 40mins
Then sparge

OG = 1.065
FG = 1.013
ABV = 6.8%
IBUs = 61

Give me a shout if I've missed anything!

 

[Gomas]

Looks interesting! How is the high IBU / Oat interaction? I imagine the oats balance it out quite nicely.

 

[Brew_DD2]

Tell me more about the mash schedule.

 

[cbates]

Looks interesting! How is the high IBU / Oat interaction? I imagine the oats balance it out quite nicely.

Yes, quite nicely balanced. I don't think you'd necessarily know the IBUs were so high on paper. Over time it's changed quite a bit - initially I don't think you'd have known it was so strong, but when I tried a bottle recently the juicy, fruity hop aroma and flavour has diminished significantly and there's now more alcohol burn. Still nice, but very different.

 

[cbates]

Tell me more about the mash schedule.

What do you want to know?

Mashed in a converted coolbox so started with a stiff mash and added hot liquor at the different intervals to bring the temperature up, then performed a simple batch sparge.

 

[Brew_DD2]

I'm just curious as to why rather than how. What's the benefits of mashing like this rather than holding the temp at around 65 degrees and then mashing out?

 

[cbates]

I'm just curious as to why rather than how. What's the benefits of mashing like this rather than holding the temp at around 65 degrees and then mashing out?

There are a few things, some scientific (which I am by no means an expert on) and some practical. Sorry if you already know a lot of this, I am going to assume you don't - hopefully someone can correct me if I've got it wrong! (Most of my information is from Palmer's How to Brew - if you don't have a copy I would highly recommend it.)

The lower temperature rest should, in theory, help break down some of the gums in the oats and wheat and make lautering easier. The science says 35-45C is the best temp for this, but I'm a bit of an idiot... I'm sure there was some logic at the time, but I don't have my brew diary to hand.

The middle rest is the primary rest in this case for releasing fermentable sugars, but I wanted to shorten this and rest for longer at the higher temperature as this leads to more dextrinous (and also less fermentable) wort and adds body to the finished beer. You can flip the latter two rest timings if you like for a lighter, more fermentable wort, or do an equal rest at half an hour each, or a bunch of other combinations of times and temperatures for different effects.

That's the theory. In reality, it may not do much at all, though this XBMT from Brulosophy suggests people can tell a difference and it's better for overall efficiency:
http://brulosophy.com/2016/04/04/single-infusion-vs-step-mash-brudragon-collaboration-exbeeriment-results/

I suppose this makes me a bit of a romantic but, historically, many great beers have been brewed with a multi-step mash. This was out of necessity - lots of Belgian and Czech brewers were working with unique water considerations and unmodified malts, and without multiple temperature rests they wouldn't have been able to get the most out of their ingredients. It's less necessary now with the way malts are modified and water is treated, but I can't help but wonder whether there's something to it - for that light, fluffy head if nothing else...

There's also a practical reason - given my equipment and setup I find it much easier, and quicker, to bring three small infusions up to temperature than one big infusion. This is probably the biggest factor for me, it's just convenient that the science also backs it up! :thumb:

 

[Brew_DD2]

Great answer. I wasn't aware of the lower temps for oats. I am au fait with different mashing methods but that's a new one on me. I'll have to give it a go.

I'm sold.