overnight mash and oats

[gurtpint]

Wanna do me an oatmeal stout... Could I do an overnight mash or would this be asking for trouble with sparging?

 

[Tony]

Hey Gurtpint!

If my yeast arrives in time I'll be doing an overnighter on an oatmeal this weekend - I'll be able to let you know! When are you planning on brewing yours?

I can't see there'll be a problem, what % of oats are you using?

 

[gurtpint]

Yo Tony! That's great. Mine might be a Young's or Samuel Smith clone (unless you have a cracking recipe, hint hint). They both seem to use about 5-6% oats. I'm a weekend/holiday brewer and the next couple of weekends are already spoken for, so I'm in no big hurry. The potential problem I had in mind was the thickening of oatmeal as you leave it to stand and cool, which I thought might be a bit pesky when it comes to sparging. But I'd imagine that the mash won't be getting to ambient rooms temp during the night anyway, so maybe I'm just being paranoid. Are you going to use rice hulls in yours? Some recipes seem to stress their usage, others couldn't obviously care less. What yeast are you going to use, by the way? Ta!

 

[Ceejay]

Forgive my ignorance, but whay are both of you considering overnight mash? Would you not end up extracting loads of undesirables?

I only ask as I'm planning an oatmeal stout brew on Saturday (a day that I think should be dubbed "Oatmeal Stout Saturday"!!) and i'm trying to plan!

 

[gurtpint]

For me it's about saving some time really. Don't quote me on that, but I think you wouldn't extract any undesirables (tannins etc) since the temperature of the mash is way below the 80C mark. Maybe someone with more insight could either confirm that or tell me to go stand in the corner?

 

[Aleman]

The amount of oats is generally quite small . . . and if you do a glucan rest with the oats (Search for Aleman and Effin Oatmeal Stout) then you don't get any of that thickening

No issue with extracting undesirables . . . it may be a bit more fermentable, but you can account for that by starting the mash a bit hotter

* I'd double the amount of oats in the Effin Oatmeal Stout when I do it again

 

[gurtpint]

^Thanks for that. Does it really matter whether you use regular oats or instant stuff?

So I could actually use around 760g of oats for a 23L Effin batch? That would make it quite creamy, right? Mmm, creamy... Is there some hop that would be a decent substitute for Bramling Cross? Got none at present, so it's the case of either making an order or working my way round it.

 

[Tony]

At work at the moment but I'll post the recipe when I get home this evening!

Will have to look into doubling the oats Aleman .. thanks!

Gurt - don't use instant porridge!

 

[Ceejay]

Cheers for clearing that up! :thumb: Been reading the GW book over and over, and it's got me all confused about some things (like the bit where he says to run the wort from mash tun straight into the boiler so you don't have wort sitting around cooling for too long :wha: )

 

[Aleman]

Cheers for clearing that up! :thumb: Been reading the GW book over and over, and it's got me all confused about some things (like the bit where he says to run the wort from mash tun straight into the boiler so you don't have wort sitting around cooling for too long :wha: )

What to be :wha: about? At the end of the mash you run the sweet wort straight into the boiler and once the element is covered switch the boiler on so that the wort doesn't cool down. Some people who have a combined HLT/Boiler have to collect the wort in a bucket and once finished sparging then tip the bucket into the boiler. . . . it works but it's not best practice and it increases the length of the brew day by up to 60 minutes

 

[gurtpint]

Gurt - don't use instant porridge!

I hear ye. Already got an extra box of regular oats waiting for the big day.

 

[Ceejay]

Cheers for clearing that up! :thumb: Been reading the GW book over and over, and it's got me all confused about some things (like the bit where he says to run the wort from mash tun straight into the boiler so you don't have wort sitting around cooling for too long :wha: )

What to be :wha: about? At the end of the mash you run the sweet wort straight into the boiler and once the element is covered switch the boiler on so that the wort doesn't cool down. Some people who have a combined HLT/Boiler have to collect the wort in a bucket and once finished sparging then tip the bucket into the boiler. . . . it works but it's not best practice and it increases the length of the brew day by up to 60 minutes

I see. I think I'm getting all mixed up with different things. I would have thought an overnight mash would have similar consequences to running wort into a bucket and letting it cool, allbeit less so as the mash tun is insulated. That's what's confusing me, but I think I'm overthinking things, 3 days before first brewday!

 

[gurtpint]

There's a lot to be confused about but you pick up things as you go along and for the most cases help is no further away than on this forum. The wort is a lot more sensitive creature after the boil and vulnerable to all kinds of nasties. That's why you're better off cooling it fast and pitching enough healthy yeast as soon as you can. Even if there were some buggers thinking about getting cocky in and during the (overnight) mash, the boil will set them straight.

 

[Ceejay]

See, when you put it like that it sounds very obvious!!