How to Improve a Beer Recipe: Triple Oat Breakfast Stout

This saga began with a recipe I created for an oatmeal stout. The first round of triple oat stout was a decent success, but I wanted to make some improvements to get the beer more where I wanted it to be. Things that I attempted to correct in the second version were color, hop selection and yeast selection.

Here is the recipe for version two:

• 7.5# Rahr 2-Row
• 1# Briess Organic Roasted Barley
• 1# Simpson's Medium Crystal
• 4 oz Carafa Special II
• 8 oz Oat Malt
• 8 oz Flaked Oats
• 8 oz Golden Naked Oats

Mash at 153 for 60 minutes
60 min 1 oz EKG @ 7.2% AA for about 29 IBU
Target OG 1.059
Actual OG 1.055
FG 1.009
Wyeast London Ale 1028 fermented at 68 degrees

Overall, version two was much more what I was after for this stout – a darker color, a cleaner yeast profile, and a less bitter hop profile. The low finishing gravity accentuates the dried fruit/raisiny character of the Golden Naked Oats in the finish a little to strongly. I wanted to use a rather clean base malt to learn the flavor impacts of the blend of oats and fine tune that selection, but now that I think it's where it should be, I plan to change that to Maris Otter for a more authentic British flavor.

Version three will be brewed in the near future, so I plan to change a couple more variables. First, the base malt is changing to Warminster Maris Otter to add a nice bread-crusty note to the beer. I decided to increase both the Oat Malt and the flaked oats, but decrease the Golden Naked Oats. This should bring up the creamy, vanilla-like notes from the Oat Malt and decrease the dried fruit finish from the Golden Naked Oats. By increasing my mash temperature, I plan to create a more dextrinous wort to create more body and mouthfeel and also raise the finishing gravity a few points.

Version three:

• 7.5# Warminster Maris Otter
• 1# Simpson's Medium Crystal
• 1# Briess Organic Roasted Barley
• 12 oz Oat Malt
• 12 oz Flaked Oats
• 4 oz Golden Naked Oats
• 3 oz Carafa Special II

Mash at 158 degrees for 60 minutes
60 min 1.5 oz EKG at 4.5% AA for about 28 IBU
Wyeast London Ale 1028 fermented at 68 degrees

Good luck with your own recipes, homebrewers!