100% Oatmeal beer.

[GFHomebrew]

Not sure how you get away with 6-7Kg after grains being soaked. Sometimes I use 15lb of base malts, not including any specialty. Your grains look very dry, how long do you leave them sitting?

Yeah so I'd have to find a pot that would fit in my pot, craft up some handles, buy another brew bag, and create a pully system on my rental house. I've been struggling to find a pot the right size to fit inside my pot for a while.

Sounds like it would be cheaper/better for me to convert one of my big coolers I have into a mash tun using heat rated PVC and a Ball Valve that way I can get into 10gal brews.

Freshly laid.
Yeah weight was a guestimate probably lighter really.
I squeeze the bejibers out of it well maybe I don't throttle it but I get most the juice out (you want that stuff). Dude I'm no strong man far from it but in lift the bag with one arm and fit the strainer pot with the other in one move.
Remember this is a standard 4.5 ABV 20lt brew. If you cant lift your grain bag for this size brew your leaving way to much wort in the grains.
Totally understand if brewing up 10-15gal well there are Pullys for that.

Maybe this is another instance where good efficiency can help in the heavy lifting less grain to mash = less weight to lift = happier brewer spincter valve intact .

 

[coreyman]

Freshly laid.
Yeah weight was a guestimate probably lighter really.
I squeeze the bejibers out of it well maybe I don't throttle it but I get most the juice out (you want that stuff). Dude I'm no strong man far from it but in lift the bag with one arm and fit the strainer pot with the other in one move.
Remember this is a standard 4.5 ABV 20lt brew. If you cant lift your grain bag for this size brew your leaving way to much wort in the grains.
Totally understand if brewing up 10-15gal well there are Pullys for that.

Maybe this is another instance where good efficiency can help in the heavy lifting less grain to mash = less weight to lift = happier brewer spincter valve intact .

You aren't supposed to squeeze the grains are you? Lets bad stuff out? I try not to brew anything under 6%

 

[Mark Farrall]

You aren't supposed to squeeze the grains are you? Lets bad stuff out? I try not to brew anything under 6%

There's nothing that squeezing the bag will do to extract bad stuff if there's no bad stuff in the bag. And it's not necessarily a BIAB thing. There's a bunch of brewers that now do full volume mashing in a bag in their mash tun. So the only difference between them and a traditional BIAB approach is the transfer of the wort to the kettle.

If you look at the common problems people bring up it's astringency from tanins and more bitter malt flavours.

To avoid the astringency problem, keep the mash pH under control. It's actually easier to screw this up with batch and fly sparging than full volume mashing, as you're adding water that you may forget to pH adjust. And as BIAB people will use both batch and full volume mashing they're not really more or less exposed to this than people with a dedicated mash tun.

The more bitter taste complaint makes a little bit of sense to me, but I think it's people not adjusting their recipes for a different mashing approach, mainly for dark beers. I expect it's something similar to the differences people get with mashing roasted grains different to standard grains, e.g. late mash additions, or separately steeped in cold water. So I think if you're not keen on roasted flavours you may be better either adjusting the grains down for full volume mashes or cold steeping them separately and adding that as you start the boil.

 

[coreyman]

There's nothing that squeezing the bag will do to extract bad stuff if there's no bad stuff in the bag. And it's not necessarily a BIAB thing. There's a bunch of brewers that now do full volume mashing in a bag in their mash tun. So the only difference between them and a traditional BIAB approach is the transfer of the wort to the kettle.

If you look at the common problems people bring up it's astringency from tanins and more bitter malt flavours.

To avoid the astringency problem, keep the mash pH under control. It's actually easier to screw this up with batch and fly sparging than full volume mashing, as you're adding water that you may forget to pH adjust. And as BIAB people will use both batch and full volume mashing they're not really more or less exposed to this than people with a dedicated mash tun.

The more bitter taste complaint makes a little bit of sense to me, but I think it's people not adjusting their recipes for a different mashing approach, mainly for dark beers. I expect it's something similar to the differences people get with mashing roasted grains different to standard grains, e.g. late mash additions, or separately steeped in cold water. So I think if you're not keen on roasted flavours you may be better either adjusting the grains down for full volume mashes or cold steeping them separately and adding that as you start the boil.

I get you on the PH adjustment, but many home brewers don't bother with PH at all because they are still learning all the other aspects of brewing. I know I don't have any equipment for it or product to add to my water. I've never squeezed the grain and my OG is usually on par.

 

[Mark Farrall]

I get you on the PH adjustment, but many home brewers don't bother with PH at all because they are still learning all the other aspects of brewing. I know I don't have any equipment for it or product to add to my water. I've never squeezed the grain and my OG is usually on par.

So full volume mashing is generally safer for astringency than batch or fly sparging if you're not adjusting. So feel free to squeeze and save that less than a dollar on grain costs from the added efficiency

 

[GFHomebrew]

I get you on the PH adjustment, but many home brewers don't bother with PH at all because they are still learning all the other aspects of brewing. I know I don't have any equipment for it or product to add to my water. I've never squeezed the grain and my OG is usually on par.

A drop of acid is all you need to bring ph down on sparge water.

 

[Nosybear]

A drop of acid is all you need to bring ph down on sparge water.

The calculator tells me I need about a ml, or 20 drops, for my water and volume. It's really hard to generate astringency when batch sparging if you control your temperature. I acidify my sparge water primarily because I like tartness in beer. I'm not a BIABer so I don't know about squeezing the grain bag but won't it squeeze itself due to the weight of the wet grain? Steeping is a bit different because of the grains involved and the water-grist ratio so I just let the wort run off as long as it wants to, then throw the grains away.

 

[GFHomebrew]

The calculator tells me I need about a ml, or 20 drops, for my water and volume. It's really hard to generate astringency when batch sparging if you control your temperature. I acidify my sparge water primarily because I like tartness in beer. I'm not a BIABer so I don't know about squeezing the grain bag but won't it squeeze itself due to the weight of the wet grain? Steeping is a bit different because of the grains involved and the water-grist ratio so I just let the wort run off as long as it wants to, then throw the grains away.

My sparge volume is 5lt every batch. I sparge below 80c "supposedly below the tannin extraction temp" I use phosphoric acid 90% used to use lactic 88 so a drop brings my water down below 6ph. I've been a serial squeezer for years. astringent isnt a common taste profile in my beers unless I cant taste mouth puckering sucking on teabag astringency.
You know this talk about full volume mashing has got me half interested in trying it just to see if there is some discernible difference/more enhanced flavour but I think there wont itll be beer .
There is a lot of "beer lore" out there and tannin extraction from squeezing the grain bag is in my opinion one of them along with hot sparge temp or else why when decoction mashing there isnt any tannin extraction .

 

[Mark Farrall]

My sparge volume is 5lt every batch. I sparge below 80c "supposedly below the tannin extraction temp" I use phosphoric acid 90% used to use lactic 88 so a drop brings my water down below 6ph. I've been a serial squeezer for years. astringent isnt a common taste profile in my beers unless I cant taste mouth puckering sucking on teabag astringency.
You know this talk about full volume mashing has got me half interested in trying it just to see if there is some discernible difference/more enhanced flavour but I think there wont itll be beer .
There is a lot of "beer lore" out there and tannin extraction from squeezing the grain bag is in my opinion one of them along with hot sparge temp or else why when decoction mashing there isnt any tannin extraction .

I don't think full volume is better or worse. For some of my really low gravity beers I think it's causing more problems than it's worth. The efficiency is way down and I'm not doing anything different. But for most standard gravity beers it's just simpler and I think it's easier to hit my numbers with big gravities.

 

[GFHomebrew]

I don't think full volume is better or worse. For some of my really low gravity beers I think it's causing more problems than it's worth. The efficiency is way down and I'm not doing anything different. But for most standard gravity beers it's just simpler and I think it's easier to hit my numbers with big gravities.

Yeah I'm expecting lost of a few points as a given to full volume. Yes simplified process sounds good to me

 

[JonnyBeer]

This thread is a little old, but I see that there is still a huge lack of understanding about oat beers out there. I have been pursuing oat beer brewing now for about a year, and at this point I brew nothing except 100% oat beers in several styles.

I am not a beer judge, so I will not try to describe flavors and feelings in great detail. All I can say is they come out clear, and also tasty!

I use a Grainfather G30 for my mashtun, and a BrewBuilt X1 UNI+ for my fermenter.

Here is a grain bill. All of my recipes are variations of these 4 ingredients...

10 lb Oat Malt
5 lb Golden Naked Oats
1 lb Flaked Oats
.25 lbs Special ****

To make the special ****, line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Set the oven on 400 degrees F. Place .25 lb oat malt on the foil and bake for 55 minutes, or until the color is nice and dark. Let it cool. Everyone will tell you to put it in a paper bag for 2 weeks to let it "breath". I don't. I use it right after it has been roasted. Add more or less as you desire o adjust the color of your wart.

I mill all of the grains myself. I have found that the malted oats are more narrow than normal barley. The Golden naked oats (since they are de-husked) are even more narrow. You have to feel your way, but I have my mill set on it's smallest setting.

Don't expect a high efficiency. If you plug the grains into a recipe maker, you will get a high projected ABV. I get 61% efficiency, meaning for the above recipe I get a starting SG of 1.046 and a final gravity of 1.013 for a ABV of 4.33% in a 6 gallon batch. The low ABV is on purpose, I am trying to cut back on my alcohol intake

I'm not sure why the efficiency is so low, I am still working on that. I do know it is because of the oats - I get normal efficiency with barley.

The other thing to note is that I add .25oz Amylase enzyme in the mash. Honestly I don not know if it really requires it, or if there is enough enzyme in the oat malt to handle it. I have it scheduled as a future experiment to find out. For now I just add it in and everything seems to work.

The ratio of grains is important. I'm not exactly sure where the limits are, but the above grain bill works. As you increase the golden naked oats over 5lb or the flaked oats over 1 lb you run the risk of a stuck mash, so be careful with that. One time I tried 10lbs of Golden Naked oats. It did not go well. Oat malt itself will help with the sparge, and Golden naked will hinder it, as a general rule.

So, that is most everything that I have learned so far about 100% oat beer.

Hopefully you can get some useful information out of this. I haven't exactly been a saint my whole life, so if the world can benefit even just a smidge by this info maybe I will not be judged so harshly in the hereafter!

 

[Viejos Cañones]

La otra cosa a tener en cuenta es que agrego .25oz enzima amilasa en el puré. Sinceramente no sé si realmente lo requiere, o si hay suficiente enzima en la malta de avena para manejarlo. Lo tengo programado como un experimento futuro para averiguarlo. Por ahora solo lo agrego y todo parece funcionar.

With regard to the addition of enzymes with the Iodine test you can know if there are still convertible starches. If you do not blacken by more enzymes you add you will not achieve anything..
You can try a staggered maceration in temperature for the different enzymes.

 

[Donoroto]

golden naked oats over 5lb or the flaked oats over 1 lb you run the risk of a stuck mash, so be careful with that.

Wow, great information! Thank you.

Rice hulls contribute nothing but can help prevent a stuck mash/sparge. I use them in my wheat beers all the time.

 

[coreyman]

I was checking out my old content. I have to say, after reading all of my old comments and you guy's suggestions I am going to give this another whirl in a couple weeks!

 

[GFHomebrew]

This thread is a little old, but I see that there is still a huge lack of understanding about oat beers out there. I have been pursuing oat beer brewing now for about a year, and at this point I brew nothing except 100% oat beers in several styles.

I am not a beer judge, so I will not try to describe flavors and feelings in great detail. All I can say is they come out clear, and also tasty!

I use a Grainfather G30 for my mashtun, and a BrewBuilt X1 UNI+ for my fermenter.

Here is a grain bill. All of my recipes are variations of these 4 ingredients...

10 lb Oat Malt
5 lb Golden Naked Oats
1 lb Flaked Oats
.25 lbs Special ****

To make the special ****, line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Set the oven on 400 degrees F. Place .25 lb oat malt on the foil and bake for 55 minutes, or until the color is nice and dark. Let it cool. Everyone will tell you to put it in a paper bag for 2 weeks to let it "breath". I don't. I use it right after it has been roasted. Add more or less as you desire o adjust the color of your wart.

I mill all of the grains myself. I have found that the malted oats are more narrow than normal barley. The Golden naked oats (since they are de-husked) are even more narrow. You have to feel your way, but I have my mill set on it's smallest setting.

Don't expect a high efficiency. If you plug the grains into a recipe maker, you will get a high projected ABV. I get 61% efficiency, meaning for the above recipe I get a starting SG of 1.046 and a final gravity of 1.013 for a ABV of 4.33% in a 6 gallon batch. The low ABV is on purpose, I am trying to cut back on my alcohol intake

I'm not sure why the efficiency is so low, I am still working on that. I do know it is because of the oats - I get normal efficiency with barley.

The other thing to note is that I add .25oz Amylase enzyme in the mash. Honestly I don not know if it really requires it, or if there is enough enzyme in the oat malt to handle it. I have it scheduled as a future experiment to find out. For now I just add it in and everything seems to work.

The ratio of grains is important. I'm not exactly sure where the limits are, but the above grain bill works. As you increase the golden naked oats over 5lb or the flaked oats over 1 lb you run the risk of a stuck mash, so be careful with that. One time I tried 10lbs of Golden Naked oats. It did not go well. Oat malt itself will help with the sparge, and Golden naked will hinder it, as a general rule.

So, that is most everything that I have learned so far about 100% oat beer.

Hopefully you can get some useful information out of this. I haven't exactly been a saint my whole life, so if the world can benefit even just a smidge by this info maybe I will not be judged so harshly in the hereafter!

Oats probably just have a lower PPG yield than Barley.
I've found through Gluten free brewing using different grains yield different PPG.

A Beta Glucanase rest @ or below 50c will help with sticky mash.