Oyster Stout!

[Brew Cat]

2bbls is 62gals(finished beer), i go into the fermenter with about 76 gal(304L).

Contamination from a shellfish allergy standpoint. Plus one of the brewers i spoke to talked about how gross cleaning the kettle out was after using the whole oyster(30bbl system).

The shells that i would get are extremely clean, so i wouldn't have to clean them more then just a quick

I've brewed this for St Patrick's for the last 3 years. It's one of my favorite personal recipes. Because I started with a small batch size, I went with whole oysters in the boil. I did in fact eat them afterwards. Very bitter and sickly sweet at the same time I will brew it again in early 2025 but probably just throw the oyster meat out afterwards...

This is why I shuck the oysters to eat the raw. In my opinion its the only way to eat oysters. I save the half shells with the brine and leftover flesh in a freezer bag. Then use them when needed. My base is an oatmeal stout. I brew this a lot. I do bag the oysters in the boil. Really a snap to clean the kettle. I agree with you about the 6 shells in 30 gallon. At that point just diseptive marketing.

 

[Bigbre04]

Maybe oyster crackers?
Naah, wheat allergies…

lol, to be fair a shellfish allergy can be pretty serious. far more so then your average gluten free(beyond actual celiac's disease).

If it were me and I ordered an oyster stout at a brewpub and found out there were only 6 shells per 60 gallons I'd be disappointed. This is a fun, gimmicky style these days that still results in a delicious, very drinkable beer. If you can't lean in to the spirit of the style, what's the point? Just brew your Oatmeal stout and call it a day. My 2 cents.

I get what you are saying, but if i didnt tell you, you would not have any idea. generally speaking as long as the beer fits the flavor profile that it is claiming, it doesnt matter how you get there. a great example is the cold fermenting Chico yeast to make a "lager" or warm fermenting a lager yeast to make it fall into the ale spectrum. Lots of breweries just add lactic/citric/acetic acids to their beers to make them sour.

If your contract customer is adamant on the style being called an Oyster stout, then you're going to need to address the allergy issue no matter what. You have to declare 6 shells, or 60, so I think you should try for a genuine, authentic recipe.

exactly. if i am able to produce a good version without the shells, i would not have to deal with the allergy issues.

This is why I shuck the oysters to eat the raw. In my opinion its the only way to eat oysters. I save the half shells with the brine and leftover flesh in a freezer bag. Then use them when needed. My base is an oatmeal stout. I brew this a lot. I do bag the oysters in the boil. Really a snap to clean the kettle. I agree with you about the 6 shells in 30 gallon. At that point just diseptive marketing.

commercial systems require ALOT more effort and chemicals to clean then a homebrew setup. a 30bbl required something like >10 gals of caustic, >2gals of hydrogen peroxide booster, >10 gals of acid, 300gals of water and several hours todo a full CIP. The CIP would be pretty expensive per batch if it was required.

Im not trying to be a dick, but its not deceptive marketing. If i did add oysters, i wouldnt list the quantity. If i didnt say that i added oysters then that that was just the assumption. If the flavor matches the expectation, what is the problem?

The next issue, probably the biggest is that by not adding(or adding a token amount of shells) and using sea salt post fermentation, I have the ability to scale the recipe and produce consistent, repeatable batches. I have no way of measuring the salt and minerals added by the shells, so i wont have the same level of repeatability. If i was only looking at producing this once a year, you would never taste a variation. I am looking at doing this beer as a year around product, so i need each batch to be consistent. plus oysters are seasonal, so i may not be able to get the same shells in july as i can in december.

Not trying to be a dick with these comments, but trying to work through my reasonings.

 

[Bigbre04]

So i have been using Balanced 1 for my salts as that is the cleanest option, but looking at balanced 2 i could bump up my mineral content pretty drastically which might make more sense for this style? I normally add 20 CaCl2 and 20 Gyp per batch, but with balanced 2 i would be adding 70 gyp, 60 CaCl2, and 20 Baking soda.

this might be the best option, it would add the mineral quality that is expected.

 

[Brew Cat]

I'm not questioning your reasoning, and I'm certainly don't think you're a dick. I just like to know what I'm drinking. Oyster stouts are usually seasonal brews because of the terroir of oysters you will never get the exact product, but that's the point of craft, no?

 

[Bigbre04]

I'm not questioning your reasoning, and I'm certainly don't think you're a dick. I just like to know what I'm drinking. Oyster stouts are usually seasonal brews because of the terroir of oysters you will never get the exact product, but that's the point of craft, no?

thats truth, but if i can produce as close to the same product each time, that would be a good thing. This would be for a restaurant group so it would be a year around for them.

 

[Sunfire96]

lol, to be fair a shellfish allergy can be pretty serious. far more so then your average gluten free(beyond actual celiac's disease).

I get what you are saying, but if i didnt tell you, you would not have any idea. generally speaking as long as the beer fits the flavor profile that it is claiming, it doesnt matter how you get there. a great example is the cold fermenting Chico yeast to make a "lager" or warm fermenting a lager yeast to make it fall into the ale spectrum. Lots of breweries just add lactic/citric/acetic acids to their beers to make them sour.

exactly. if i am able to produce a good version without the shells, i would not have to deal with the allergy issues.


commercial systems require ALOT more effort and chemicals to clean then a homebrew setup. a 30bbl required something like >10 gals of caustic, >2gals of hydrogen peroxide booster, >10 gals of acid, 300gals of water and several hours todo a full CIP. The CIP would be pretty expensive per batch if it was required.

Im not trying to be a dick, but its not deceptive marketing. If i did add oysters, i wouldnt list the quantity. If i didnt say that i added oysters then that that was just the assumption. If the flavor matches the expectation, what is the problem?

The next issue, probably the biggest is that by not adding(or adding a token amount of shells) and using sea salt post fermentation, I have the ability to scale the recipe and produce consistent, repeatable batches. I have no way of measuring the salt and minerals added by the shells, so i wont have the same level of repeatability. If i was only looking at producing this once a year, you would never taste a variation. I am looking at doing this beer as a year around product, so i need each batch to be consistent. plus oysters are seasonal, so i may not be able to get the same shells in july as i can in december.

Not trying to be a dick with these comments, but trying to work through my reasonings.

Sounds like you should seek a pro brewer forum to ask these questions

 

[Bigbre04]

Sounds like you should seek a pro brewer forum to ask these questions

I already have, but i value/respect yall's opinions and advice. Homebrewers think about things a lot differently then probrewers. crazy approaches to things and serious passion for the craft vs the process.

I spent the majority of my career making other people's recipes, at my current brewery i am the only yeast wrangler, so i am making up for a long time without making recipes.

 

[Sandy Feet]

I've brewed this for St Patrick's for the last 3 years. It's one of my favorite personal recipes. Because I started with a small batch size, I went with whole oysters in the boil. I did in fact eat them afterwards. Very bitter and sickly sweet at the same time I will brew it again in early 2025 but probably just throw the oyster meat out afterwards...

A few for the beer and a few to pop open raw and add a little cocktail sauce
Damn, I have been craving a raw bucket lately. They aren't cheap anymore though.

 

[Sandy Feet]

I already have, but i value/respect yall's opinions and advice. Homebrewers think about things a lot differently then probrewers. crazy approaches to things and serious passion for the craft vs the process.

I spent the majority of my career making other people's recipes, at my current brewery i am the only yeast wrangler, so i am making up for a long time without making recipes.

Not sure about these days, but it used to be you could sue anybody in the supply chain if something bad happened. If you are dealing with oysters commercially, you are going to need to spend some money on legal advice. Probably not work the effort unless you are going to make some money off it.
On the homebrew level, that sounds like fun.

 

[Brew Cat]

well then I challenge you to make a real small batch Oyster Stout for your personal consumption and compare. Keep your head in the game if you will. There is always the question of how big a brewery can be before you can stop calling it a craft brewery. If your so big you wont do a beer because its to much trouble to clean your kettle you have crossed that threshold .

 

[Bigbre04]

well then I challenge you to make a real small batch Oyster Stout for your personal consumption and compare. Keep your head in the game if you will. There is always the question of how big a brewery can be before you can stop calling it a craft brewery. If your so big you wont do a beer because its to much trouble to clean your kettle you have crossed that threshold .

lol my brewery is only 2bbl. Its all about costs. Margins on distributed beer are far tighter then at my little brewpub, so the added cost of all of those chemicals and labor may prevent the project from being commercially viable.

I also control all of my menus, beer, bartenders etc. you have to think about what the bar down the road is gonna do when they get their hands on it.

Its not a super common commercial style for a reason.

I plan on brewing this test batch at 2bbls since i dont have any other gear. Probably next week, my costs are small enough that it wont be too painful if the batch isnt good. I will likely brew this 2 or 3 times before i get the recipe dialed in for the next step.

Not sure about these days, but it used to be you could sue anybody in the supply chain if something bad happened. If you are dealing with oysters commercially, you are going to need to spend some money on legal advice. Probably not work the effort unless you are going to make some money off it.
On the homebrew level, that sounds like fun.

This is generally why the TTB needs to approve your labels and ingredients lists in order to get an approved skew number. Oysters will likely require specific wording on the can label just like the alcohol warning.

 

[Pogue mahone]

Hey all,

I was tasked with working up an Oyster Stout recipe. I have never brewed this style. I have been reading all over the place about this (including @Sunfire96 post a few years ago https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1239019/beginners-oyster-stout). Personally I am leaning towards just salting it to taste post fermentation, but i may be required to actually include oysters...this is a pilot batch that would eventually be worked up to a 30bbl contract batch.

This is where i am at with the recipe
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1526364

I love my current stout. So I used it as a framework, reducing the ABV and the amounts.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1437455

I have SO many questions...
Oysters or just a salt addition post fermentation?

Dry Stout or a more standard american stout?

IF i do end up using oysters(very much not my first choice) i assume that i would add them into the kettle and boil them?

Oyster shells, meat, brine????? Seems like a lot of variables. PLUS Allergy risks.


Any and all opinions would be appreciated!

Use whole fresh oysters in the mash. When the mash is over the treat begins, you get to enjoy the sweet oysters from the mash while adding the salty brine goodness to the beer.

 

[Brew Cat]

Well Im sure the oysters are good but wouldn't know what my water profile would be then. Nothing really to gain from mashing other than cooked oysters.

 

[Bigbre04]

i ended up using about 560g(about 20 half shells) of oyster shells in the last 15 mins of the boil. left them whole for photos but i might hammer them for more surface area next time. They were super fresh, pulled from the farm 10 mins away the same morning. Head Chef and owner said they were really good(i dont eat oysters)!

the batch is wrapping up fermentation and tastes lovely, im not sure that i can taste the additional salt or if it is just the recipe being good, but it is nice and full bodied. I dont really expect it to drop much further. maybe 4.1p which would put it at 5.83% and 72% atten.

OG: 14.5p @ 21C 12/13
Day 5(12/17): 4.5p @ 20.7C = 5.63%abv and 69% atten

once it is crashed and the yeast drops out of suspension, i will look at the salt question against my current stout that is on draft(which is sort of similar).

 

[Brew Cat]

fantastic. It is my favorite stout as well. I use more oysters per gallon and don't taste salt which is good. I f you taste the salt you used to much. The salt will enhance the malt flavors more. Instead of hammering the shells you can just use more. I've got everything I need except the Oysters. I get them local but we have been getting a lot of rain lately so the beds were getting flooded with sediment and stuff so they had to pause the harvesting.
Your in Georgia? Never had them down there thought the water was to warm. I've had them as far south as the Chesapeake Bay they were alright but nothing like Cape Cod in my opinion

 

[Bigbre04]

fantastic. It is my favorite stout as well. I use more oysters per gallon and don't taste salt which is good. I f you taste the salt you used to much. The salt will enhance the malt flavors more. Instead of hammering the shells you can just use more. I've got everything I need except the Oysters. I get them local but we have been getting a lot of rain lately so the beds were getting flooded with sediment and stuff so they had to pause the harvesting.
Your in Georgia? Never had them down there thought the water was to warm. I've had them as far south as the Chesapeake Bay they were alright but nothing like Cape Cod in my opinion

yup there is a large scale oyster farm that is started recently. one of the owners was involved in getting it up and running. they are unique to our area (i think?). I gave the whole oysters that i didnt use to my parents and they loved them. I suspect(based on size comments) that these were smaller then what would be for sale normally, we got the rejects(but hey 5 dozen oysters for free is still a good price).

 

[Bigbre04]

Final gravity was 3.9p which puts this at 5.93 abv. Was shooting for 5.5%, but got 83-84% on this batch. so cant really complain. It is crashing and i will carbonate it tomorrow, possibly keg it tomorrow as well! Should be on draft around the new year!

 

[Brew Cat]

Not surprised all the calcium and zinc makes happy yeast can't wait to hear your tasting notes.

 

[Bigbre04]

Not surprised all the calcium and zinc makes happy yeast can't wait to hear your tasting notes.

Only got 73% attenuation. Generally I get about 80% attenuation out of the Apex Sandiego yeasties. But they higher mash temp(usually 149 but this batch 153) really cut down on the attenuation.

My brewhouse efficiency was higher then expected(78% for my previous stout) and I got 83% on this batch which is the top end for my stupid little brewhouse.

No complaints. Gonna test it out with salt tomorrow while carbing. Will update further...for science...

 

[Brew Cat]

For science of course. Go easy on the salt cant take it away