Oatmeal Stout

Grain bill looks a little muddled, lots of stuff going on. Might tend to be a bit "brown."
 
Maybe should try to have a go at Yoopers oatmeal stout? Lots of people seems to like it and it's also on my todo-list. It's a lot of things in that grain bill too though, I have no idea if that's a common thing in stouts...never brewed one! :)
 
I love this forum. Two responses, one telling me simplify my grain bill, another one telling me to add to it!

Good inspiration though. I think I'm going to keep it as it is for the sake of averaging out the two responses :D
 
I see my first batch of a dark beer as putting a stick in the sand. I'll then work on the non-malt bill things like the yeast flavour (or lack of) and ABV. Then I'll start fiddling with grain bill, more sweetness? Decrease those chocolates and add in some crystal or cara-something else. More roast? Drop the carabohemian and pale chocolate and add in some roast barley.

The Gladfield roasted wheat is mainly adding color, so if you're after more roast you could also replace that with black malt or roasted barley. Or more dark chocolate, the options are pretty wide and you just need to take small steps once you've got something in the ballpark.
 
I used a little over 10% roasted malt on my first go at an oatmeal stout and it ended up with a strong taste of roasted, black coffee. If it were me I would dial back the roast to get a more smooth, drinkable beer. I did find that if I add a little vanilla extract to my beer glass it turns it more into a chocolate than a straight roast taste so I'm also playing around with adding some vanilla beans or extract to my next version as well. Cheers!
 
Your beer will work but take a close look at Yooper's recipe (never doubt Yooper's recipes, BTW). There's more sweet malt (Victory and C-80) to offset the fairly high levels of dark roast and there's Flaked Barley to add some body and flavor as well as the Oats for silky mouthfeel.
Understanding what each ingredient brings to the final profile is important.
If I were to change anything on your recipe, I'd drop the Chocolate Wheat (redundant) and maybe add some Blackprinz/Debittered roast/Midnight wheat for color without any additional burnt flavor. You could do with one or the other of the Pale Chocolate or Chocolate but having both tends to add different notes of coffee, chocolate, dark fruit for a little complexity. And up the percentage of Crystal-type malts (C-40, CaraMunich, Victory, Biscuit, Aromatic, etc) to at least 10 percent.
 
I love this forum. Two responses, one telling me simplify my grain bill, another one telling me to add to it!

Good inspiration though. I think I'm going to keep it as it is for the sake of averaging out the two responses :D
Want three opinions, ask two brewers. I'm questioning, not telling. I see a place for four grains in an oatmeal stout, base malt, oatmeal, crystal and black. That doesn't mean there's not room for more.
 
Want three opinions, ask two brewers. I'm questioning, not telling. I see a place for four grains in an oatmeal stout, base malt, oatmeal, crystal and black. That doesn't mean there's not room for more.
so true I like simple myself, but that's a long topic to cover for me tonight lol, one thing that got me at a couple of parties where you hear people talking when they don't know you're listening and those are the best reviews not the wow this is fantastic ones, I like to hear the back room gossip and the thing that stumped me about one beer was a complex flavor and it was not a simple beer and they sipped and sipped trying to guess the flavor, so there is a time for a lot of ingredients and sometimes you just get lucky as a matter of fact I say that a lot and they shake their heads lol
 
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I see my first batch of a dark beer as putting a stick in the sand. I'll then work on the non-malt bill things like the yeast flavour (or lack of) and ABV. Then I'll start fiddling with grain bill, more sweetness? Decrease those chocolates and add in some crystal or cara-something else. More roast? Drop the carabohemian and pale chocolate and add in some roast barley.

The Gladfield roasted wheat is mainly adding color, so if you're after more roast you could also replace that with black malt or roasted barley. Or more dark chocolate, the options are pretty wide and you just need to take small steps once you've got something in the ballpark.

Thus is my quest as well.
 
Looks better to me. Should be a good starting place to tweak as you know what it tastes like. Let us know how it goes! :)
 

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