Barrel of Monkeys Wheat-Oatmeal Nut Stout (All Grain)

From The Homebrewer’s Companion by Charlie Papazian

If you’re not careful to muster all your brewing skills and patience, your brewing session will not seem like a barrel of monkeys (i.e., not so fun). Oatmeal and wheat malt are notorious for contributing to frustrating stuck mashes. Stuck mashes are an experience every all grain brewer goes through at least once. It’s like having your pot of wort boil over, every once in a while. Kind of a ritual, a rite of passage.

On the other hand, oatmeal does lend a dreamy smoothness to stout, and wheat helps head retention as well as contributing to a fuller malt flavor. Take care and you’ll have a brew worthy of celebrat ing with a barrel of monkeys. The bitterness units may appear to be high on paper, but the blend of crystal, oatmeal, wheat and high temperature mash brings out a fullness that pleasantly balances this nutlike stout. Especially terrific on draft!

Ingredients for 5 gallons (19 1.)

(2.3 kg) pale two-row malt
(0.91 kg) wheat malt
(0.45 kg.) crystal/caramel malt 10 oz. (0.28 kg.) quick oatmeal
(0.23 kg.) roasted barley
(0.23 kg.) roasted black malt
(71 g.) English Fuggles or Goldings hops (boiling): 12 HBU
(14.2 g) English Fuggles or Goldings hops (flavor): 2.5 HBU
(14.2 g.) English Goldings hops (aroma)
4 tbsp. (45g) gypsum (calcium sulfate) if using very soft water
(1 g.) powdered Irish moss
Ale yeast
(178 ml.) corn sugar or 1 c. (296 ml.) dried malt extract (for bottling)

BUS: 56
Color: >50
OG: 1.053-1.060 (13-15).
FG: 1.016-1.020 (4-5)

Use a single-step infusion mash schedule for this recipe. Add gypsum to very soft water at a rate of 4 tablespoons per 5 gallons (19 L) of water. Add crushed malts to 2.5 gallons (9.5 L) of 168-degree F (76 C) water. The mash will stabilize at 152 to 156 degrees F (67-69 C). Hold this temperature for 60 minutes.

Sparge and lauter slowly-very slowly-with 4 to 4.5 gallons (15.2-17 1.) of 170-degree F (77 C) water. If the runoff is done too quickly, you will increase the risk of a set or stuck runoff. If this is the case, here’s what happened. The rate of the flow you were drawing off was quicker than the flow that could trickle through the grain bed Whamo. You’ve got all the weight of the mash no longer floating and suspended in liquid. There is a vacuum in the false bottom, and the mash has compressed itself, compounding the situation. If this happens, it is an ideal time for a homebrew. Practice breathing deeply. Relax. Then develop a plan to salvage the brew. (In extreme situations I’ve been known to simply scoop the mash out and start all over again, being more careful. The beer will still be very, very good, but your yield may suffer.)

When finished lautering, add more water (do not oversparge) to the brewpot to make an initial extract volume of 6 gallons (22.8 1.). Anticipate evaporation of I gallon (3.8 1.). Add boiling hops and boil for 45 minutes. Then add flavor hops and boil for an additional 15 minutes. Then add Irish moss and boil for a final 15 minutes. Total boiling time is 75 minutes. Turn off heat. Add aroma hops and let steep for 2 to 3 minutes before removing hops and chilling the hot wort. Pitch the yeast when cool, and bottle or keg when fermentation is complete.