Mother Rigby's Oatmeal Stout (Redux)

Brewed on 9/11/10

This was a companion brew for my Feathertop Pumpkin Ale. I figured pumpkin beers are not everyone's favorite, but who can pass up a nice creamy oatmeal stout? I even thought this and the pumpkin ale would make a nice "black and tan" (note: I never could get the beers to layer, though the mixed beers was pretty tasty).

Inspired by Jamil Z's award-winning oatmeal stout, I wanted to this to be smooth and thick, with a nice roast/hop balance. This was my second attempt at an all-grain recipe and unlike my first attempt at using this technique (the aforementioned pumpkin beer), I managed to hit all my numbers on this one. This beer didn't ferment out like I had hoped, stopping at 1.022. I think the fact that I failed to aerate the wort properly, did not use any yeast nutrients, and did not make a starter may have been part of the problem. Either that or my mash was too high and I had a lot of unfermentables in there. I tried rousing the yeast, warming it up and even pitching a cup of yeast slurry from the pumpkin beer, but still the gravity remained at 1.022, so I went ahead and bottled it. It turned out pretty good just the same, though perhaps a little thicker than I was looking for. Though I received more rave reviews of this brew than any others I've made to date.

To try to get some more of that distinctive oatmeal cookie aroma and flavor, I toasted the oats on a cookie sheet in the oven at 350°F for ~30 minutes a few hours before mashing. For hops, I went against conventional wisdom and used a small charge for both flavor and aroma (I seem to have a problem with single hopping).

Recipe Specifications
Batch Size: 3.50 gal
Boil Size: 2.50 gal
Estimated Color: 43.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 32.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 51.00 % (no sparge)
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
OG: 1.057
FG: 1.022
ABV: 4.56%

Grist
7 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter - 71.43%
1 lbs Oats, Flaked, toasted - 9.52 %
10.0 oz Aromatic Malt - 5.95 %
10.0 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) - 5.95 %
8.0 oz Crystal (Muntons) (56.0 SRM) - 4.76 %
4.0 oz Roasted Barley (500.0 SRM) - 2.38 %

Hops
0.75 oz Challenger [7.00 %] (60 min)
0.12 oz Challenger [7.00 %] (15 min)
0.12 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.50 %] (15 min)
0.12 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.50 %] (1 min)
0.12 oz Challenger [7.00 %] (1 min)

Yeast
London Ale (White Labs #WLP013)

Mash Schedule
Single Infusion, 154°F, No Mash Out, No Sparge