Short & Shoddy | Oatmeal Stout

Author: Martin Keen

Likely due to my British heritage, Oatmeal Stout has always been a family favorite, and I’m especially partial to commercial examples such as Samuel Smith and Young’s. Growing up, it wasn’t uncommon to see bottles of these nostalgic bottles at family events, and as I came of age, they were staples at many of the pubs I frequented.

Despite the advent of the revolving drum roaster in 1818 that allowed for the production of pale beers, darker styles like Stout remained quite popular in Britain. In the late 19^th century, brewers began adding oats to their Stout and marketing it as a health drink, particularly for nursing mothers. Obviously, this was shite, but consumers came to enjoy the silky smooth texture and nutty flavor of this newfangled style, which the BJCP describes as follows:

A dark, roasty, full-bodied stout with enough sweetness to support the oat backbone. The sweetness, balance, and oatmeal impression can vary considerably.

While Oatmeal Stout nearly vanished during the mid-20th century due to rationing and the rising dominance of pale lagers, it experienced quite the revival when famed beer writer, Michael Jackson, convinced Samuel Smith’s to reintroduce their version. Due to my affinity for Oatmeal Stout, I’ve always taken great care when brewing my own versions, making sure to follow as many of the age-old “rules” as possible. However, I was curious how a batch would turn out if I cut a bunch of corners, so I decided to brew one using a Short & Shoddy approach and invited my dad, who’s also a fan of the style, along for the ride!

| BREWING THE BEER |

In keeping with the theme of this series, I didn’t even design this recipe, but rather went with a kit supplied by our friends at Great Fermentations.

Short & Shoddy Oatmeal Stout

I started this brew day at 11:08 AM by collecting the full volume of RO water that I added a spoonful of Epsom salt, gypsum, and calcium chloride to. After flipping the switch on my Clawhammer Supply 240v controller to get the water heating up, I milled the grain… all of the grain including the flaked oats, which usually don’t get milled.

When the water was properly heated, I stirred in the grist.

I then set my controller to maintain my desired mash temperature.

Following the brief 30 minute mash rest, I removed the grains then proceeded to boil the wort for just 30 minutes, adding hops as listed in the recipe. To note, in addition to the hops included with the recipe kit, I tossed in some additional Tettnanger at the start of the boil to make up for the lost isomerization, I reckon it was around 25 grams.

At the completion of the boil, I quickly chilled the wort then took a refractometer reading showing it was at 1.052 OG, for a brewhouse efficiency of 68%.

After transferring the wort to a fermentation vessel, I pitched an 8 month old pouch (4 months past expiration) of Imperial Yeast A10 Darkness into the wort. The time was 1:21 PM for a total brew day time of 2 hours and 13 minutes.

After a week of fermenting at 68°F/20°C, signs of activity were absent, so I took a hydrometer measurement showing FG had been reached.

At this point, I cold crashed the beer overnight then transferred it under pressure to a CO2  purged keg that was placed on gas in my keezer where it remained for a few weeks before I began serving it to tasters.

| RESULTS |

A total of 8 people of various levels of experience participated in this Short & Shoddy evaluation. Participants were informed of the specific beer style and provided the BJCP description prior to completing the survey. Tasters were then instructed to rate how hoppy, malty, and dry they perceived the beer to be on a 0-5 scale where a rating of 0 indicated “not at all” and 5 indicated “extremely.”

Tasters were provided a list of common hop, malt, and yeast characteristics then instructed to select from each the one they perceived as being most prominent in the beer.

Hop Characteristics

Malt Characteristics

Yeast Characteristics

Next, participants were asked to indicate whether or not they detected any off-flavors in the beer; those who did were provided a list of common off-flavors and instructed to select the one they perceived as being strongest. Not a single person identified this beer as possessing any off-flavors.

Tasters were then asked to rate how well the beer represented the intended style, based on the provided BJCP description, on a 0-5 scale where 0 meant “not at all” and 5 meant “exactly.”

Finally, tasters were asked to rate how much they enjoyed the beer on a 0-5 scale where 0 indicated not at all and 5 indicated extremely.

My Impressions: I’ve consumed a lot of Oatmeal Stout over the years, both commercial and homebrew, and I would have to say that this Short & Shoddy version was excellent. While slightly more roasty that some examples I’ve tried, it certainly wasn’t overly so, and otherwise I felt it hit every mark. And my dad agreed!

| CONCLUSION |

Oatmeal Stout is a style of beer that has earned its spot on the list of classics, pairing dark roasted flavors with the creamy texture imparted by oats and a hint of earthy hop character. While it may not live up to earlier claims of being a health tonic, it’s certainly a style that warms my soul and tastes delicious.

It’s often said that British ale isn’t terribly difficult to brew, but even so, I’ve always taken good care when making Oatmeal Stout by following age-old brewing rules. That is, until I decided to throw caution to the wind with this Short & Shoddy batch, which was made with a store-bought kit, abbreviated mash and boil, and fermented with expired yeast. Surprisingly, the admittedly small group of tasters not only seemed to enjoy it, but a majority felt it was a solid representation of the style, noting strong roast and toasty malt characteristics with no notable off-flavors.

Having had prior good experiences with Short & Shoddy beers, I wasn’t necessarily anxious about this Oatmeal Stout, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t experience a slight touch of apprehension on this brew day. Yet again, I was reminded that it was naught, at least in this case, as the beer was delicious and had all the markings of a solid Oatmeal Stout. While I’ll continue using more standard methods for most of my batches in the future, that’s mostly because I have the time to do so and it feels less rushed; however, in those moments where I’m more rushed, I would have zero qualms employing the Short & Shoddy approach!

If you have thoughts about this Short & Shoddy brew, please feel free to share it in the comments section below!

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