Our stunning logo. Our bourbon barrel version of John Oates. Special thanks to Blake Whitney for this awesome-ness.
I’m currently on week 2 of 10 for my Bourbon Chase mustache . Sadly, I need to grow a beard first and then shave it into a mustache as the race gets closer. For a few reasons. The first, I don’t want to resemble a hipster. The second, I work with college students (a majority female) and I don’t want to resemble someone on those Dateline: To Catch a Predator specials. The third, I enjoy my marriage. So two weeks done. It’s gonna be a long, hot, itchy summer.
As a gift to those runners for deciding to join Haulin Oats, I figured I might as well make a beer for the special occasion. What better to fit the bill than an oatmeal stout? If you’ve followed any of the beers I make, I generally always add outside additives to give my beer somewhat of a unique kick. So I decided to create one big overall recipe for the oatmeal stout and then spread it into three separate beers with the same base (you can view the base below). In the boil, I added some honey, brown sugar, and molasses for a little higher ABV. Although the presence is hard to taste, I love adding molasses to big dark beers.
One of the beers I added cacao nibs, peanut butter chocolate ground coffee beans (not as much as my original coffee stout, Norris Farmers), and some Angels Envy soaked oak cubes to the secondary. I’m always cautious about adding coffee, it’s better to have too little than too much. That beer would be named after Darryl Hall. No reason in general.
Unlike the beer above, the second beer had sweet cherries added to the primary. After transfer and removing the sweet cherries, I added dried bing cherries, dried tart cherries, and then oak cubes added to the secondary. This beer was John Oates. We all know John Oates is a big fan of cherries.
Mustache caps for the base beer.
The third beer was the oatmeal stout with nothing added to it at all. Just plain and simple.
With the large amount of grain used for a 10 gallon batch (33.5 lbs), my keggle was almost over flowing (that just sounds dirty). I did my best to divvy the mash between the two main fermenters for the big beer and used the sparge to top them both off and the remains went into the third fermenter. So yea, the third wouldn’t be as strong as either Hall and Oates. I can’t go for that…no can do.
Making this beer actually cost me a pretty penny after all the grain, yeast, buying cherries and coffee online, and then 24 bombers to fill the beers with a special Bourbon Chase logo for each one. It’ll be worth it if we win, if not, then we will just drink all the beer.
Oates transfer
Measuring the FG in Hall
Oates was aged on Four Roses oak chips, Tart cherries, & Bing cherries
Date of Initial Brew: 6/26/2011
Type of Beer: Oatmeal Stout
Name of Beer: Haulin’ Oatmeal Stout: Hall and Oates
Extract or All Grain: All Grain
Grains used: 24lb Maris Otter, 2 lb Roasted Barley, 2lb Dark Crystal, 2lb Flaked Oatmeal, 3lb Chocolate Malt, ½ Black patent
Hop Schedule: 2 oz Chinook (60), 2 oz Chinook (30), 2 oz Simcoe (15)
Spices Used: Molasses, Honey, Dark Brown Sugar, Sweet Cherries (primary on #1)
Secondary: 1. Dried Tart and Bing Cherries, Oak Chips 2. Cacao nibs, Coffee, oak chips with Angels Envy bourbon 3. Nothing
Yeast: Wyeast American Ale
Original Gravity Temperature and Reading: 1.0675
Secondary Fermentation Date: 7/4/2011
Specific Gravity Temperature and Reading:
Bottling Date: 7/23/2011
Final Gravity Temperature and Reading: 1.0225
ABV%: 5.9%
Overall, the beer sat in the secondary for three weeks. It could have been a little bit longer but I wanted to make sure the beer had some time to age in the bottles and would be conditioned by the time the actual race came around. The ABV little lower than I like but I produced about 14 gallons of beer from the mash and sparge so I expected that and am actually happy that it is lower.
I sampled one of each after a week in the bottles and all were surprisingly carbonated. Time can only tell what they will do in the bottles (let’s hope not explode) and October will be the date a majority of them are opened. Until October folks…
johnking82
First, I loved this post and all the Hall & Oates references.
Second, I just brewed an imperial stout and was sure to toss in some brown sugar, but I never considered using both brown sugar and molasses. The debate when putting together the recipe was whether or not to use bs or molasses. I went with the brown sugar since it is just sugar with molasses added. Using both probably would have insured more of that molasses flavor. Still, I think it will turn out okay.
It’s currently set to sit for two months (at least) on oak chips, cocoa nibs, and vanilla beans all soaked in bourbon. The chips soaked for almost a month. I poured out the excess to allow the nibs and beans to soak for an hour or so before I dumped them into the secondary. It will be interesting to see how all these beers turn out.
BTW, my beer came in at like 1.095 OG and 1.025 FG and it’s called Black Francis. (I should have done a Frank Black alternative version.) So, we’re talking different beasts. Still, I really enjoyed this post.
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