Wet roasting oats?

Hi! I am trying my hand at the No Nonsense Stout and I am currently in the process of roasting my oats and have some questions because i am afraid I may not be doing it properly.

So, I am attempting to wet roast them like the recipe says. I soaked them in a bit of water and then spread them out on cookie sheets and I'm about an hour into cooking them at 350F.

1. Is it bad that I dumped out the soaking water? Now I am afraid I dumped out something great that should have stayed on the oats.

2. Is it normal that it is going through a baked oatmeal phase? It is slowly drying out into smaller clumps as I stir it, but it definitely formed an oatmeal casserole for a while.

3. Once it reaches the appropriate color, will it really dry out enough to be stored out of the fridge? My understanding was to roast it and let it sit out for a week, but I am concerned it will grow mold if it retains any moisture. Do wet roasted oats still need to sit out?

Anyway, thanks for any feedback, it is much appreciated!

OK, they are definitely drying out enough, so ignore that concern. Now I am just wondering if I soaked them long enough (just about 10 minutes) and if dumping out the soaking water lost anything I should have kept.

I don't think there's any use in saving that water. I actually just rinse my oats real well and then roast them to the desired level. Depending on if you're letting them sit or not, which is recommended if you go very dark with them, you'd have to store the water for a week or two anyways.

Glad to know I am not too far off the mark. I actually realized I accidentally made oat milk with the runoff and added a bit of maple syrup and chocolate and drank some... it was a yummy experiment but I don't think it is something I would start making on purpose.

Oat milk...that sounds interesting. I did confirm what we all pretty much already knew, the last time i made a stout with the oats I tested the wort after steeping it and the gravity was 1.0, exactly the same as regular water, so there is nothing fermentable coming from them. Again, I wasn't expecting there to be, but thought I'd prove it to myself. They do wonders for the beer though.