maris otter substitute question

[walker111]

Hi all. Ready to mill my grains for my first chocolate oatmeal stout and do double batches. I need 20 pounds of 2 row and only have 17 on hand. Can I sub in 3 pounds of crisp maris otter?
Thinking it should complement fine.
Rest of recipe calls for some crystal 40 and choc. malt. Big 29 pounds of grain for 10 g batch!!! My cooler mash tun will be at max as most I ever had was 27.
Should be fine.................. I hope.
Thanks for input.

 

[Steveruch]

Hi all. Ready to mill my grains for my first chocolate oatmeal stout and do double batches. I need 20 pounds of 2 row and only have 17 on hand. Can I sub in 3 pounds of crisp maris otter?
Thinking it should complement fine.

Yes.

 

[jrgtr42]

Sure, should be just fine. Maris does have a slightly different flavor, but behind 9 pounds of Crystal and Choc, it won't even be noticeable.

 

[Steveruch]

Sure, should be just fine. Maris does have a slightly different flavor, but behind 9 pounds of Crystal and Choc, it won't even be noticeable.

Base grain in this style of beer is almost irrelevant.

 

[jrgtr42]

Base grain in this style of beer is almost irrelevant.

Agreed - that's what I'm saying. If he used all MO as the base, it might be noticeable - depending on how much crystal to chocolate is used - but not 3lbs in 20lb base / 29 total.

 

[walker111]

Thanks fellas . Figured as much. Want to get all milled up and relax to watch the game !!!
appreciate it

 

[Jag75]

I use mo as my base for my choc milk stout .

 

[jswillbrewforbeer]

Perfectly fine, especially at such a modest percentage. Would be completely appropriate as the base malt in this style, too. Try Crisp floor malted MO for a real treat next time.

 

[walker111]

Thanks again all. Brewing this up in the next few weekends and will report in 6 weeks after it gets kegged and carbed . Snowing here now so would love to have this beer on hand with the weather !!!

 

[walker111]

Only thing to add is I crushed my 4 pounds of oats with the other grains. I never used oats prior and thinking now they didn't need to be crushed. Will this hurt anything?

 

[Jag75]

Doubt it . They probably just went through basically unscathed.

 

[day_trippr]

I used to do it for years and years with zero issues - mostly because as @Jag75 stated they'll mostly pass right through untouched (they're flatter and thinner than barley for sure). The only reason I no longer run flaked grains through my mill is I've taken to conditioning grain just before the crush and don't want the flakes to get gummy and leave bits of themselves stuck to my rollers...

Cheers!

 

[walker111]

I used to do it for years and years with zero issues - mostly because as @Jag75 stated they'll mostly pass right through untouched (they're flatter and thinner than barley for sure). The only reason I no longer run flaked grains through my mill is I've taken to conditioning grain just before the crush and don't want the flakes to get gummy and leave bits of themselves stuck to my rollers...

Cheers!

Funny you mention this as I was spraying some water on my grains as I milled and for the first time ever I had problems with the roller in my BC. Had to adjust and empty my hopper a few times. Crush took 1/2 hour!!!!!

 

[day_trippr]

Very important to be quick about getting to the milling after finishing with the dampening. I waited too long once and regretted it as I had to tear down the mill to scrub the roller knurlings clean...

Cheers!

 

[Robert65]

Very important to be quick about getting to the milling after finishing with the dampening. I waited too long once and regretted it as I had to tear down the mill to scrub the roller knurlings clean...

Cheers!

Yep, it takes just seconds, not minutes, for the husks to hydrate, and then any excess water will almost instantly get into the endosperm, and this means dough on the rollers. I've been at this for a while, and still haven't perfectly dialed in the Goldilocks process. I don't mind having to take a brass brush to a couple of spots on the rollers, as long as I can run it straight through with no difficulty and get intact husks and no dust.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I always reserve a pound of base malt to chase the rollers, and as long as I go right from dampening to milling I've yet to gum up the rollers, and still have no rust spots on them. But, yep, that one time I let the damp malt sit while I checked my brew rig status and tweaked a setting - maybe five minutes...

Cheers!

 

[walker111]

Good info right there. That would have saved me some time milling! Learning all the time.