Oatmeal and wheat together?

[troy2000]

The urge to brew is upon me. So I went rummaging through the cupboards (figuratively speaking), and this is what I came up with:

10 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb raw wheat
1 lb dark Belgian candi (homemade)
18 oz quick rolled oats
1 packet Nottingham dry yeast
1 packet Belle Saison dry yeast
2 oz Saez pellets
2 oz Willamette pellets
1 oz Kent Golding pellets

The yeasts give me two distinct paths to follow, and I decided to go English - sort of. I'm going to use all the Maris Otter, the oats, the candi and the Nottingham.

First question: what will happen if I use the wheat too? will the results be good, bad, ugly, or indifferent,?

Second question: how do I handle the hops? In the spirit of inviting everyone to the party, i was considering Willamette for bittering, Saez for aroma, and dry hopping with the Golding. Does that make sense? If it does, should I use all of the Willamette and Saez, or is that overkill? If it doesn't make sense, what would you do instead?

The hops are individually vacuum-sealed, and reasonably fresh.

 

[buzzerj]

Raw wheat. Is it unmalted? If so, I'd pass on it. On the hops I'd go Willamette for bittering, holdings for flavor and Saaz if you want for aroma. Gear for the IBU in the low 30's. Work it out on some brewing software. With the Nottingham yeast I'd use a blowoff tube during the primary.

 

[troy2000]

Raw wheat. Is it unmalted? If so, I'd pass on it. On the hops I'd go Willamette for bittering, holdings for flavor and Saaz if you want for aroma. Gear for the IBU in the low 30's. Work it out on some brewing software. With the Nottingham yeast I'd use a blowoff tube during the primary.

Thanks for the advice - and the reminder that I have Beersmith on my laptop and should be learning to use it. This was a good chance to practice.... I decided to use the wheat anyway; I figured if it comes out bad I can always drink the evidence. And I had 1 lb 2 oz of the candi instead of a pound, so I used it all.

I wound up going with 2 oz Willamette @ 60 minutes, and 1 oz Goldings @ 5 minutes. According to Beersmith, that should put me at 35 IBUs, which is about the same as a slightly hoppy American Amber ale. It came out a little too dark for American Amber guidelines though - and at an estimated 7.3% ABV, definitely too strong. I'll taste it in a week, and decide whether to dry hop with the Saaz.

As usual I found a new way to screw up while brewing; I forgot to add the oats until I had been mashing for half an hour. So I stirred them in with a little hot water to maintain temp, and went for a 90 minute mash. Then it turned out I had knocked the tubing loose between the false bottom and valve of my cooler when I stirred the oats in, and the valve clogged as soon as I opened it.

I had to dump everything into a bucket, reattach the false bottom, and pour it all back in before I could sparge. But I hit my estimated OG, so I guess I got away with it. To add insult to injury I finished up by dropping my hydrometer on a tiled countertop; it's the first one I've ever broken.

I always use a blowoff tube by the way, because I ferment 5 gal batches using old 5 gal water jugs for carboys. I usually lose at least two cups of wort through the tube.

 

[joyceman]

Raw wheat. Is it unmalted? If so, I'd pass on it.

Whats wrong with unmalted wheat?