Brewing with Oats – Tradition and the Future
Over its relatively short lifespan, the New England IPA style has generated more than its fair share of controversy. In the beginning, brewers both professional and on the home side debated what made the beers cloudy and hazy.
Was it flour or some other agent of haze? And what accounted for that softness on the palate or the extreme juiciness in the aroma? As brewers and brewing scientists dug further into the biology of these beers, they expanded their understanding of the importance of biotransformation, thiols, and other components of the DNA of hazy and juicy beers. Near the center of the attention is the use of oats, flaked, rolled, or malted, in the grain bill.
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Long used in stouts and porters to create a soft, silky mouthfeel, oats also found a place in the grist for New England IPAs to add haze to the appearance according to some early adopters and to amplify the juicy character.
In more recent times, brewers use oats to round out the bitterness in hops and to increase the creaminess of the beer on the palate. Using oats, however, doesn’t come without some challenges. Let’s consider some best practices.
Oats possess a substantial amount of beta-glucans and proteins, which help increase the viscosity of wort but can also cause some issues. One obvious challenge with the increase in oats and thereby thickening beta-glucans is the possibility of a stuck mash, issues with lautering or transfer, and the clarity of the beer.
In New England IPAs, the clarity issue is not a concern but dealing with a stuck, gummy process certainly is. The recommended response is to engage lower temperature rests and use rice hulls up to 5-percent in the mash to balance out the thickness brought by the oats. Another alternative is to use some measure of 6-row base malt, which brings less viscosity than 2-row malt.
The use of unmalted oats can help build body without much flavor enhancement while malted oats add a creamy texture while also potentially being enzymatically active. They also help reduce the sharpness of hops and other bittering elements. Crystal oat malts also add a slight nutty character that can help round out certain oat-forward versions of the hazy or juicy IPA styles.
The use of flaked oats in up to 20-percent of the malt bill helps contribute to the overall silkiness of the mouthfeel of the style, adds a touch of haziness, but can also lead to faster oxidation and possible color change over time with oxygen pickup. Malted oats with husks bear similarity to flaked oats but can be used in higher amounts of the bill, with less likelihood of causing run off issues.
Another benefit to consider from the use of malted oats is that with a lower manganese level (as compared to flaked oats), is a reduction of the risk of oxidation. Scientific study about the impacts of oxidation on color and quality of hazy IPAs continues but several studies show the benefits of using higher proportions of malted oats.
There is also something to be said for the marketing benefits of using oats in hazy beers. At Dogfish Head, the brewers created its hazy IPA, called Hazy-O!, with four types of oats, including malted oats for added haze, rolled oats for creamy mouthfeel, naked oats for flavor, and oat milk for additional haze and mouthfeel. The modern era of New England IPA has made one thing clear: the traditional days of using oats in only velvety stouts and porters is done.
The sad part is they are not IPAs. They’re just hazy ales and need to be classified. That way IPAs are way better IMHO!