Tasting Day - O.A.T. Ale

Tasting day for O.A.T. ale was actually about a week ago. It's hard for me to write blog postings about beers that failed.  O.A.T. with Burton ale yeast was a fail.  The infection I noticed at bottle time took hold of the beer and it could not recover.  Band-Aid flavor all through it.

Was it because there were no hops to help prevent bad things happening?  Or was it the 2 gallon plastic bucket had a poor seal?

I am leaning more towards the bucket having a poor seal.  This is the 3rd batch I have put into the small 2 gallon buckets at all 3 have had issues.  I cant say with certainty that this is the issue but I see a trend starting.  I am going to throw those buckets out an only use my 3 gallon carboys moving forward.

Here are a few things we learned about this beer.

1. An all oat beer is possible with malted oat.
2. The beer is way thinner that you would expect.  I need more oat for a more velvety finish like a golden stout - if you will.
3. The oat does provide a unique flavor that works pretty well with Saison type of brews.  
4. The tansy does not taste nearly as herbal as it smells.  I would recommend using tansy as a flavor agent at the end of a boil with minimal hops.
5. The tansy is not as bitter as we expected.  This is another reason I would recommend using hops at the 60 minute mark and then dose the boiling wort with the tansy.

 We tasted the batch made with American Farmhouse yeast and it seems to have a good chance of turning into something.  The carbonation was low so hopefully next time we crack one open it has a bit more so we can properly assess the beer.

As of now here is how I see the next batch playing out:

1. Increase the flaked oat to about 20% of the grain bill. The next grain bill would look like this.  20% flaked oats - 25% Maris Otter - 55% malted oat.
2. Use Fuggle's hops at the 60 minute mark for an IBU count around 12-15.
3. Use the full amount of tansy during the last 15 minutes of the boil
4. Potentially use American Farmhouse as the only yeast. I feel Burton yeast deserves another shot to see what a fruitier version of the beer could taste like.  The flavors we picked up in the beers we tried seemed to compliment the American Farmhouse a bit better though.  With the hop and tansy being switched though it would provide a new base beer for the Burton.

I will post again about this beer if the American Farmhouse version we have turns the corner.  We also have the Brett. B version aging away.  That will be ready in the fall for a sample.