Home of the BrewNosers

The beer I'm planning to brew tomorrow has 1.25lb. of Flaked (quick) Oats in it which works out to be 12.1% of the total grain bill. Being this is my first time mashing oats, I'm wondering if I should be using some rice hulls in my mash? I'd been thinking that since I'm under 15% I should be ok, but am a bit unsure. The last thing I want to deal with tomorrow night is a stuck sparge.

Planning on shooting for 1.33qts/lb for my mash and I mash in a 70qt Coleman cooler with a stainless braid if that's any help.

Thanks!

With the same setup and same water/grain ratio, I've never had any problem whatsoever. I don't find oats get quite as gummy as rye or large amounts of wheat. If you're concerned about it you could always get some hulls and throw them in if there's a problem. It's no big deal to add them after the problem is encountered.

Excellent. I figured I'd be alright, but just wanted to confirm.

I've used flaked oats lots & have never used rice hulls. My oatmeal stout had 12% oats.

I'd do a glucanase rest of around 113ºF for 20 minutes. If you have rice hulls already, you may as well use some, but I don't think I'd be too concerned.

Thanks gents.

amartin, I'm shooting for a single infusion mash since I'm so close to 10% I didn't figure that any gumminess from the beta-glucans would be an issue.

It may not be, I don't know. I've always played it on the safe side with oats, wheat and rye, but I've never had a stuck sparge either (at least not mash related). Let us know how it went, not just sparge, but also the resulting body and head retention.

So the mash went excellent, no issues at all. Ended up at 78% efficiency which is much higher than I expected (73%).