Moose Mud Oatmeal Stout

Moose refers not to the large antlered animal of the north woods in this case but to my dog "Moose" who is an American Cocker Spaniel that has become my absolute inseperable companion. If I could get away with taking him to work with me I would.

Moose came to me as a rescue dog that had severe emotional issues. First off he had decided than human kind was not to be trusted. Maybe he is on to something. At any rate after about a year's worth of carefull handling I earned his trust. An accomplishment I am very proud of.

Somewhere during that process I discovered that he liked beer. Not just any beer, but he had a fondness for stouts. Oatmeal stout and Irish dry stout were OK in his book. He avoids pilsners, lagers and Belgian Ale (which I like!) like the plague but will try and horn in on my stouts.

Maybe this is one of the reasons he and I get along so well.


This recipe is the first in a series of stout recipes that I am creating in his honor. He recently earned his Canine Good Citizen title which for him was not an easy accomplishment. So this recipe is in honor of his accomplishing that task. If he don't like the results I will edit the recipe accordingly.

Moose and I have similar tastes so this is going to be fun.

Brewer:	Peter L. Berghold		Email:	peter@berghold.net
URL:	http://www.berghold.net
Beer:	Moose Mud Oatmeal Stout		Style:	Oatmeal Stout
Type:	All grain		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	109 HCU (~37 SRM)		Bitterness:	40 IBU
OG:	1.058		FG:	1.014
Alcohol:	5.7% v/v (4.5% w/w)
Water:	Since my tap water is already fairly hard I am not adding anything to it to increase hardness. I would advise starting the night before though and boiling the water to get rid of the chlorine.
Grain:	8 lb. British pale 8 oz. American crystal 40L 8 oz. British chocolate 8 oz. British black patent 2 lb. Flaked oats
Mash:	70% efficiency
	Toast the flaked oats in the oven for 75 minutes at 325° F in a "jelly roll" pan. Mash all grains at 150° F for 90 minutes.
Boil:	90 minutes	SG 1.045	6.5 gallons
	Add the Northern Brewer when there is 60 minutes left in the boil. Add the rest of the hops at 15 minutes left along with 1t of Irish Moss.
Hops:	1 oz. Northern Brewer (8.5% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 15 min.)
Yeast:	Irish Ale Yeast. Start a starter 3 days ahead of time (1 PT) and add the resultant slurry to your wort after chilling it to 80° F.,
Carbonation:	2.0 volumes
	Add 3/4 cup corn sugar to beer in keg for 2 weeks.

Recipe posted 03/31/03.