I had just mashed in a big ol' batch of an oatmeal stout that I like to do when I realised I wasn't planning any gatherings and didn't see a time when I could drink 50 liters of strong stout in the near future. So I decided to save myself a whole days brewing and just finish it after the mash, bang it in fermenter and see what flavours come through when distilled...
Despite a lot of dark malt and a high-ish mash temp It finished at 1009 which is about 4-5 points lower than my normal stout would go even though the initial Gravity was higher. I'm putting this down to the fact I didn't boil it and ruin the enzymes
Just distilled it today and the flavours coming over are interesting... You get all the normal barley flavours dominating but you also get the caramel, chocolate and roasty flavours without any bitterness. Tastes a bit creamy too like chocolate truffle.
Don't know yet if Il leave it white or oak it for a spell but initial results seem really good.
Here's my stout grain bill if anybody cares, some additions were probably pointless since it got distilled:
5% medium crystal
5% dark crystal
5% wheat malt
7.5% malted oats
2.5% chocolate malt
3.5% roast barley
71.5% pale malt
I normally aim for 5.3% abv with a final gravity around 1013