Oat milk is a fantastic drink to make at home, especially for vegans. It’s easy, it’s reasonably cheap, and it doesn’t take long. Sometimes, though, it just comes out watery – so why does this happen?
Thin oat milk usually occurs because you are using a cloth that is too fine for straining it. It might also happen if you haven’t soaked the oats for long enough, or if you have added too much water to your recipe. You can’t generally replicate the store-bought thickness at home, but you should be able to achieve a nice consistency.
We’ll cover the top reasons that homemade oat milk comes out watery, so you know how to make a creamy, delicious batch next time you get out your oats!
Why Does Oat Milk Come Out Watery?
If your oat milk is too watery, you certainly aren’t alone; a lot of people experience this frustrating phenomenon. There are a few potential causes, but the top 3 are:
- Your straining cloth is too fine
- You haven’t soaked the oats for long enough
- You have used too much water in the recipe
In some cases, more than one of these factors will be at play, so it’s important to think about all of them before you start making a fresh batch of oat milk. Double-check your recipe and consider finding a different one if you keep getting watery oat milk.
Reason 1) Fine Straining Cloth
Your straining cloth is probably the first thing you should check if you’re having problems with watery oat milk. Thick, creamy oat milk depends upon the residue from the oats coming through with the water. If your straining cloth is too fine, the oaty residue will stay in the cloth, and will not be transferred into the milk.
You will essentially be drinking water because most of the creamy starch will be left in the pulp and will be discarded. There may be an oaty flavor, but your milk will not be thick or creamy, and will not taste anything like milk.
Your straining cloth does need to be fine so you don’t get bits in your milk, but it must be coarse enough to let some of the oat residues pass through and into the jug. You can buy specific bags for straining plant milk, but a cheesecloth will also work well.
Some people use other fabrics, such as clean t-shirts or dish towels, and these should work in most cases. However, if you are having problems getting enough flavor into your oat milk, consider using a coarser cloth. As long as bits can’t get through, it should work and will help you to get more flavor into your drink.
Reason 2) Improperly Soaked Oats
A lot of oat milk recipes require you to soak the oats before you start (although some recommend blending instead). This gives time for the water to get into the oats and start breaking them down, allowing particles of oat to mix in with the water. This is what helps to create the milk, infusing it with starches and sugars.
If you are impatient, you might find the soaking process too slow, but rushing it can result in milk that is watery. There won’t be enough time for the oats to swell up and start breaking down, so less of their creaminess will be transferred to the liquid, and this gives you watery milk.
If your recipe calls on you to blend the oats instead, make sure you follow the instructions so you don’t end up blending them too much or too little. Blending them too much can create thick, stodgy oat milk, while too little can leave the milk watery and unpleasant.
It’s worth trying both methods and seeing which you prefer. Blending tends to give you quicker results and may result in thicker milk, but many people find the soaked oat milk smoother and pleasanter. Give both a try to determine which suits you better in terms of taste and convenience.
Reason 3) Too Much Water
Sometimes, people get carried away with the amount of water they add to homemade oat milk. This is easy to do; oats soak up a lot of water, and you may be keenly aware that you are trying to make a liquid. Some other plant-based milks also require a lot more water than oat milk, which can lead to this error.
In most cases, you will want a maximum of 4 parts water to 1 part oats. Most people use lower ratios of water to get a creamier drink.
Conclusion
If your oat milk is coming out too watery, try choosing a coarser straining cloth, and increasing the soaking time. You may also need to decrease the amount of water you add to the recipe so there’s a higher ratio of oats.
