I picked up some peat-smoked malt at the LHBS the other day and I'm pretty excited about it. Lagavulin is by far my favorite scotch and I'd like to brew something that is evocative of that.
Does anyone have any thoughts? I'd like to keep it simple. I'm not a fan of brewing with more than 3 or 4 malts and a couple varieties of hops. I'm thinking slightly malty and lightly hopped to showcase the peat. Maybe a brown? I'd love to hear your ideas!
How much peated malt did you pick up? You really use that sparingly compared to Rauchmalt, which you can use in pounds, a opposed to mere ounces with peated.
You have a couple options. You could go for a simple Smash type pale ale (single malt and single hop) with just a little peat in it. Like maybe marris otter as base malt, and english hop variety like a fuggles and an english or irish ale yeast.
Then you would have something pale in color almost like a nice scotch.
The other option is a brown like you said, I have a nice brown in my recipes pulldown, that I have added a pound or more of rauchmalt on occasion....You could do the brown with a couple ounces of the peated instead of the racuh..
Just again be careful with how much you use....My understanding is that peated is really smokey...
There's some good threads discussing using it in the similar threads box below....
Heed their warnings.
Good luck.
The more i think about it, the SMASH beer with a couple ounces of peat may be fun, and unique...I think a lot of folks think darker beers when they think of smoke....it might be cool to have a slightly smokey pale aie instead.
Revvy's one of the cool reverends. He has a Harley and a t-shirt that says on the back "If you can read this, the bitch was Raptured.
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Originally Posted by YooperBrew
I gotta tell ya, just between us girls, that Revvy is HOT. Very tall, gorgeous grey hair and a terrific smile. He's very good looking in person, with a charismatic personality... he drives like a ****ing maniac!
Most of your scottish ale recipes will call for either peated or roasted malts. Scottish ales are rated by schillings depending on alcohol content so just pick how heavy you want your beer. Just be careful as you really don't need much peated malt to add a nice smoked flavor. In my experience more than 6oz or so (in a 5 gal. batch) and the peated flavor becomes overpowering and actually masks other flavors of the beer. I really enjoy the peated flavor when balanced well though.
Thanks guys! I also kinda like the idea of doing a SMaSH-ish beer. I have some fuggles, so that might be a good hop to use. I may also add a bit of Crystal 40 or something like that to give it a hint of sweetness. I'll also be careful as to how much peated malt I use. Thanks for that warning as I probably would have gone overboard with it!
Jmil, I'm typically not a big fan of Scottish ales as I find them a bit too malty, but I'll keep them in mind.
Here's what I'm thinking, based largely on what I have on hand and your suggestions:
9lbs 2-row
1 lb Crystal 40
6oz Peat smoked malt
2 oz fuggles
I may throw in a little crystal or cascade towards the end just for a hint of aroma.
Thanks guys! I also kinda like the idea of doing a SMaSH-ish beer. I have some fuggles, so that might be a good hop to use. I may also add a bit of Crystal 40 or something like that to give it a hint of sweetness. I'll also be careful as to how much peated malt I use. Thanks for that warning as I probably would have gone overboard with it!
Jmil, I'm typically not a big fan of Scottish ales as I find them a bit too malty, but I'll keep them in mind.
Here's what I'm thinking, based largely on what I have on hand and your suggestions:
9lbs 2-row
1 lb Crystal 40
6oz Peat smoked malt
2 oz fuggles
I may throw in a little crystal or cascade towards the end just for a hint of aroma.
Thanks again!
I can't tell you whether or not that's too much peat, but at least it will fade with time, if it turns out to be.
You've got me thinking about doing a small batch of something like it as well....I haven't drawn up the recipe but I'm thinking Marris Otter, fuggles, and irish ale yeast maybe.
Revvy's one of the cool reverends. He has a Harley and a t-shirt that says on the back "If you can read this, the bitch was Raptured.
Quote:
Originally Posted by YooperBrew
I gotta tell ya, just between us girls, that Revvy is HOT. Very tall, gorgeous grey hair and a terrific smile. He's very good looking in person, with a charismatic personality... he drives like a ****ing maniac!
Here's what I would do, and it seems in line with your philosophy and revvy's suggestion.
99% golden promise
1% peat smoked
you don't want much of it at all, a little goes a long way.
aim for an OG of about 1.080 and mash really low, like 148 for 90 minutes.
boil down your first runnings to caramelize them and get some complex caramel flavors going on in there.
bitter with fuggles to about 30 ibu.
ferment with a clean, highly attenuating yeast.
you should end up with a lightly smoky, deep golden, high alcohol, well-balanced sipper. it fits your preference for a simple grain bill and should produce a scotch whisky-like beer.
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Here's what I would do, and it seems in line with your philosophy and revvy's suggestion.
99% golden promise
1% peat smoked
you don't want much of it at all, a little goes a long way.
aim for an OG of about 1.080 and mash really low, like 148 for 90 minutes.
boil down your first runnings to caramelize them and get some complex caramel flavors going on in there.
bitter with fuggles to about 30 ibu.
ferment with a clean, highly attenuating yeast.
you should end up with a lightly smoky, deep golden, high alcohol, well-balanced sipper. it fits your preference for a simple grain bill and should produce a scotch whisky-like beer.
I've never used Golden promise malt so when I just googled it I came up with this...seems you are on the right track there king!
Quote:
1999 Benromach "Origins" Batch 1 - Golden Promise, Speyside Single Malt Whisky 750ml
SKU #1043142
Wow, Wow, Wow, is this incredible single malt! So creamy and rich with lovely length! This is one of the best bottles of single malt that I have tried this year! Benromach "Origins" is a series of special bottlings crafted to highlight how subtle changes to the art of whisky making can help shape the character of the final single malt. Batch #1 starts with the barley component and is made with Golden Promise Barley It was distilled in 1999 and bottled in 2008. Matured in a sherry cask and has a phenol level only 4ppm. 50% ABV
Revvy's one of the cool reverends. He has a Harley and a t-shirt that says on the back "If you can read this, the bitch was Raptured.
Quote:
Originally Posted by YooperBrew
I gotta tell ya, just between us girls, that Revvy is HOT. Very tall, gorgeous grey hair and a terrific smile. He's very good looking in person, with a charismatic personality... he drives like a ****ing maniac!
My favorite Scotch is Laphroaig, which is probably the most highly peated malt out there. I say bring on the smoke! I will however object to peat malt being used in Scottish ales. I just don't think it should be in there.
As far as a beer recipe evocative of Islay malts, you should probably go higher than most people would initially suggest. My reasoning is that Lagavulin, Laphroaig and other Islay malts have a very high and distinct peat character. Almost like a slegehammer. Keep the beer light. Golden Promise, or other English Pale Ale malt, maybe a touch of a light crystal for some sweetness. Bitterness, not too sure of. I'd look to keep the bitterness to gravity ratio at 1 in beersmith.
I'm not really sure how peat malt plays in beer. I know Rauchmalt sometimes needs to be used in very high quantities to get any flavor. Peat is much more distinct though. Maybe start with 1lb and see how it goes? IMO you DO want a lot of peat in this beer if you want it to be reminiscent of an Islay malt.
Now, I have to run to the store. I only have a dram of Laphraiog left!
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Alright, I'm brewing this today, so here's the final recipe based on everyone's good points. I'll keep you all posted on the results.
11lbs 2-row
1.5 lb Crystal 40
12oz Peat smoked malt
2 oz fuggles
As Edcculus states, the Islay malts are really peaty, and I think this beer will be pretty peaty as well. Maybe too peaty, but there's only one way to find out. The crytal 40 should give it a bit of sweetness, and it should come in around 1.070. I like the idea of using golden promise or maris otter, but I don't have any at the moment. Maybe next time around. And I think I'll stick with just Fuggles to keep things simple. I'm going to grind the grain right now. I'll let you all know how it turns out. Thanks for helping me build this one!
I've never used Golden promise malt so when I just googled it I came up with this...seems you are on the right track there king!
It's interesting you pulled up a Benromach article. That is the one distillery I visited while in Scotland. They have some really, really nice scotch, and do interesting things to some batches like age in sherry barrels like the one you showed. We got to try several there and the tour guide was great, and we met the head distiller since the couple we were with had just gotten married and bought a self-filled bottle of a cask-strength scotch. Anyway, I love the stuff and brought back a couple bottles, but couldn't find it over here anywhere. Fast forward to this past december, my fiancee and I get married in california, and the nice folks from scotland brought a bottle for us as a gift. We were super excited. Then while wandering through a BevMo, what did we see but a bottle of Benromach. It's quite a small distillery, so I was surprised to find it over here. I do know they do a lot of stuff for the British royalty though.
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Peat-smoked beer (lagavulin-esque?)
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