Smoked amber ale input

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brewswellwithothers

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I have been mulling this idea over for some time and I think I have my recipe that I want to try but wanted to see what everyone here thinks.

10 Gallon Batch accounting for boiloff and trub should have around 11 gallons going into carboys.

Grains:
11 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 56.4 %
3 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 15.4 %
2 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 10.3 %
2 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 10.3 %
1 lbs Caraamber (30.0 SRM) Grain 5.1 %
8.0 oz Smoked Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 2.6 %

Hop Schedule:
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 15.4 IBUs
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 2.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 2.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 0.0 IBUs

1.00 Cup Chilis (Secondary 7.0 days) Spice

Using American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast

Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.053 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.009 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.8 %
Bitterness: 19.9 IBUs
Calories: 194.7 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 11.8 SRM

Smoked malt I plan to make myself by cold smoking some 2 row with a blend of Apple, Hickory, and Mesquite sawdust, and I was thinking for the chilis I would use some chipotle and cayenne sliced length wise.

I am looking for a smooth clean finishing beer with a nice flavor profile and decent hop flavor with a good bit of hop aroma. The IBU's are intentionally low as to not make the smoke flavor too pronounced but smoked grain amount and IBU's might have to be adjusted once I've made this and given it a taste.

Lemme know you you guys think.
 
I think it looks very good-I am coming to your house on vacation to try some:)Oh and I'm going to barrow your recipe too;)
 
Thanks for the input, I've been reading this forum and other books like crazy while I patiently get all my gear together. I think I wanna make this for my first brew.
 
Let me preface this by saying I LOVE smoked beers, including rauch, smoked porter, smoked mild, etc. I have had one good example of a smoked pale ale on site @ Great Lakes Brew Pub. It inspired me to try to brew a smoked pale ale...

I have recently made a smoked pale ale and I can genuinely recommend against mixing too many hops (especially dry hops) with smoked malt.

This was a "challenge" beer against another brewer and they both turned out pretty bad. Not undrinkable, but not good either. Bad enought that we both decided to brew something else to compete against each other. We both brewed the same recipe but on our own systems. Out of about 150 batches of beer, this is the only beer that I can solidly point to the recipe as the biggest issue. Our basic recipe:

50% 2-row
25% Smoked (Rauch malt)
14% Vienna
7% C15
4% Honey Malt
Hops for 5 gallons:
60 min .63 oz Warrior 16.7%
10 min 1oz Ahtanum 6%
0 min 1oz Columbus 13.3%
Dry hop 2oz Centennial.

This is a proven pale ale recipe I have brewed many times without the smoke, but the combined flavor of smoke + hops was down right weird. If I was going to brew this again I would :

A) No dry hops
B) No flameout hops
C) Consider brewing something else, lol
D) Really make sure I don't over-flavor or over-aroma with hops
E) Get the point yet?

:)
 
Yeah, I've read that too high of IBU's will bring out a stronger/bitter smoke flavor but hadn't considered that the hop aroma might conflict and make it weird also. I don't want too strong of a smoke flavor or aroma and more of a hop flavor so I only used a very small amount of smoked malt. I might give it a shot with a PM and see how it tastes before I go making it all grain and waste some good grains.
 
After thinking about it I think I might drop the Cascades in the dry hopping, after hearing from Folster I think the citrus flavor/aroma would clash with the overall taste of the beer and the earthy/spicy flavor I'll get from the fuggles and willamette.
 
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