Smoked Malt Question

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BertusBrew

BertusBrew

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I have a Scottish Ale recipe that I love. I want to brew it this time and add some smoked malt. Just enough to give a hint of smoke. Here is the grain bill. How much smoked malt should I use for a 5 gallon batch?

9lbs Maris Otter
9oz crystal 60
5oz amber
4oz roasted barley
 
My first attempt at a Scottish ale I used 8 oz of peat smoked malt. Too much. Tasted like a campfire. I would go with 4 oz for something subtle.
 
Big question is whether you want a SMOKE taste, or a PEAT taste.

I agree that peat-smoked malt is very potent--for me, so potent that I think I may never use it again, or at least only in very small quantities (an ounce or two). That is after I made a Scottish with 4 oz and found it almost undrinkable for months. And I love peated scotch, too.

Smoked malt, on the other hand, tends to be much more subtle. German rauchmaltz could be 10% of your grain bill and leave a more subtle effect. In smaller quantities, just a few ounces, say, it'd add just a whisper of smoke, which could be nice.

You can also consider adding liquid smoke when you bottle--that allows you to step up to the quantities you want.
 
motorneuron said:
Big question is whether you want a SMOKE taste, or a PEAT taste.

I agree that peat-smoked malt is very potent--for me, so potent that I think I may never use it again, or at least only in very small quantities (an ounce or two). That is after I made a Scottish with 4 oz and found it almost undrinkable for months. And I love peated scotch, too.

Smoked malt, on the other hand, tends to be much more subtle. German rauchmaltz could be 10% of your grain bill and leave a more subtle effect. In smaller quantities, just a few ounces, say, it'd add just a whisper of smoke, which could be nice.

You can also consider adding liquid smoke when you bottle--that allows you to step up to the quantities you want.
Click to expand...

Probably going to use Breiss Smoked Malt, not Peated. Thanks, I think I'm going to add a few ounces and see what happens.
 
ryan_george said:
I use Weyermann Beach Smoked Malt and it is very mild. We use up to ~40-50% in our smoked amber ale, and it's not overpowering at all.
Click to expand...

Agree that the Weyermann Beach Smoked Malt at 20% of the grainbill is a hint of smoke, 50-60% is nicely smokey but maybe 1/2 of the smoke flavor in an Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen.

Could you post your smoked amber recipe?
 
Last smoked porter we did was a 12% Briess Cherry Smoked malt...

Girlfriend who smokes thought it was too smokey until it aged over a month.. I on the other hand (do not smoke) enjoyed it nice and prominent yet also agree that it conditioned out nicely...time to get another in rotation.
 
I think the amount would depend largely on which smoked malt and how fresh it is. Aged malt would lose some of it's smokiness.

I brewed a smoked Ale based on John Palmer's Elevenses.
5.75 Maris Otter
1.0 Crystal 75
1.0 Oak Smoked Wheat Malt 10.9%
.75 Brown Malt
.33 Flaked Oats
.25 Chocolate malt
.10 Peat smoked malt. 1.1%

It was very noticeably smokey. Very good.
Peat Smoked malt is VERY potent. You need to use it VERY sparingly. I would not use more than .15 pounds of peat smoked. It would quickly overpower the flavor. You could go higher on the Oak Smoked Wheat.
 
It's really impossible to suggest an amount of smoked malt because it depends entirely on the freshness. I've used 20% Briess in a Helles and you could barely detect the smoke. And I've used 90% Weyermann smoked where you could barely detect smoke. All due to freshness I'm sure.
 
BertusBrew said:
Probably going to use Breiss Smoked Malt, not Peated. Thanks, I think I'm going to add a few ounces and see what happens.
Click to expand...

You won't taste anything from a few ounces of Briess. A few pounds you may likely taste, but again depends on the freshness. The only consistent way to use smoked malt is to smoke it yourself unless you could get a manufacture date, which is probably hard to do.
 

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