Best SMaSH recipe you've made???

I made two "nearly" smash beers that came out great. 1.060 target, 2 row with 10% wheat. I made 5 gallons of the wort and then split the boil between cascade and centennial (whole leaf). Heavily late hoped, about 60 ibus. Grain to glass in a week. Best after two weeks. Seriously, simplest beer I ever made and it was SOO good. Neighbors loved it too.

Vienna/Amarillo with WLP 001.

Pilsner/Sterling Helles with WLP830. A classic.

I made some 1-gallon SMaSHs plus a bunch of cheaters that included various % of a single specialty grain (SMaSH+1 or DMaSH) in the mash. My favorites so far have been Maris Otter + Saaz, Maris Otter + East Kent Goldings, and Munich + East Kent Goldings. MO+Cascade and MO+Northern Brewer are going right now. I didn't like MO+Styrian Goldings much, tasted a bit like fresh lawn clippings, gave new meaning to the phrase "lawnmower beer."

Because I prefer my beers in the lower end of the APA style range (<0.6IBU/OG) I picked up an American Weigh AC Pro 200 Digital Pocket Scale for about $15 from Amazon so I could accurately weigh out the hops. The units are in grams, so hop additions range from 6g (0.21oz) to 1.5g (0.05oz) depending on the %AA of the hop.

The only SMaSH I've made was a MO/Northern Brewer and it is fantastic! I even dry hopped it with an ounce. It's like a British Pale/IPA.

YeastHerder said:

I made some 1-gallon SMaSHs plus a bunch of cheaters that included various % of a single specialty grain (SMaSH+1 or DMaSH) in the mash. My favorites so far have been Maris Otter + Saaz, Maris Otter + East Kent Goldings, and Munich + East Kent Goldings. MO+Cascade and MO+Northern Brewer are going right now. I didn't like MO+Styrian Goldings much, tasted a bit like fresh lawn clippings, gave new meaning to the phrase "lawnmower beer."

Because I prefer my beers in the lower end of the APA style range (<0.6IBU/OG) I picked up an American Weigh AC Pro 200 Digital Pocket Scale for about $15 from Amazon so I could accurately weigh out the hops. The units are in grams, so hop additions range from 6g (0.21oz) to 1.5g (0.05oz) depending on the %AA of the hop.

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I'm glad you said that about the MO + Styrian Holdings. I did the same thing and fermented with London ESB. Got a really strong, not very pleasant, herbal/grassy flavor and aroma. The Styrians were a little old so I attributed it to that & tossed the last couple ounces of them I had thinking they were just bad. Now I know!

Rdom said:

The Styrians were a little old so I attributed it to that & tossed the last couple ounces of them I had thinking they were just bad. Now I know!

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My SG hops were fresh. I even made it a second time shifting the addition times around and still didn't like it. I had previously used it in an irish red with lots of crystal malt and I'm guessing all the caramel/sweetness masks the grassy flavor. I'll be using EKG in irish reds from now on though.

I have some Fuggles in the freezer, but I'm not really looking forward to using it considering how the SG turned out.

I made a maris otter galaxy SMaSH as my first brew after i got my propane burner. Didnt realize how much boil off you get on one of them and ended up with 3.5 gallons of an 8% ABV pale ale instead of 5.5 gallons of a 5.5-6%er. Still came out well. Very smooth for an 8% beer with alot of aroma. Only critique would be i shouldve mashed at a higher temp to get a little more body going on.

This was my first brew day ever. I went with 2-row and Cascade for an all grain 2.5 gallon batch. I just cracked it the other day, per another thread I started, and it came out WONDERFULLY.

It was however my first batch so I can't compare to anything. I can however, with 100% honesty, say that this is currently the best beer I have ever brewed! Hahahahah



We will see if it is beaten out by any of the others I have aging

Mark_ said:

This was my first brew day ever. I went with 2-row and Cascade for an all grain 2.5 gallon batch. I just cracked it the other day, per another thread I started, and it came out WONDERFULLY.

It was however my first batch so I can't compare to anything. I can however, with 100% honesty, say that this is currently the best beer I have ever brewed! Hahahahah



We will see if it is beaten out by any of the others I have aging

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Simple grain bills with Cascade always equals greatness.

Otter's Nuggets - Anatomical innuendo intended..

11.0 lb Maris Otter
.5 Nugget 60 min
1.0 Nugget 10 min
1.0 Nugget 1 min
US05 yeast

Definitely different. I liked it a lot.

kh54s10 said:

Otter's Nuggets - Anatomical innuendo intended..

11.0 lb Maris Otter
.5 Nugget 60 min
1.0 Nugget 10 min
1.0 Nugget 1 min
US05 yeast

Definitely different. I liked it a lot.

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I just bought a s*** load of nugget and did two brews so far. One extract and one all grain, both single hop nugget. Both came out awesome. Definitely a fan of the nugget hops now.

Getting ready to make a Vienna and northern brewer smash, I read it's good

LabRatBrewer said:

Simple grain bills with Cascade always equals greatness.

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I agree. I have a few all cascade recipes that I really enjoy. I've made a few all grain batches with only pale ale malt and cascade, and they were great. I've also made a few extract only batches with all cascade and they were equally good. I call these extract batches my "simple ______" beers. I have a simple lager, a simple session lager, a simple saison, and a simple session amber that are made with only cascade and extract. I also follow the same hop schedule for each of these simple recipes, which is equal additions of cascade at 60, 30, and 15 minutes. If I feel like it, I'll dry hop, but since I like these to be simple batches that can be ready to drink quickly, I usually skip the dry hopping. I only adjust the hop quantities for the bitterness ratio I'm shooting for.

What would be recommended for a Vienna smash that has a malty taste,more grain than hops. I want to brew 1 gallon Vienna and northern brewer hops. Would like it light and malty. I plugged some values into beersmith as such 1.6 lbs Vienna, 3- .05 northern brewer hop additions at 60,30,5min. It keeps the hops under 20ibu,light color,and hopefully malty flavor. Let me know what ya think. For clean finish better to use Nottingham or s04?

Sounds good to me. I did a Maris Otter/Northern Brewer sMasH that came out awesome. It was more of an ESB than anything but I used quite a bit of hops to around 40ibu. I used s-04 for the first time and it is now my go to yeast for malty or British style beers. Notty will give you a drier/crisper finish for sure.

IMHO s-04 will serve you better if you're looking for more malt/less hops.

So I had the idea of trying a SMaSH batch, and was looking at using Vienna malt with Centennial hops and had the thought - before I go making grapefruit flavored dumplings, why not check out what some of the other members did.

Below is the sum of this thread, using posts that said they either have done this combination, or were thinking of this combination.

Malt and Hop Combos - Number of times mentioned

Vienna
Northern Brewers 5
Simeco 4
Amarillo 4
Cascade 3
Galaxy 3
Centennial 2
Citra 1
Hallertau 1
Chinook 1
Ultra 2011 1
Galena 1

2 Row Pale
Cascade 3
Columbus 1
Summit 1
Citra 1
Nelson Sauvin 1
Mosaic 1

Marris Otter
Cascade 5
Amarillo 5
Columbus 3
Kent-Goldings 3
Fuggles 2
Centennial 2
Northern Brewers 2
Galaxy 1
Chinook 1
Nugget 1
Sorachi 1
Citra 1
Mosaic 1
Saaz 1
Styrian 1

Pilzner
Saaz 3
Spalt 1
Cascade 1
Sterling 1

Munich or Munich II
Kent-Goldings 2
Northern Brewers 1
Hallertau 1
Millenium 1

Crystal 120
Cluster 1

Golden Promise
Citra 1

The clear winners are Marris Otter malt, one I've never used before, and Vienna malt, which I just used for the first time in my last batch.

Marris Otter had 15 different hop combinations for a total of 30 batches, while Vienna had 11 combos for 26 batches.

Cascade used 12 times and Amarillo use 9 times, were the most used hops, followed by Northern Brewers and Kent Goldings

Very nice.

Add me in for Vienna/Simcoe. Bottle this tomorrow and from my sample it's gonna be awesome.

Super64 said:

Crystal 120
Cluster 1

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Not quite a SMaSH, (I'll call it a SMaTH) but...:

10lb Belgian Pils mashed at 150F
1 oz Cascade (60 min) (had some lying around)
1 oz Saaz (15 min)
1 oz Saaz (2 min)
WY3711 French Saison yeast, fermented at 75F or higher.
O.G. 1.050
F.G. 1.002
IBU: 25

Interesting read. Which northern brewer hops are being mentioned? Northern brewer has 2 different ones.

German Northern Brewer Hop Pellets 1 oz.
US Northern Brewer Hop Pellets 1 oz.

Thinking about getting Northern Brewers small batch quad core kit. It is 4 1 gallon carboys/ fermentation kits. Just for smash sessions. Seems like a good way to learn the process and dial in equipment.

madman960 said:

Interesting read. Which northern brewer hops are being mentioned? Northern brewer has 2 different ones.

German Northern Brewer Hop Pellets 1 oz.
US Northern Brewer Hop Pellets 1 oz.

Thinking about getting Northern Brewers small batch quad core kit. It is 4 1 gallon carboys/ fermentation kits. Just for smash sessions. Seems like a good way to learn the process and dial in equipment.

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They are the same hop, but the ground they grow in does have an effect on the end result. I typically go with US since it is more cost effective. Doing a side by side with each would be interesting...

How much vienna and hops? I would do a side by side. Should prove interesting.

BigDaddyBeard said:

Add me in for Vienna/Simcoe. Bottle this tomorrow and from my sample it's gonna be awesome.

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Me too. One of my favorite IPA's to date. I'm using it as a base to build my house IPA off. Brewing another version this weekend, using Chinook and Simcoe. Going to split six gallons into two-gallon batches and try three different yeasts to see which one I like most.

For a 5 gallon batch, I personally use 10lbs of Vienna and 4oz total of hops. 1oz each at 60, 15, 10, and 5. This gives me a hoppy APA essentially.

I use 13 lbs and 8oz hops; .5 at 60, 2.5 at 10, 2 whirlpool, 3 dryhop.

hop BOMb. love it.

Vienna/Simcoe

10 lbs. Vienna

0.5 oz. @ 60
0.5oz. @ 10
0.5 oz. @ 5
0.5 oz. @ 1
2 oz. @ whirlpool
2 oz. dry hop

2 row/simcoe w/Conan yeast

18 lbs 2 row, .5 lb turbinado sugar

1 oz @ 60
1 oz @ 30
1 oz @ 15
1 oz @ 5
2 oz @ flameout

Dry hop in keg 10 days w 2 oz pellet and 2 oz leaf hops.

Had a small taste yesterday, not fully carbed, but tastes and smells amazing!

12lbs Maris Otter

1oz centennial 60min
1oz centennial 30min
1oz centennial 15 min
1oz centennial flame out
1oz centennial dry hop

Turned out fantastic. Honestly probably my best to date. Kind of bums me out when I think of all the elaborate recipes I've done

Powerturn11 said:

12lbs Maris Otter

1oz centennial 60min
1oz centennial 30min
1oz centennial 15 min
1oz centennial flame out
1oz centennial dry hop

Turned out fantastic. Honestly probably my best to date. Kind of bums me out when I think of all the elaborate recipes I've done

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US-05 yeast

Powerturn11 said:

12lbs Maris Otter

1oz centennial 60min
1oz centennial 30min
1oz centennial 15 min
1oz centennial flame out
1oz centennial dry hop

Turned out fantastic. Honestly probably my best to date. Kind of bums me out when I think of all the elaborate recipes I've done

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That should actually make you feel proud. When a beer is very elaborate with tons of specialty grain and hopped to the Gills it is much harder for the possible flaws in the beer to be detected. On the other other hand if you are able to make a low to mid strength beer with a simple grain bill and recipe that tastes good and clean, It shows you have good technique, good sanitary practices, and are able to maintain proper pitch rates and fermentation temperatures.

Glad it came out well man. I love centennial.

I currently have a SMaSH (kind of cheated, due to PM restraints) in the fermenter, 10 days and counting

8lbs vienna
2lb light DME late addition (wanted to get my ABV above 5%)
1oz centennial 60min
1oz centennial 5min

us-05

OG 1.056
FG est. 1.016
abv 5.26%
ibu 33.07
SRM 5.82
(using Brewersfriend)

Hopefully it turns out nice. Anyone have feedback on how theirs turned out with this combo?

Powerturn11 said:

12lbs Maris Otter

1oz centennial 60min
1oz centennial 30min
1oz centennial 15 min
1oz centennial flame out
1oz centennial dry hop

Turned out fantastic. Honestly probably my best to date. Kind of bums me out when I think of all the elaborate recipes I've done

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This sounds great. I have a ton of Centennial in the freezer. Do you get a nice colour from the Maris Otter?

What differences would Maris Otter have over Vienna in a SMaSH recipe?

NewkyBrown said:

This sounds great. I have a ton of Centennial in the freezer. Do you get a nice colour from the Maris Otter?

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MO doesn't have much color to it. I think it's usually around 3L, it's a pale malt.

Thanks. I've never used it before but there seems to be some good simple recipes with it. I might have to buy a sack of it to try.

Dave37 said:

That should actually make you feel proud. When a beer is very elaborate with tons of specialty grain and hopped to the Gills it is much harder for the possible flaws in the beer to be detected. On the other other hand if you are able to make a low to mid strength beer with a simple grain bill and recipe that tastes good and clean, It shows you have good technique, good sanitary practices, and are able to maintain proper pitch rates and fermentation temperatures.

Glad it came out well man. I love centennial.

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Thanks man. I should look at it like that. Beautiful beer.

forstmeister said:

MO doesn't have much color to it. I think it's usually around 3L, it's a pale malt.

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Not a lot of color, but I love the maltiness I get from MO. check out the pic I posted.

It's a little less toasty than Vienna, but has a nice bready flavor. Both make awesome single malt beers.