Simcoe SMaSH/IPA

Evening, friends,

I'm scheming on a brew tomorrow that's going to involve some combination of ~12lbs Fawcett Optic from Northern Brewer and a bunch of Simcoe I snagged at Listermann Brew Supply in Cincy this evening (they have a couple of boxes right now, though there's a 5oz limit per customer, I think). I've been wanting to brew something with Simcoe since I learned its profile a few months ago. Unfortunately, that coincided with the shortage. I grabbed the Optic on a whim and have heard good things about it as a base malt, in terms of flavor and aroma.

The initial plan was for a SMaSH with Nottingham and a healthy amount of late-boil additions of the Simcoe, but after reading around a little about other SMaSH recipes on HBT, it seems like maybe going with the base malt alone would leave me with too much of a good thing on the hop side. I picked up a pound each of 60L and 80L crystal and am toying now with the notion of doing a more straight-ahead Simcoe IPA. Or maybe doing two smaller mashes and two separate boils, one SMaSH, one IPA.

ANYWAY. Just wondered what kind general reactions there were out there to an Optic/Simcoe SMaSH. Any and all comments from the peanut gallery appreciated!

I've never used optic, so I would say to go with the SMaSH. That way you can get the flavor of it by itself

A SMaSH almost always sounds appealing to me. Base malt alone can easily make an interesting beer as long as you use enough of it to match the hop charge.

SMaSH is a great way to remove the distractions of recipe complications and highlight your process and quality of ingredients.

Yeah I've noticed you rep the SMaSH a lot! Any tips for a first timer? Is 12lbs gonna do it against the Simcoe? Any advice on the hop additions, like if I even need a bittering addition?

Do it. I did a Simcoe SMaSH with Maris Otter and it was fanfockingtastic. 0.75 oz at 60, 15, 10, 5 and 0 + 2 Oz dry hop. 13 lbs MO.

i did a simcoe smash where i roasted some of the 2 row on a baking sheet, (as per summit smash recipe on here). went thru the keg in 5 hours after it was tapped... sooo tasty

slothorentropy said:

Any tips for a first timer?

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Pay attention to mash pH, as with any beer but especially when using all pale malt.

After brewing a few beers with intentionally lowish bitterness, I find that they don't really satisfy me. On small systems, it's hard to get IBUs to stay in suspension as evidenced by the IBU ceiling experiment in recent episodes of Basic Brewing, plus aging reduces hoppiness of all kinds. Hence, I say don't be too chintzy with hops. Using Rager and my equipment, I've found 1:1 BU:GU to be a nice place to put a normal gravity beer, but obviously target style will change that (like Munich Helles vs. AIPA). Hops promote head retention and lace, too.

Racking this to secondary for a week or two of dry-hopping right now. Tastes so good I could drink it flat, right as it is, but I'm going to see if I can restrain myself. Not much of a nose on it at the moment, but DAMN is it delicious. All that piney, nuggety Simcoe actually balances really well the Optic malt, which I'd describe as nuttier and richer than your standard American 2-row. *Really* happy with this one, which incidentally is the first truly temperature-controlled beer I've made--kept this guy at a steady 68F or so for the first week with a swamp cooler and frozen water bottles.

I'm glad your first SMaSH went well for you. I find them to be some of my most enjoyable beers. I really miss my MOFuggles ale...Lol.

I'm about to do a Vienna/Simcoe SMaSH. Anyone done one with vienna?

I just did a Vienna / Simcoe SMASH. I'm calling it a VS Imperial 1/2 SMASH. I went (way too) big on the first addition of simcoe 1oz 13.7% / 60min. Then .5oz/15min, .5oz/FO, and .5oz dryhop (I'm at day 3 of 10). Oh, yea this is a 2.5 gallon batch!

So with IBUs at around 120, I took a sip just before pitching and panic'd. At hige krausen I decided to add 1lb of cane sugar and 1/2lb clover honey (the only fermentables I had on hand) to help the gravity catch up with the bitterness.

I was thinking to blend it with a light 2-row...but after a taste this evening, the dryhopping is helping and at 1.004 I'm calculating 8.27%ABV. I think with a little time it will work out fine. The Vienna is probably saving me here as it is retaining some maltiness considering the sugar addition and low FG.

I think simcoe/vienna can make for a good SMASH, go for it. I'm going to do this again and change the first addition to .5 oz and the last addition to 1oz and look to hit a OG of around 1.067.

brian74 said:

I'm about to do a Vienna/Simcoe SMaSH. Anyone done one with vienna?

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I'll be bottling a Vienna/Hallertau SMASH next week. The gravity sample tasted fantastic - I have it dry hopping with an ounce now.

stevedasleeve said:

Do it. I did a Simcoe SMaSH with Maris Otter and it was fanfockingtastic. 0.75 oz at 60, 15, 10, 5 and 0 + 2 Oz dry hop. 13 lbs MO.

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I have 3 oz. of Simcoe in the freezer and I am waiting on my MO. Thanks for the hop addition times! Out of curiosity, how many IBU's did you obtain? My recipe is showing around 33 (of course you had twice the amount of hops).