Maris Otter/Chinook SMaSH beer?

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thisgoestoeleven

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I've decided to switch to all-grain. I've got a pot big enough for full boils, and I'm converting a bottling bucket into a mash tun by wrapping it in reflective foil and insulation. I figure a SMaSH beer is a good way to get into all-grain because it's a simple mashing process and a simple recipe.

I'm thinking this for a recipe:

Malt:
Maris Otter: 11#

Hops:
Chinook- 1oz, 60min
Chinook- 1oz, 30min
Chinook- 1oz, 5min
Chinook- 2oz, 14 days




thoughts?
 
Looks good to me, IPA range I imagine, what temp are you planning to mash at, and what yeast?
 
Looks good!

Just a heads up, Maris Otter, in my experience, can gum up a mash so use lots of rice hulls. Cheers!
 
I love IPAs but am not a fan of chinook. It can start to get "catty" as in smell and taste like what I would imagine cat piss would taste like. Other than that, it looks like a solid recipe. I would suggest either a centennial/simcoe/amarillo or even cascade before a chinook bomb but everyone's taste buds are different. Let us know how it turns out!

:mug:

EDIT: I am curious about your MLT concept as I have not heard of anyone doing one that way... Do you have a braid, false bottom, manifold or more of a brew-in-the-bag style? Also, lets see some pics!!!
 
I'm not sure about either of those. I was thinking something simple like notty or white labs american ale. As far as mash temp, isn't 152ish kind of the standard temp to mash at?

what do you mean when you say it gums up a mash? what do the rice hulls do?
 
Maris otter can give you a stuck sparge. Rice hulls let the liquid drain out better.

MO at 150 is really good. I've not been happy with my MO smashes at 152. It's a pretty big difference between those two temps.
 
Gums up sounds like what it sounds like...gummy (think oatmeal) I haven't had that happen with MO but I havn't done a 100% MO batch. ;) Rice hulls will not add any flavor, are dirt cheap and act like a filler that allows the water/wort to flow more freely/drain easier.
 
152 sounds good, that will leave a little sweetness to balance the bitterness, I recently made a single hop chinook IIPA that came out great, used 007 but any clean yeast should give good results. Also I have not personally had any problems with MO and mashing/sparging.
 
Rice hulls provide some neutral husky, non-sticky material to keep gummier mash solids from packing solid. You're effectively adding some extra husks to compensate for malts that don't have enough husk-to-goo ratio to settle into an draining-friendly grain bed.
 
I've never had any problems with MO gumming up, but that's just my experience. Actually I don't have much problems with large amounts of wheat or rye either, but I'm using a rectangular cooler with plenty of room instead of a bucket.. A pound of rice hulls sounds excessive....maybe 1/2# if you really feel the need to use it...?? Probably nothing wrong with a pound either, but it just may not be necessary.
 
beowulf said:
I've never had any problems with MO gumming up, but that's just my experience. Actually I don't have much problems with large amounts of wheat or rye either, but I'm using a rectangular cooler with plenty of room instead of a bucket.. A pound of rice hulls sounds excessive....maybe 1/2# if you really feel the need to use it...?? Probably nothing wrong with a pound either, but it just may not be necessary.
Click to expand...

1/2 pound sounds right to me as well...
 
I love MO and have used it in SMaSH recipes a few times with no sparge issues. Oddly enough i used to use my bottling bucket with a paint strainer bag as a mash tun for my first year of all grain. I used to go hillbilly style and just zipped up a heavy down coat around it and it held temps great for over an hour. I'm not very familiar with Chinook but won't a dry hop of 14 days with any hop end up fairly grassy?

SMaSH recipes are a great way to get your all grain process dialed in, have fun.

Cheers!
 
A dry hop of 14 days won't turn grassy IME. Pliny is a 14 day dry hop and it's one of the best in the world.
 
Hey! A recipe critique request that doesn't have a million basic errors! Hey Hey!

Recipe and hop schedule look good man but if I were you I'd ditch the 30 min addition, they are useless IMO, bump it up to 15-20, but that's just my opinion :)

I've had a Vienna Chinook Smash on deck for a while now myself, not gotten around to brewing it yet though.
 
Zamial said:
I love IPAs but am not a fan of chinook. It can start to get "catty" as in smell and taste like what I would imagine cat piss would taste like. Other than that, it looks like a solid recipe. I would suggest either a centennial/simcoe/amarillo or even cascade before a chinook bomb but everyone's taste buds are different. Let us know how it turns out!

:mug:

EDIT: I am curious about your MLT concept as I have not heard of anyone doing one that way... Do you have a braid, false bottom, manifold or more of a brew-in-the-bag style? Also, lets see some pics!!!
Click to expand...

I haven't done it yet, but I'm planning on picking up a roll of Reflectix foil insulation and wrapping my bottling bucket and lid in it, and using a large grain bag in lieu of a false bottom or manifold. I'm basing it off of this photoset I found online: https://picasaweb.google.com/halite1977/MashTunFermenter?authkey=Gv1sRgCOW-2ufb-fT7rwE#
 
I'd stick with the MO. It sounds like a good recipe. I have never had a stuck sparge with MO. I think you'll be ok.
 
Looks good. I was just curious. If you want to save a bit on the grain bag, you can prob use a 5 gallon paint strainer bag from HD or Lowes... they are 2 for $5 if I recall correctly. I use them instead of muslin bags for almost all my brewing bag needs...
 
I love those Lowes paint strainer bags. I've used the first one 3-4 times already for my hop spider. Great value...
 

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