Classic Style Smoked Beer Smokey Boggart Porter

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Grain Bill
17.5 lbs American Pale 2-row
8.0 lbs Munich
2.5 lbs American Chocolate
1.0 lbs Black Patent

Hop Schedule
22 AAU Chinook at 60m
2.0 oz Willamette at 10m

Smoking Procedure:

DO NOT CRUSH BEFORE SMOKING!!!
I smoked only the pale malt because the darker roasts will not pick up as clean a smoke flavor and it is not worth adding astringency. Home smoking grains is actually quite easy and cheap. My brother has a grill with a smoke chamber that I use so you definitely do not need a fancy smoke house. To build a DIY smoking try, I took some old screen material I had in the basement (or you could buy it for ~$5) and bent it into a tray with 5 inch tall walls. Here is a picture of me smoking my grains and having some homemade wine.



I smoked this batch with half and half hickory and apple wood.

Once smoke is flowing well, place the grains in the tray and close smoker. I smoked for 20 minutes turning the grains every 7 minutes. I think 20 minutes gave this beer the perfect balance of a nice smoky richness without being overbearing. If you have any questions about smoking your our grains let me know and I will try to help you out.
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After your grains are smoked, crush all your grains and set up your brewery. You do not have to brew right after smoking your grains so if you are short on time RDWHAHB.

Dough in with 1.25 quarts per pound (~9 gallons) and hold mash at 153-154 for 60 minutes. Vorlauf and sparge.

The brew itself is pretty much business as usual, mash, sparge boil for an hour, chill, aerate, and pitch the yeast.

I carbonated to about 2.5 volumes of CO2

O.G. 1.070
F.G. 1.020
Pre-boil Efficiency 76%

I listed two yeasts as I have used both. I have review both below but IMHO the 1272 American Ale is vastly superior.
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Beer Review with 1272 American Ale yeast:

Appearance:
Color is a dark labrador brown and fully opaque with hints of dark chocolate.

Head/Lacing:
Thick rocky head is a light mocca brown with fine bubbles. This beer produces a gravity pour which is amazing in and of itself, I have no idea how that happens but it certainly is an impressive presentation! The settled head is velvety and forms small craters and rocky patches. Lacing is patchy and strong.

Mouthfeel:
Medium body throughout with a slightly acidic and assertive finish. The finish is nice and drying leaving you wanting another sip, chug, slam, or what ever other type of drink you were taking

Taste:
A very smooth vanilla start leads to an organic dark fruit or dank farmhouse fruit middle that is reminiscent of plum, fig, and raisin. The middle also showcases a complex and subtly sweet smoke flavor that is detectable but not overpowering. The finish is nicely hopped but also brings a chocolaty oat flavor. Just before the hopped finish a rich wet maduro tobacco flavor shines through. After taste leaves a fresh hay note that is very pleasing and mellow.

Drinkability:
This beer is perfect for heavy drinking, thoughtful self inflection or any other event you can think of. It is a truely pleasurable beverage and having had 2 full growlers in a single night for St. Patty's I can say I still wanted more before it was gone. Drinkability is through the roof (as long as you can stay standing ~6.5% ABV).

1275 Thames Valley Review:

Similar to 1272/ Head: This had a bigger bolder head with more impressive head retention. Lacing was more consistent and less patchy.

Taste: Many of the same characteristics of the 1275 but much less complex and the smoked flavor came through more clearly. I much prefer the 1272 and would highly suggest it.
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After thoughts:

This is one beer I really think is worth a brew. I have taken it to many of my most snobbish beer friends and everyone has rave reviews. We are very critical beer drinkers and many of us are in the beer industry. This is just an incredible beer, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

WARNING: This is a smoked beer! If you do not like porters don't try it, if you don't like robust porters don't try it, if you hate smoked beers don't try it.

This is a big and complex beer, don't serve this to light lager drinkers and expect them to like it, beers like this are not for turning people on to non-BMC beers.

As a side note... I had about 3 gallons of this get infected by a Brett (?) strain because I forgot to sanitize my secondary carboy and had previously used it for a fruit beer fermentation (that's my guess anyway). At first I was really pissed at myself for being dumb, then I decided to ride the experiment out. At 2 months it looked really really nasty. At 5 months I decided to bottle, gravity was already pretty low. Took about 3 months to carbonate, and tasted really nasty at first.

But.... low and behold, about 8 months after brewing, I have about a case of the strangest smoked porter raspberry chocolaty brew ever! It has become a very pleasant and strangely complex, slightly soured beer. Just goes to show you to never give up on a batch.

Do you have to dress up in a classy blazer and nice pants to smoke your grains, or is that optional?

Looks like a great recipe... Cheers!

I don't own a bbq so smoking isn't something I have much experience with. But is there a particular temperature I should shoot for when I smoke the base malt? I know when my dad smokes stuff it's usually around 200F or so, would that work?

hmmmmm..... I am not sure of the temperature inside the smoker we use. I will ask my brother who's the smoker is and see if he knows.

Thanks! I just ordered a bunch more of the Classic Brewing Styles Series including the book on Smoked Beers. Should be an interesting read!

Brad, I just heard back from my brother and he has no idea how hot it is in the smoker. Sorry

No worries, I'm sure that book will have the info. I'm sure whatever is needed to smoke meat will be just fine though.

Ahhhh.... I just drank the last two bottles of last years batch last night. I NEED to brew some more smoked porter.

Can I smoke grains over a firepit (with the right wood) or do I really need to get a smoker?

I would be a little wary of smoking directly over fire. You don't want the heat from the fire, just the smoke. I have seen people you cheap ducting and cardboard boxes to direct smoke over their grains.

Basically, you need to create a fire in an enclosed space, direct the smoke out of the enclosed space (cheap ducting), and into the cardboard box where your grains are sitting. You could try the camp fire, but try to keep the grains cool (relatively).

Boerderij_Kabouter said:

I would be a little wary of smoking directly over fire. You don't want the heat from the fire, just the smoke. I have seen people you cheap ducting and cardboard boxes to direct smoke over their grains.

Basically, you need to create a fire in an enclosed space, direct the smoke out of the enclosed space (cheap ducting), and into the cardboard box where your grains are sitting. You could try the camp fire, but try to keep the grains cool (relatively).

Click to expand...

The Alton Brown method for smoking fish will work, a cardboard box, a hotplate, and a cast iron box for holding the wood chips.
Something similar to this...
http://www.cruftbox.com/cruft/docs/elecsmoker.html

Did you control the temperature of the smoking malt? What temperature did you hold it?