First recipe attempt.

Hi there,

I made the move to all grain a few months back with success using a kit from morebeer.com. Now I want to learn more about formulating recipes. I figure the best way to do that is to start making SMaSH beers.

So here is my first attempt at a smash. I'd like to get some feedback. I'm shooting for a IPA (my wife loves IPA beers with citrus flavor). I like beers with a malty backbone, so I picked Vienna and Simcoe.

For a 5 gallon batch:

14lb Vienna Malt
1oz Simcoe FWH
1oz Simcoe 20 minutes
.75oz Simcoe 5 minutes
.75oz Simcoe 0 minutes
2oz Simcoe 14 day dry hop

Wyeast Labs 1056 1pkg

Mash Temp 152F for 60 minutes 2 step batch sparge at 168F no mashout


Estimated OG: 1.066
Estimated FG: 1.014
IBU: 62.8
Color: 6.1 SRM


Any feedback will be great.

There isn't a ton of input possible for a SMaSH recipe. The grains look good, and the hop is a good one. Mash temp should be about right for an IPA. Have you dry hopped for 14 days before? I have read that that can possibly lead to grassy flavors, but I only dry-hopp for between 7 and 10 days, personally. If you've done it with no ill effects, then more power to you, but I did want to raise the issue as a caution.

I've only done one beer with a dry hop and it was 7 days. I'll drop that down to 10 days. I'm not 100% on it has to be smash, I'm willing to make changes to make a better beer, I'm just trying to learn what makes a good recipe so I'm not stuck on just reproducing what I find online.

Just my two cents: I always dry hop for seven days. I've dry hopped for all my pale ales/IPAs and I've always received the desired result. I've also heard 10+ days can create off-flavors.

SMaSH recipes are usually to explore characterisitics of either the grain or the hop. Your recipe should work as a great IPA. You could add a little bit of a light crystal or a munich malt if you want, but with Vienna as your base, you may not need to.

I'd move the 20 minute addition to 15 minutes. Other than that it looks great.

Just to give you the other perspective on dry hopping, I've done 14 days many times with no off or grassy flavors. In fact the best beers I've ever brewed were dry hopped for 14 days. I usually cold crash after 9-10 days of dry hopping and keg within 4 days.