Smoked malt recommendations?

I'm gearing up to make a smoked doppelbock in a couple weeks, and my LHBS has the following smoked malt options:

Weyermann smoked malt

Briess cherry wood smoked malt

Simpsons peated malt

Weyermann oak smoked wheat

I've already eliminated the last two as I don't want wheat or peat (unless someone has compelling reasons why I should use one of them), but i was wondering if anyone has experience with or input on either the Weyermann smoked our the Briess cherry wood smoked (or both). Does anyone know what kind of wood the Weyermann is smoked over?

Here's my recipe:

3 gallon batch

4 gallon boil

OG 1.082 FG: 1.020 IBU: 27 SRM: 18

6 lbs smoked malt
3 lbs Munich (light)
8 oz. Caramunich

1 oz. Hallertau @ 60 min

Munich lager yeast

Weyermann is smoked beechwood. Briess is cherry like as you said.

I've used both together and separately. I really like that Briess. It gives a really bacon-y sweetness. If you just smell it you'll see what I mean. Checkout my Cherry Beech recipe dropdown under my avatar for some info on a smoke beer I made with both. Lots of good discussion and pics. Good Luck!

Thanks passedpawn. I was leaning towards the Weyermann, but your response and your recipe thread have convinced me that the Briess would go better in a doppelbock. I can't wait to brew this one.

Yeah the briess is good stuff I used it a few times and really like it. Using it in a dark beer really accentuates those dark chocolate like flavors especially with some cocoa nibs.

Weyermann is what I use for my rauchbiers....Beechwood Flavor goes very well with the Malty Bock flavor. Very traditional. The original "Aecht Schlenkerla" makes and UrBock (beechwood smoke malt) if you want to do some "research" before you decide. This is my Oktoberfest beer ever year and it has a small but absolutely Rabid following. Cherry smoke though could be great too!

patthebrewer said:

Weyermann is what I use for my rauchbiers....Beechwood Flavor goes very well with the Malty Bock flavor. Very traditional. The original "Aecht Schlenkerla" makes and UrBock (beechwood smoke malt) if you want to do some "research" before you decide. This is my Oktoberfest beer ever year and it has a small but absolutely Rabid following. Cherry smoke though could be great too!

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Despite having drank Aecht Schlenkerla's beers for a couple years now, I just found out yesterday they make a smoked doppelbock. I was already planning to make one before I found this out, but needless to say I have one in the fridge right now for research.

Right now I'm drinking an Irish Red ale made with a bit of peat malt. When I first kegged it I thought holy crap, way too smokey. But after a few weeks the smoke has died to an earthiness that is almost perfect. (Truth is I always start drinking beers a couple weeks early. )

If you like smoke beers, don't be shy. Hit it hard, up to 100% with rauchmalt. The smoke will fade.

BTW, if you try the peat malt, be really careful, a little goes a long way. Smoke malt, when used as a bacground flavor, adds a really nice earthiness. Keep the beer balanced (bitterness ratio) and the smoke blends right in there nicely.

Be careful with the Peat smoked, because it's INTENSE.
For the other, have a good hand!

I'm planning a Smoked Weizenbock one day with the oak smoked wheat, and maybe I'll add a bit of other smoke malts, to add an even more complex smoked flavor.

passedpawn said:

If you like smoke beers, don't be shy. Hit it hard, up to 100% with rauchmalt. The smoke will fade.

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I wanted to do 100% rauchmalt, but I was concerned that I'd be missing out on some of the malty flavors I'd want in a doppelbock. What do you think about that? I'd probably keep the caramunich, so I guess it'd be more like 95% rauchmalt.

If I were to do that, do you think I'd be better off mixing the cherry with the weyermann like in your cherry beech, or could I do all cherry wood? I'm tempted to do all cherry wood just because Briess says I shouldn't.

Tiroux said:

I'm planning a Smoked Weizenbock one day with the oak smoked wheat, and maybe I'll add a bit of other smoke malts, to add an even more complex smoked flavor.

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Stone's coming out with a barleywine that features the oak smoked wheat within a month or two, and depending on how that comes out I may try to make my own.

slowbie said:

I wanted to do 100% rauchmalt, but I was concerned that I'd be missing out on some of the malty flavors I'd want in a doppelbock. What do you think about that? I'd probably keep the caramunich, so I guess it'd be more like 95% rauchmalt.

If I were to do that, do you think I'd be better off mixing the cherry with the weyermann like in your cherry beech, or could I do all cherry wood? I'm tempted to do all cherry wood just because Briess says I shouldn't.



Stone's coming out with a barleywine that features the oak smoked wheat within a month or two, and depending on how that comes out I may try to make my own.

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I seem to recall that Schlenkerla's smoked bock was oak, not beechwood. I could be wrong, but you might want to look into that.

The Briess really has that bacony thing going on. Too much might taste like breakfast. Hard to say, but if they are warning you, there might be a good reason. No matter what, let us hear how it turns out.

passedpawn said:

I seem to recall that Schlenkerla's smoked bock was oak, not beechwood. I could be wrong, but you might want to look into that.

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Yes, the doppelbock uses oak smoked malt. I meant to mention that earlier. It's delicious by the way. It doesn't taste quite as smoky as their others IMO.

passedpawn said:

The Briess really has that bacony thing going on. Too much might taste like breakfast. Hard to say, but if they are warning you, there might be a good reason. No matter what, let us hear how it turns out.

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I think I need to smell the malt to try to decide how bad it would be if I overdo it. I'll make a decision when I buy my ingredients, but I'll try to remember to report back in a couple months when it's done.

I've tried 96% weyermann rauchmalt and 4% carafa dehusked which resulted in 50% of the smokiness of the Marzen.

TheZer said:

I've tried 96% weyermann rauchmalt and 4% carafa dehusked which resulted in 50% of the smokiness of the Marzen.

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Schlenkerla smokes their own malt. I think they start with a munich malt then smoke over beechwood. Interesting they do that since they and Weyermann are in the same German town, Bamberg.

slowbie said:

I'm tempted to do all cherry wood just because Briess says I shouldn't.

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I like the way you think

I like the Briess cherrywood smoked for my wee heavy and my holiday ale. It gets about a 10% addition on the grain bill on the wee heavy and 5% on the holiday ale for that nice subtle background hit on the tongue. It's just enough to add depth without over competing with the rest of the flavors in my beers.

I don't like my beers too peaty, so I tend not to use peat malts.

I agree with the smoked bacony flavor and it's a hell of a malt to use on a breakfast stout.

passedpawn said:

Schlenkerla smokes their own malt. I think they start with a munich malt then smoke over beechwood. Interesting they do that since they and Weyermann are in the same German town, Bamberg.

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I was doing some reading on their website last night while I drank the Eiche, and they actually malt their own grains. So rather than smoking finished malts, they actually do the kilning of their malts over a beechwood fire (or oak, in the case of the Eiche). I do not know if Weyermann does it this way.

slowbie said:

I was doing some reading on their website last night while I drank the Eiche, and they actually malt their own grains. So rather than smoking finished malts, they actually do the kilning of their malts over a beechwood fire (or oak, in the case of the Eiche). I do not know if Weyermann does it this way.

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I think that's the way to do. Smoke gets easier into a wet grain than into a dry grain.

I brewed this beer on 1/20/13. This was the recipe I settled on:

3 gallon batch

6 lbs. Briess cherrywood smoked malt
4 lbs. Munich
4 oz crystal 80

1 oz Hallertauer at 90 min

Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager

1.080 OG, 1.016 FG, 23 IBUs

I fermented in the low 50s for two and a half weeks, did a d-rest, bottled, and snuck a taste tonight before I slip them into long term lagering.

It was very good already and I'm not disappointed by the recipe, but I definitely think you can go well above 60% with the cherrywood malt. The aroma was very similar to that of Schlenkerla's Eiche, but the bacon notes came through in the taste as promised, so it's much different than the Eiche in taste. The taste was also noticeably less smoky than the Eiche, though at ~59% smoked malt it is still not a recipe for those who want to ease into smoked beers.

Based on my taste today, if I were to design a new smoked doppelbock recipe right now I would do 100% cherrywood and do a decoction mash to make up for the lack of specialty grains.

I made a smoked witbier of sorts and had some trouble with the Weyerman smoked malt. The recipe was something as follows

40% Weyerman smoked
40% wheat malt
10% munic
5% aromatic
5% acidulated

fermented w/ WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale

After almost year of aging and cold conditioning in the fridge, the smoked flavor is still strong and astringent. I'm a huge fan of smoked beers, but this is just too much. Has anyone else had trouble with this malt?

emsroth said:

I made a smoked witbier of sorts and had some trouble with the Weyerman smoked malt. The recipe was something as follows

40% Weyerman smoked
40% wheat malt
10% munic
5% aromatic
5% acidulated

fermented w/ WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale

After almost year of aging and cold conditioning in the fridge, the smoked flavor is still strong and astringent. I'm a huge fan of smoked beers, but this is just too much. Has anyone else had trouble with this malt?

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I like the recipe, but I don't get the yeast. Anyway, astringent and dry won't be caused by the malt or the yeast. It's likely an effect of overattenuation by an infection, or a process error during sparging (very low pH due to oversparging). Or, maybe it's just too much hops for the malt bill.

Again, I like the grain bill so I think your problem is elsewhere.