Rauchbier Hog's Breath (Classic Rauchbier)

Grain Bill

- 6-1/2 lbs Beechwood Smoked Malt
- 3 lbs German Munich
- 1-3/4 lbs German Pilsner
- 1/2 lb Caramunich

Hops

- 1-1/2 oz Hallertau (4.5%) @ 50mins

Yeast

WLP830 German Lager

You will have to forgive me for leaving out some of the details such as IBU's and SRM. My computer crashed and I had to reinstall windows so I lost all of my BeerSmith recipes but I did take good notes in my brew journal so I think I have most of the information.

Notes

I started with a single decoction mash.

- Heat 6.68 gals of water to around 151.5 F and dough in to reach 145 F
- Pull a thick decotion of about 5 qts after resting for 20 minutes
- Heat and rest decotion between 160-170 f for 20 minutes. (I wrapped the kettle in a blanket to keep the heat in)
- After the rest is complete heat the decocted portion of the mash and boil for 15 minutes.
- Return the decoction to the main mash to achieve a temperature of 152 F. (I hit 148 F so I added a bit of boiling water to bring the temps up to 152 F)
- Rest the mash for 40 minutes at 152 F
- Take a small portion of thin mash and heat for mash out.
- Sparge with 168 F water and start you 90 minute boil.
- Add 1-1/2 oz hops with 50 minutes remaining in the boil.
- Chill to 50 F and add yeast starter.
- I fermented this for 20 days and then slowly brought the temp up to 60 F for the d-rest.
- Rack and lager for an additional 30 days.

I could not be happier with how this beer turned out. It has a huge smokey aroma that is bordering on bacon-like. The melanoidin flavor that the decotion produce is AMAZING. There is just enough bitterness to balance this out and keep it from being overly sweet. I am a huge fan of barbecue and this beer pairs perfectly with any type of smoked meat. I will be entering this into our state fair homebrew competition and will be sure to update this post on the scoring that this beer receives.

Looks fantastic, I've always been afraid to brew something with so much smoke.. but I might give this a try.

I would highly recommend trying this. It isn't quite as smokey as something like Aecht Schlenkerla but it close enough for me!

I just found out that this beer placed third in the Smoke-Flavored/Wood-Aged category in the Kentucky State Fair homebrew competition. Needless to say I am pretty excited about this. As of now I have only seen the a list of who placed and do not have an actual score or feedback yet but I will be sure to post that as soon as I receive it.

Edit: I just picked up my score sheets and this beer scored a 37 overall.