Rauchbier Harry Says 4% Ain't ****

85.4% 19 lbs Wyerman Rauch Malt from Bamberg

9% 2 lbs Munich II

4.5% 1 lb Aromatic

1.1% 4 oz Acidulated Malt

2.5 oz 5.2% Hallertau Hallertauer Mittelfrüher at 90 Minutes

1 oz 5.2% Hallertau Hallertauer Mittelfrüher at 30 Minutes


Protein Rest at 130 for 30 minutes

Saccharifcation Rest at 145 for 60 minutes (During this rest, we boiled the thickest part of the mash for 60 minutes and added it back into the mash to reach the next target temp)

Saccharifcation Rest at 158 for 15 minutes

Mash Out 168 for 10 minutes



Started out with RO water, and added 2 teaspoons of Calcium Chloride to the mash, and another 2 teaspoons to the boil.

I brewed this beer on July 17, 2015, and it placed 3rd in the first round of NHC in 2016. It did not medal in the final round of NHC this year. I didn't enter it into any other competitions because it tasted too good, and I wasn't willing to part with any of it! ;-)

I brewed this as an 11 gallon batch, and split it into two fermenters, and used WLP830 and the 34/70. The 34/70 beer was hands down the better the beer. My next time out, I intend to only ferment with the 34/70, it was just that good...

The name of this beer comes from a conversation we had at the Virginia Craft Brewers Festival at Devil’s Backbone in August of 2015. Anyway, back at camp, a brewer came by and gave us some beer. It was a smoked beer from a Virginia Craft Brewery, but we didn’t taste any smoke in it at all. I am not sure if my friend Harry knew he was talking to the brewer at the time or not, but he was going off on this beer, and how it didn’t have any smoke character, and if you were going to call it a smoked beer, it had damn well better have some smoke character in it. Well, the brewer starts defending himself by saying it has a lot of smoke, and sells well at his tap room, which I am sure is true, but he starts telling us that he uses 4% smoked malt in it, and that he may need to cut that back because it is such a high percentage...

Resurecting an oldie here, but I do agree 100% - 4% ain't ****. I have a rauchbier recipe i brew every year that is similar to yours with 80% Weyerman and it's one of my favorite recipes. This looks like a great one, too.

I worked in Bamberg for 5 years. Been to the Schlanklera more times than I can count..

I don't remember saying this, but I guess I was correct cause 4% ain't ****