Is ti still a SMaSH?

Because has been raining all last night and all day today I decided to do my first BIAB.

I did not want to use any of my specialty grains because I want them for a Red Ale recipe that I have created. I looked up SMaSH and someone posted a recipe that used only 2-row. It was suggested that it would not have much flavor from the malt and to toast some of the grain.

I toasted 1.5 lbs and will hop with Columbus.

So, with the toasted grain would it still be considered a SMaSH?

Not that it really matters. This is a 3 gallon experiment.

kh54s10 said:

Not that it really matters.

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This.

The whole point of SMaSH is to have a relatively simple and known base to experiment with different hops, or in my opinion, grains. If you used 37 specialty malts and 12 different hops, well it'd be hard to know what is contributing what. I made a lot of single hop beers this summer with a simple (but not single malt) base. I threw a bit of crystal and maybe some biscuit in there to keep it interesting.

I brewed a smash beer where I took the first gallon of runnings and boiled them down into a caramel before adding back into the main boil.

So, I can say from experience, the smash police won't come kicking in your door. I'm not even convinced theyre even real police anyways.

It isn't a SMASH and won't show you exactly what the grain tastes like, but it's a simple enough recipe to learn from. I think any stripped down recipe can be educational, even if it has more than one grain. If you want more flavor from a pale malt try Maris Otter, or some other lightly toasted 2-row - I think it's a little tastier than regular American 2-row.

Well, I went with what I had available.

I calculated a 74% efficiency but the recipe targeted 1.052 and I only came up with 1.046. I did end up with an extra half gallon even extending the boil from 60 minutes to 75. (new boil pot and first BIAB, so boil off and grains absorption was a guess).

I added 1/2 cup of dme to get a little closer to target.

I have hopes this will end up good.

FWIW I think AG with batch sparging is just about as easy as BIAB. It does take more equipment, space and time though.

kh54s10 said:

FWIW I think AG with batch sparging is just about as easy as BIAB. It does take more equipment, space and time though.

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agreed!

I'm going to do a semi-smash with all Columbus soon - MO+Victory+Columbus hops. They are over 15% AA, but also supposed to be tasty.