Souchong Smoke Bomb

All-Grain - Souchong Smoke Bomb

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Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: US 05
Yeast Starter: n/a
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: US 05
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.077
Final Gravity: 1.017
IBU: 68.1
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 13.8
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14
Tasting Notes: Lots of smoke, lots of hops!




Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 65.31 %
1.00 lb Peat Smoked Malt (2.8 SRM) Grain 8.16 %
1.00 lb Smoked Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 8.16 %
0.50 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 4.08 %
0.50 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 4.08 %
0.25 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2.04 %
1.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (60 min) Hops 46.8 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min) Hops 13.2 IBU
1.00 oz Nugget [13.00 %] (5 min) Hops 8.1 IBU
0.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (dry hop)
1.00 tsp Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.00 tbsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
2.00 tsp Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
2.00 oz Lapsang Souchong Tea (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
4 dashes Liquid Smoke (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Yellow (1 SRM) Sugar 8.16 %
2 Pkgs American Ale (US 05) Yeast-Ale

Mash temp 145F and mash out 155F.

I wanted to blend my addiction to black tea with my love of craft beer. I took one of my favorite teas and blended it into a rauchbier concept. The rauchmalt i bought wasn't smoky enough so i did 1:1 of rauchmalt and peated malt and a touch of liquid smoke to kick it even higher. The citrusy aroma of coriander is to mimic the citrus feel of an Earl Grey tea and the aroma blends nicely with smoke. The Lapsang Souchong has a very similar aroma to peated malt and has a similar color to the Special B malt.

For the hops i was in a quandary. I had a few small amounts of a few different hops of varying ages that i wanted to clean out. So why not use them on something with a strong flavor profile? The Centennial were some old pellet hops i had kicking around from a bad ebay purchase, so since their aroma was weakest, i opted them for the bittering. The Cascade was at the suggestion of my brother in law thinking that the pepperiness might blend well with the smoke and i threw them in the mix. I'm in love with Nugget hops, so i wanted them as a late addition in hopes some of the peachiness might come through. The Simcoe is just piney and green smelling, so what goes better with a pine forest than a nice smoky forest fire?

If you take the time to look this over, please give me some feedback. I'm still new to building recipes and could use some critique. Let me know what you think!

Edit: I should mention i was able to squeeze an extra gallon out of this so when this is done i should have a full 5gal going into secondary. Yay beer!

This is going to be a great beer IMO. Look at this color!


That's a lot of hops!


Getting set to pitch.

ALMOST FORGOT!

This is my first all-grain brew!

Hooray! I made extract and didn't have to buy any!

Looks interesting. I like lapsang. It looks like you have a decent balance here with residual sugars. One small thing: you can save money by using table sugar rather than candi sugar.

gestyr said:

Looks interesting. I like lapsang. It looks like you have a decent balance here with residual sugars. One small thing: you can save money by using table sugar rather than candi sugar.

Click to expand...

Table sugar isn't yellow! :rockin:

I guess i should mention about the sugar. I'm fortunate to live in an area with a VERY high concentration of Indian, Asian, Hispanic, as well as Jewish, Arabic, Turkish, etc. At the Asian market most everything is in Chinese or Japanese. Finding stuff there is very hard. I looked a LONG time before finding this stuff. It's candy sugar, but it's yellow instead of the usual candi sugars sold at the LHBS. It was only $1, so i call it a doable expense and i save my sugar for purple Kool Aid.





And check out this oddity i can find in the same store.

Jars of maltose!


Awww, not 100% maltose?? Booooo!


Here is the maltose. It looks like honey, but MAD thick.


EDIT: I just tasted some of this maltose first time just now. Not so sure i'll be using it in a brew. It's got a sour kind of sweetness to it. I think i'll save it for a mead. Malt doesn't always equal barley malt.

FYI..........Smoked malt is just that but I have learned you have to respect it or it will take over. I brewed a smoked IPA.Now I make my IPA's heavy and this one I made it with only 1lb of smoked malt in a 10 gallon batches. Honestly, the first taste and it taste like I just had my head slammed in a campfire...LOL

IT has been aging for 3 months now and has lightened a little with the smoke but it is still there and LOUD.

TUCK said:

FYI..........Smoked malt is just that but I have learned you have to respect it or it will take over. I brewed a smoked IPA.Now I make my IPA's heavy and this one I made it with only 1lb of smoked malt in a 10 gallon batches. Honestly, the first taste and it taste like I just had my head slammed in a campfire...LOL

IT has been aging for 3 months now and has lightened a little with the smoke but it is still there and LOUD.

Click to expand...

absolutely. i'd been drinking some retail smoked beers and they either had no smoke flavor or were smoky as an afterthought. either way, they just weren't smoky enough for me. i figured i had to kick the crap out of the style and make it mine.

So i pitched later last night and it's bubbling like a sunuvabitch right now. :rockin:

fineexampl said:

absolutely. i'd been drinking some retail smoked beers and they either had no smoke flavor or were smoky as an afterthought. either way, they just weren't smoky enough for me. i figured i had to kick the crap out of the style and make it mine.

So i pitched later last night and it's bubbling like a sunuvabitch right now. :rockin:

Click to expand...

LOL...... Right on man, let us know how she turns out

I think once this finishes fermentation i'll make up some double/triple strength Lapsang Souchong and give it some more smoke and caffiene.

First post-pitching hydrometer reading is 1.010. Looking good! Gonna move to secondary this weekend hopefully.

The smoke factor on this is UNBELIEVABLE!! Smoke bomb indeed! Now i think i need to dry-hop.

WOW! I'm drinking the hydro sample. Holy crap is this stuff intense! So, no detectable diacetyl, but there's a reason for that. The smoke is REALLY overpowering on the aroma! I will really need an aromatic hop for this to dry hop with to combat the overwhelming smoke aroma. Exactly what i wanted, but did not realize it would be this intense. The sample is also REALLY effing bitter! I mean BITTER!

Hops on hand: Citra, Sorachi Ace, Golding, Cascade, and a few others. What would you suggest for a dry hop??

I'm having visions of BBQ pork and thick cuts of steak with this beer. OMG i'm psyched! This will be the mother of all beers to have with meat! A g-damn MAN'S beer!! MAUAHAHAHAHAA!!!

First thing i thought of was Laphroig.... i wonder how an earthy hop would be with this brew?

Edited to add: mmmm scotch scotch schotch.....scotch in my belly.... gotta love ron burgundy and.... well, good scotch!

That's a whole lot of peated malt- keep us updated on how that beer conditions.

elkdog said:

That's a whole lot of peated malt- keep us updated on how that beer conditions.

Click to expand...

Not only 1lb of peated! 1lb of rauch PLUS smoked black tea (Lap.Souch.) PLUS liquid smoke.

I'm glad one of my recipes is getting some looks. I have high hopes for this one.

I'm not sure about the scotch, as i'm not a scotch kinda guy (or any hard liquor), but i can see the reference. i'm all about beer brewing with distiller's malts. I can't wait for my 55lbs of Golden Promise to arrive. I have some big plans for that sucker!

That sounds excellent! Then again I'm a big fan of rauschbier, lapsang souchong, Islay scotch, and BBQ so I may be just a bit biased.

Are you getting any harshess or chemical aftertaste from the liquid smoke? I cook with it a lot and if you're not careful with it you can get some funky flavors.

Let me know when it's done and I'll come help ya try it out.

JadeMonkeyStang said:

That sounds excellent! Then again I'm a big fan of rauschbier, lapsang souchong, Islay scotch, and BBQ so I may be just a bit biased.

Are you getting any harshess or chemical aftertaste from the liquid smoke? I cook with it a lot and if you're not careful with it you can get some funky flavors.

Let me know when it's done and I'll come help ya try it out.

Click to expand...

I haven't yet, but it might be the brand i used? The one i have is just water and smoke so i have never noticed and odd tastes other than smoke. I'll be reporting back with each test though. Once this is ready, i'm buying some pork butt and a fatass steak and do it right. Deglaze with a little Smoke Bomb too most likely. :rockin:

Thanks for the kind words everyone. You're making this noob's day.

If you don't have anything "off" at this point I'm sure you're fine. Putting it in with 5 min left in the boil probably did the trick to get rid of anything funky.

If the brew turns out well you could probably braise some pork butt in it for a nice little taste sensation.

JadeMonkeyStang said:

If you don't have anything "off" at this point I'm sure you're fine. Putting it in with 5 min left in the boil probably did the trick to get rid of anything funky.

If the brew turns out well you could probably braise some pork butt in it for a nice little taste sensation.

Click to expand...

i was thinking along those lines or a marinade at least.


So to further update and make this even more of a bomb...1oz of whole leaf cascade has been added now the gravity has leveled out. Going to let this sit for a spell and rack to secondary with another dry hop. hehehe

Copied from my Facebook:

Racked this to secondary today.

Okay, gravity hasn't changed at all so this beer is done working it's magic. Time for it to clear up and then either bottle or keg it.

I drank the sample i tested with my roast beef/turkey sandwich and i am REALLY excited about this beer. I wanted to make a very strong smoky hoppy ale to go with dinner, specifically meats. Sample prior to eating is probably too smoky to chug, but combined with the food it was out of this world. It's very nicely balanced between the hops and the smoke with little (if any at all cuz i couldn't detect any over the smoke ) to no diacetyl or any off flavors aside from the smoke.

I think my witbier has a new contender for "best recipe by me".

Can't see the pics because of the firewall, but I'm super interested in this.

The last brew I made 14 years ago (last until my first AG last month) was a "grab one of everything off the shelf" expiriment. As an afterthought, I threw in a handfull or two of loose leaf lapsang into the boil after the hops. I WISH I had taken notes. Aside from a slight band-aid, which I ascribe to the water quality now, it was a fantastic beer.

I can't describe it or even really remember much about it other than the fabulous piney-smoky-campfire flavor.

You make me want to tackle this again. Might rip off your recipe.

JetSmooth said:

Can't see the pics because of the firewall, but I'm super interested in this.

The last brew I made 14 years ago (last until my first AG last month) was a "grab one of everything off the shelf" expiriment. As an afterthought, I threw in a handfull or two of loose leaf lapsang into the boil after the hops. I WISH I had taken notes. Aside from a slight band-aid, which I ascribe to the water quality now, it was a fantastic beer.

I can't describe it or even really remember much about it other than the fabulous piney-smoky-campfire flavor.

You make me want to tackle this again. Might rip off your recipe.

Click to expand...

Do it! I'd love to see the results.

Is it out of the secondary yet?

JadeMonkeyStang said:

Is it out of the secondary yet?

Click to expand...

nope. haven't had time to move it out. will post back as soon as i figure what i'll do with it.

I'm intrigued. I might as well just use my full pound of malt. Afterall I did forget to unclick the "mill all grains" at Brewmasters Warehouse so I have milled peat malt.

Anyhow I'm making a basic base beer malt forward with 12-16oz of peated malt. I'm brewing Friday with WL028 Edinburgh yeast. I have drank Schlenkerla Urbock and seriously enjoyed it with a cigar. Still wish I had some meat to munch on during drinking it though.

Alright Fineexampl, how did it turn out?

Update!

I kegged all of this brew aside from 1 lonely bomber that was had at my Father In-Laws birthday party 1 week ago. I cannot stress enough that this beer neeeeeeds aging if you brew the same recipe. It's very "beer out of an ashtray" when young and uncarbed. The bomber had very minimal carbonation (my fault) but it wasn't bad. It's the color of chocolate soda and has the most intense smoke aroma you will ever encounter. ALL other rauchbiers PALE in comparison to SSB! It's very bitter, but not overpowering. It has a very smooth mouth feel. I had this before dinner and i wish i had a porkchop or steak with it.

What i'd like? More carbonation and a better head. I'll likely fix this once i tap the keg and adjust the co2. I would leave out the liquid smoke entirely for a more sessionable drink.

Bumping this thread so I can get subscribed and hear about any new posts...Any tasting updates fineexampl?

biochemedic said:

Bumping this thread so I can get subscribed and hear about any new posts...Any tasting updates fineexampl?

Click to expand...

Oh hi!

No updates yet. I'm prepping to get my draft system in place and this will be the inaugural keg. I'll be back when i tap it. :rockin:

UPDATE!

I just tapped my keg of this. HOLY CRAP! This is really good! MUAHAHAHAAAAA My first (okay, 2nd..but the first sucked so it doesnt count) homebrew draft pour and it's amazingly good!

Great to hear it! I just finished building my new mash tun, and I think this recipe will be my inaugural all-grain batch...

biochemedic said:

Great to hear it! I just finished building my new mash tun, and I think this recipe will be my inaugural all-grain batch...

Click to expand...

just be careful! i kid you not when i say this is REEEEEEEEEEALLY smokey! If you don't age this it will taste like bongwater. I kegged mine in July and only just this past week tapped it. It's not an easy drinker. You really have to love smoke.


While i absolutely love this beer, and i mean that, i would not brew it the same way.

What would i do different? NO to liquid smoke...NO to peated malt. I'd also swap in some other smoked malt, but something more akin to a rauchbier. The souchong tea is fine IMO and is the soul of this brew.

fineexampl said:

just be careful! i kid you not when i say this is REEEEEEEEEEALLY smokey! If you don't age this it will taste like bongwater. I kegged mine in July and only just this past week tapped it. It's not an easy drinker. You really have to love smoke.


While i absolutely love this beer, and i mean that, i would not brew it the same way.

What would i do different? NO to liquid smoke...NO to peated malt. I'd also swap in some other smoked malt, but something more akin to a rauchbier. The souchong tea is fine IMO and is the soul of this brew.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I had already planned on using all rauchmalt and eliminating the peat, and no liquid smoke. You must mean that, theoretically, you could compare this to what you must *imagine* bongwater must taste like...:cross: Here is what I'm planning...hopefully going to brew on Saturday:

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 13.25
Anticipated OG: 1.078 Plato: 18.88
Anticipated SRM: 14.4
Anticipated IBU: 65.2
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
67.9 9.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) Great Britain 1.038 3
15.1 2.00 lbs. Smoked(Bamberg) Germany 1.037 9
7.5 1.00 lbs. Candi Sugar (clear) Generic 1.046 1
3.8 0.50 lbs. Special B Malt Belgian 1.030 180
3.8 0.50 lbs. Wheat Malt Germany 1.039 2
1.9 0.25 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt 1.033 2

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.50 oz. Nugget Whole 13.00 25.5 60 min.
0.50 oz. Chinook Whole 13.00 13.0 30 min.
0.50 oz. Simcoe Plug 13.40 13.7 30 min.
0.50 oz. Chinook Whole 13.00 4.3 5 min.
0.50 oz. Nugget Whole 13.00 4.3 5 min.
0.50 oz. Simcoe Plug 13.40 4.5 5 min.
0.50 oz. Nugget Whole 13.00 0.0 Dry Hop
0.50 oz. Chinook Whole 13.00 0.0 Dry Hop
0.50 oz. Simcoe Plug 13.40 0.0 Dry Hop

Extras
Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.00 Oz Lapsong Souschong Tea Spice 5 Min.(boil)
1.00 Unit(s)Whirlfloc Fining 10 Min.(boil)
0.50 Oz Corriander Seed Spice 5 Min.(boil)

Yeast
-----
WYeast 1056 Amercan Ale/Chico (Maybe I'll just use the US-05...been using some dry yeast on my recent meads, and it's pretty nice to just be able to pitch an extra pack to get your pitch rate up without having to do a starter!)

Notes
-----
Recipe is based on "Souchong Smoke Bomb" by fineexampl on HomeBrewTalk. Recipie downloaded 09/23/10:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f77/souchong-smoke-bomb-172760/
I wanted a little less intense smokiness, so substituted all rauchmalt for the peat, and left out the liquid smoke.
Slighlty varied the hop schedule (removed Cascade in favor of Nugget/Simcoe, and added in some Chinook to stay a little more in the piney vein of flavors.)

biochemedic said:

Yeah, I had already planned on using all rauchmalt and eliminating the peat, and no liquid smoke. You must mean that, theoretically, you could compare this to what you must *imagine* bongwater must taste like...:cross: Here is what I'm planning...hopefully going to brew on Saturday:

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 13.25
Anticipated OG: 1.078 Plato: 18.88
Anticipated SRM: 14.4
Anticipated IBU: 65.2
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
67.9 9.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) Great Britain 1.038 3
15.1 2.00 lbs. Smoked(Bamberg) Germany 1.037 9
7.5 1.00 lbs. Candi Sugar (clear) Generic 1.046 1
3.8 0.50 lbs. Special B Malt Belgian 1.030 180
3.8 0.50 lbs. Wheat Malt Germany 1.039 2
1.9 0.25 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt 1.033 2

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.50 oz. Nugget Whole 13.00 25.5 60 min.
0.50 oz. Chinook Whole 13.00 13.0 30 min.
0.50 oz. Simcoe Plug 13.40 13.7 30 min.
0.50 oz. Chinook Whole 13.00 4.3 5 min.
0.50 oz. Nugget Whole 13.00 4.3 5 min.
0.50 oz. Simcoe Plug 13.40 4.5 5 min.
0.50 oz. Nugget Whole 13.00 0.0 Dry Hop
0.50 oz. Chinook Whole 13.00 0.0 Dry Hop
0.50 oz. Simcoe Plug 13.40 0.0 Dry Hop

Extras
Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.00 Oz Lapsong Souschong Tea Spice 5 Min.(boil)
1.00 Unit(s)Whirlfloc Fining 10 Min.(boil)
0.50 Oz Corriander Seed Spice 5 Min.(boil)

Yeast
-----
WYeast 1056 Amercan Ale/Chico (Maybe I'll just use the US-05...been using some dry yeast on my recent meads, and it's pretty nice to just be able to pitch an extra pack to get your pitch rate up without having to do a starter!)

Notes
-----
Recipe is based on "Souchong Smoke Bomb" by fineexampl on HomeBrewTalk. Recipie downloaded 09/23/10:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f77/souchong-smoke-bomb-172760/
I wanted a little less intense smokiness, so substituted all rauchmalt for the peat, and left out the liquid smoke.
Slighlty varied the hop schedule (removed Cascade in favor of Nugget/Simcoe, and added in some Chinook to stay a little more in the piney vein of flavors.)

Click to expand...

Awesome! I really like the changes you made. I think it'll end up in a more well rounded beer. I'll likely use the same formula when i rebrew it eventually.

I'll be drinking more of this tonight with some pork loin. It should accentuate the flavors nicely.

Don't be afraid of the peat just be sure you like the flavor. I used a pound in a beer over the summer and I LOVE the flavor. I will actually bump it up to 1.5lbs this next batch and age it longer with oak. The peat smoked malt I used was from Brewmaster's warehouse. It's my understanding that there are two types of peat smoked malt and one is more intense than the other. I don't know what one is at BMW but 1lb was noticeable but delicious!

fineexampl said:

Awesome! I really like the changes you made. I think it'll end up in a more well rounded beer. I'll likely use the same formula when i rebrew it eventually.

I'll be drinking more of this tonight with some pork loin. It should accentuate the flavors nicely.

Click to expand...

Thx...I went to the LHBS today and bought ingredients. They were out of Chinook, so I had to make do with just Nugget and Simcoe. Also, I've been wanting to try this "hopbursting" concept (getting the same IBU level from all late additions)...was going to do it with a modified version of my usual DIPA, but I figured what the hey... My actual hop schedule will get 66.3 IBU's and will be:

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.50 oz. Nugget Pellet 12.70 33.2 25 min.
1.00 oz. Simcoe Pellet 12.20 17.7 20 min.
1.00 oz. Nugget Pellet 12.70 11.0 10 min.
0.50 oz. Simcoe Pellet 12.20 4.4 5 min.
0.50 oz. Nugget Pellet 12.70 0.0 0 min.
0.50 oz. Nugget Pellet 12.70 0.0 Dry Hop
0.50 oz. Simcoe Pellet 12.20 0.0 Dry Hop

Notes
-----
Recipe is based on "Souchong Smoke Bomb" by fineexampl on HomeBrewTalk. Recipe downloaded 09/23/10:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f77/souchong-smoke-bomb-172760/
Wanted a little less intense smokiness, so substituted all rauchmalt for the peat, and left out the liquid smoke. Slighlty varied the hop schedule (removed Cascade in favor of Nugget/Simcoe (had originally planned on Chinook also, but was not available at the LHBS at time of this first attempt.) Have adopted a "hopburst-style" hopping schedule as well.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm getting really excited for Saturday...I was looking at my notes, and I actually haven't brewed a beer since late August! If it weren't for the mead and cider I've done in the fall, I'd probably be brew-stir-crazy!

smokinghole said:

Don't be afraid of the peat just be sure you like the flavor.

Click to expand...

I'm afraid of the peat! I may have to try adding a small amount to one of my porter or stout recipes just to see...

8:30 am...still a bit chilly (~28*F) here in NC this AM. Heating mash water, and will be doughing in soon! Will post my impressions of my first all-grain process later...

I'm really glad to hear this turned out well, it sounds very interesting. Let me know if you're interested in doing a bottle swap or something as I'd really like to try it. Glad to hear you got your draft system going as well!

JadeMonkeyStang said:

I'm really glad to hear this turned out well, it sounds very interesting. Let me know if you're interested in doing a bottle swap or something as I'd really like to try it. Glad to hear you got your draft system going as well!

Click to expand...

If i can ever grab a counterpressure filler, i'd definitely swap.

The longer this has sat in the cold keg and the more the carbonation takes hold the better this gets. I have it right now about the carb level of an English bitter and i pulled two full pints last night.

Any flaws? I'm not really sure. There's something there, but i think it's just the smoke overload. It has some chill haze, but i don't care about that.

So now that this was for the most part a success, my currently pressurizing "Wabbit Saison" is carbing and should be ready soon.