Rauchbier Cherry Beech Smokebeer (Many Awards)

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Joined
Apr 23, 2009
Messages
37,027
Reaction score
17,745
Location
☀️ Clearwater, FL ☀️
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Bavarian Lager (Wyeast 2206)
Yeast Starter
Yes - 4L
Batch Size (Gallons)
12g
Original Gravity
1.060
Final Gravity
1.016
Boiling Time (Minutes)
90
IBU
25
Color
12
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
21 @ 45
Additional Fermentation
7 @ 30
Tasting Notes
Mmmm sweet smoke!
This is a very very good smokebeer / rauchbier. I combined two very different smoked malts (Briess Cherrywood and Weyermann Beechwood) to get this tasty tasty lager. Head is excellent on it and the aroma is heavenly (if you like smokebeers).

If you haven't run into this cherrywood malt, the smell is going to blow you away with its sweet bacon smell; it is very different from the Weyermann beechwood malt. Its effect in the beer, however, is not overwelming and resulted in a much better smokebeer than my previous attempt.

You could probably brew this as an ale, but a clean lager fermentation will let the smoke stand on its own. The munich and melanoiden give the beer a very nice malt backbone, and the patent leaves it with a perfect mahogany color.

Mostly, it is a Jamil recipe with my own "dual-smoke-malt" idea thrown in.

Recipe: Cherry Beech Smokebeer
Style: Classic Rauchbier
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.00 lb 2 Row Pale Malt (1.7 SRM) Grain 26.97 %
6.50 lb Smoked Beechwood Malt (2.8 SRM) Grain 29.21 %
5.00 lb Smoked Cherrywood Malt (5.0 SRM) Grain 22.47 %
3.50 lb Munich Malt (5.7 SRM) Grain 15.73 %
0.50 lb Caramunich Malt (80.0 SRM) Grain 2.25 %
0.50 lb Melanoiden Malt (28.0 SRM) Grain 2.25 %
0.25 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 1.12 %
2.75 oz Williamette [4.80 %] (90 min) Hops 21.4 IBU
1.50 oz Williamette [4.80 %] (10 min) Hops 4.0 IBU
4L starter Bavarian Lager (Wyeast Labs #2206)


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
90m mash @ 154. 90m boil.
Bottled at lagering temps to minimize haze-inducing elements.

Beer

Cherry_Beech_Rauchbier.JPG


Head Shot

Smoke_Beech_Foam_shot.JPG
 
Last edited:
I recently picked up some cherrywood smoked malt (4 lbs) at my HBS (Southern Brewing Supplies) and haven't decided yet when to brew with it. I'm not sure how much to use and how smoky the flavor will be. Having never tried a smoked ale before it would be my first experince at brewing one too. I agree that the cherrywood smoked malt does have an aroma of bacon. Of course most everyone likes bacon!

How did this turn out? Was the smoky flavor overpowering? I suppose I should just pull the trigger and brew it up.
 
Nope, it is not too smokey. And it is not too light on the smoke, either. For me it is just right. I like a Schlenkerla Marzen - this is not that smokey.

I made a smoke about a year ago with 30% beechwood. The smoke malts make up 50% of the grist in this beer, so you'd expect it to be smokier. I think it is about the same. The reason (here comes the made up part) is I put more malt flavor in this one and it hides some of the smoke taste. It is a great mix though, and one of my best beers ever.
 
I'm very interested in brewing this beer but I only want to do a 5 gal batch. I've never cut a recipe down before but here it goes.


Code:
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal      
Boil Size: 5.72 gal
Estimated OG: 1.057 SG
Estimated Color: 14.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 22.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU      
3.00 lb       Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)             Grain        28.8 %        
2.75 lb       Beechwood Smoked Malt (2.5 SRM)           Grain        26.4 %        
2.50 lb       Chery Smoked Malt (5.0 SRM)               Grain        24.0 %        
1.50 lb       Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)                     Grain        14.4 %        
0.25 lb       Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM)                Grain        2.4 %         
0.25 lb       Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM)                Grain        2.4 %         
0.15 lb       Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)           Grain        1.4 %         
1.00 oz       Williamette [5.50%]  (60 min)             Hops         18.9 IBU      
1.00 oz       Williamette [5.50%]  (5 min)              Hops         3.8 IBU       
1 Pkgs        Bavarian Lager (Wyeast Labs #2206)




This isn't exactly the same as yours and the weights have been rounded up or down a bit. I'm ready to try it, what do you think?
 
Are you getting sweet bacon from the cherrywood smoked malt (did you use that?)

Absolutely...The smell and the taste are right where I want them to be. When I saw this recipe, my first reaction was that it's too much smoked malt. But it's not. I am super excited for this to be ready.

I used the cherrywood and the beechwood that Northern Brewer offers.
 
I have a similar recipe from the one I posted lagering right now. Which one did you brew?
 
I used the exact grain/hop bill as you listed in post #4, above. The only thing I changed was the yeast. I went with WLP007 since I'm not lagering. Fermenting cool (58F), but I don't have time to lager before the Bacon Fest. Label:

labels_smokeybeer.jpg


Yep... That's a bacon mug! :rockin:
 
That's AWESOME! I'll post the actual recipe that I brewed when I get a chance. It's very close to the other one but I used Beersmith to do the calculations. I'm about to rack to the lagering vessel tonight and taste it in about a month. Let me know how yours turns out!
 
So this turned out wonderfully!!! It's smokey, but not overpowering. Has the sweetness mentioned by the OP. My hope is that this weekend, it complements all the bacon dishes that are to be served at the Bacon & Brew HaHa.

Some pics:



 
So.... AWARD WINNING BEER! Won both the Best of Show and the People's Choice awards at the Bacon & Brew HaHa on Sunday. There were 7 brewers there, and about 12-14 beers that were judged. Thanks to passedpawn for starting this thread and inventing this recipe!!!







 
So.... AWARD WINNING BEER! Won both the Best of Show and the People's Choice awards at the Bacon & Brew HaHa on Sunday. There were 7 brewers there, and about 12-14 beers that were judged. Thanks to passedpawn for starting this thread and inventing this recipe!!!

That is incredible! Congrats man. I'm enjoying it right now. It is a great recipe and I plan to brew it every year.
 
passedpawn said:
Nice. Feels good to win. You must be a good brewer... the recipe isn't enough to get an award. Process is everything.

Would not have even been on my radar if not for this thread, my good man. You rock!
 
It took a second place in cat.23 smoked/wood aged beers in the Bay Area's World Cup of Beer. My first comp, and my first Lager! I don't know how many entries were in category 23, but there were 640 entries overall... so a pretty large competition.

Thanks Again!
 
It took a second place in cat.23 smoked/wood aged beers in the Bay Area's World Cup of Beer. My first comp, and my first Lager! I don't know how many entries were in category 23, but there were 640 entries overall... so a pretty large competition.

Thanks Again!

Alright! Nice job. I never entered this in anything, sorta wish I did now. Maybe I'll brew another batch.
 
So.... AWARD WINNING BEER! Won both the Best of Show and the People's Choice awards at the Bacon & Brew HaHa on Sunday. There were 7 brewers there, and about 12-14 beers that were judged. Thanks to passedpawn for starting this thread and inventing this recipe!!!

Can i get your 5 gal ale recipe? This looks amazing and I cannot wait to pair this with some equally awesome pork products.

-EDIT-

Doh! i just re-read that you used the recipe in post 4...
 
Got my Mount Hope scoresheets... No awards, but a decent score. 39 and a 36 for a 37.5 overall. From two certified judges. I think that they both thought it was actually lagered... that WLP007 yeast is magic. Best comment was "Overall Impression 8/10: Very good rauchbier. Good job. All I need is some homemade deer jerky to go with this."

AWESOME!
 
Brewed this a few weeks ago and opened first bottle this weekend. Love it! Good amount of smoke but also very crisp and easy drinking. I think the cherry malt has a sweet smoke character that makes the beer a little smoother than those I've had with just the beech malt. Reminds me a little of the Schlenkerla Marzen (though it's been a couple years since I've had one). I have a bottle of the Schlenkerla Oak that I will eventually taste side by side with this for comparison.

Also, I experimented with 1/2 gal dry hogged (added bacon to secondary). I'll probably try one of them this weekend for comparison. Although I can't imagine it being any better than the regular.

Thanks again to passedpawn for the original recipe and to DubbelDach for the 5 gal Ale version which is what I brewed.
 
Got my Mount Hope scoresheets... No awards, but a decent score. 39 and a 36 for a 37.5 overall. From two certified judges. I think that they both thought it was actually lagered... that WLP007 yeast is magic. Best comment was "Overall Impression 8/10: Very good rauchbier. Good job. All I need is some homemade deer jerky to go with this."

AWESOME!

You're right about the WLP007. To be honest, I thought it was an odd choice at first for this style, but I had never used it before. Now that I have, I can see why you chose it. I don't have lagering capabilities at home, but this yeast is the next best thing. I'm brewing Cream of 3 crops right now with S-05. I'm sure it will turn out good, but I think I will try the 007 next time just to compare. By far the best attenuating yeast I've ever used!
 
This beer is not for the faint of heart. It will have you blowing smoke. 65% smoked malts, and bacon dryhogged.... This makes for a seriously BBQ'd beer.

Briess Smoked Malt
6 lbs, 0 oz
Weyermann Smoked Malt
4 lbs, 0 oz
Briess 2-Row Brewer's Malt
3 lbs, 0 oz
Weyermann Munich Type II
1 lbs, 8 oz
Caramel Munich
0 lbs, 4 oz
Weyermann Melanoidin
0 lbs, 4 oz
Crisp Black Malt
0 lbs, 2 oz
Williamette Pellets
1 oz @ 60 mins
Williamette Pellets
1 oz @ 30


Mash at 153, Batch sparge with 164. After primary fermentation has finished, rack to a secondary and bake 1/3-1/2 lb of bacon @400 for 20 min flipping half way. Drop into keg in hop bags securing the best way you can, let it sit on that for about 5 days (longer gets you more bacon flavor, you can over bacon) and then rack to keg or bottles.
 
I'm looking for a bacon ale recipe. Is it even possible for this to happen? I'm looking for a light medium color however a light taste of bacon flavor at the end.


What you think? I was thinking of using the actual bacon strips after they are cook nicely.
 
Hey guys,

Thinking of doing a variation on this. I'm looking for a pretty distinct bacon/maple flavor, like a griddlecakes and bacon kind of deal. I altered the recipe a bit (based off of Qeelin's 5gal version), just wanted to get some feedback..

Code:
%     	 Amt   	  Item                                          
-----------------------------------------
30% 	3.5 	American Two-row Pale 
26% 	3.0 	Briess Cherrywood Smoke Malt 
21% 	2.5 	Briess Smoked Malt 
9% 	1.0 	Maple Syrup 
4% 	0.5 	Flaked Oats 
4% 	0.5 	Melanoiden Malt 	
4% 	0.5 	Biscuit Malt 
2% 	0.25 	Chocolate Malt

8.5 	0.75 	Northern Brewer (60min)
13.0 	1.00  	Simcoe (5min)
 
Hey guys,

Thinking of doing a variation on this. I'm looking for a pretty distinct bacon/maple flavor, like a griddlecakes and bacon kind of deal. I altered the recipe a bit (based off of Qeelin's 5gal version), just wanted to get some feedback..


Looks interesting. The one time I used maple syrup (2#!) it was not evident at all in the flavor. I hope your experience is different.

I'd be wary of putting hop additions too close to flameout. .... be careful or your bacon/smoke/maple aroma will disapear with late hops.

Good luck and let us know how it turned out :mug:
 
I agree with passedpawn, it's hard to get a lot of the flavor of sugar's in the final beer. You might have better luck with a maple extract but I have no idea how much or what the taste would be like. You'd have to experiment with it starting small.

Qeelin
 
Read the thread and didn't notice this answered. I can't get Wyeast in my area, what would be a good White Labs yeast to use for this if I'm lagering.
 
Well...I have to say that this beer rocks!! :rockin:
I won 4 medals recently from this recipe!

GOLD- 2013 Badger Brew-Off in Madison, WI
BRONZE- 2013 THIRSTY Classic in Amana, IA
SILVER- 2014 Upper Mississippi Mashout in Minneapolis, MN
GOLD- 2014 Great Northern Brew-Ha-Ha! in Duluth, MN

I highly recommend you brew this one if you like smoke. Thanks again passedpawn! :tank:
 

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