It's about time...

My pipeline is almost empty. Horrors!

So I's brewin' beer.

Anglo-American SMaSH

(3 US gallons)

5# US 2-row Pale Malt (Briess)

1 oz East Kent Goldings (whole) @ 5.2%AA

0.5 oz - 60
0.25 oz - 20
0.25 oz - flameout

Windsor

Mashing now at 152F. Sparge liquor is heating. Should end up with 2.5 gallons in the package, barring catastrophe.

Life is good... Feel free to tell me I'm an idiot for not doing a protein rest or adding something. Or tell me about what's brewing for you, especially if you've brewed or are thinking of brewing a SMaSH!

Cheers!

Bob

Bob,

You disappoint me. I would have expected an MO/Golding SMaSH from you!

Next time, try toasting a lb of the 2-row for a little added complexity. Yum.

Jason

Mmmm. EKG smash. Mmmm. You're makin' me thirsty, Bob.

I got my Pacific Gem bitter done last weekend. Not exactly a SMaSH, but close. I didn't weigh my base grains this time, I was too sleepy, had just woken up. So I eyeballed 7-8# of 2-Row, and then threw in 1# munich and 2oz Chocolate Malt (for color) to make things a little maltier. Mashed at 154, and shot for 1.041, didn't take an OG, cuz I roll like that.

Hopping was 0.25oz Pacific Gem FWH and 0.75oz Pacific Gem at 0:05, 0:04, and 0:03 (I weighed out 0.75oz to split between them, and then just arbitrarily threw a handful in every minute until the bag was empty) ... Pitched S-04 dry, and then next week I'll dry hop with 0.25 more oz.

Well, like a damn fool I forgot to tell him to mill four pounds and leave me the last pound whole for toasting. C'est la vie, non?

I contemplated Maris Otter, but I use MO so often - and already have done for a SMaSH with EKG - I decided to see how "blah" good ol' 2-row would be.

B

Mmmm....Boiling wort....

Lots of hot break. Whacking great chunks of the stuff. Interesting...

BobNQ3X said:

I decided to see how "blah" good ol' 2-row would be.

Click to expand...

IMO a 2 Row SMaSH is very tasty as long as the hops don't cover the 2 Row. Very delicate flavor in all 2 row, like a really dialed down, clean all Pils Belgian.

OOOO Pils SMaSH with Tett and a Abbey yeast!

*drool*

mmb said:

OOOO Pils SMaSH with Tett and a Abbey yeast!

*drool*

Click to expand...

Dangit, now I have to clean my keyboard again!!!

Chriso said:

Hopping was 0.25oz Pacific Gem FWH and 0.75oz Pacific Gem at 0:05, 0:04, and 0:03 (I weighed out 0.75oz to split between them, and then just arbitrarily threw a handful in every minute until the bag was empty) ... Pitched S-04 dry, and then next week I'll dry hop with 0.25 more oz.

Click to expand...

I'm curious to here a report on the PA Gem. I used them in some wheat beers and stouts. I found the bitterness a bit harsh - but that was before I started to decarbonate my water. In the wheat beers I did some 20 min. additions and got a farily noticeable berry aroma out of them so I'm curious to see what you get with the later additions.

I'm just finishing up a keg of a lager with Sorachi Ace, and everyone who tries it would swear I added lemons. The lemon seems to have gotten stronger as the beer has aged.

I'm mulling over the idea of a PA gem porter (brown, not robust), trying to bring out the berry notes.

mmb said:

IMO a 2 Row SMaSH is very tasty as long as the hops don't cover the 2 Row. Very delicate flavor in all 2 row, like a really dialed down, clean all Pils Belgian.

OOOO Pils SMaSH with Tett and a Abbey yeast!

*drool*

Click to expand...

Drool, indeed! I see another SMaSH in my future...

Well, chilling is taking place. OG 1044. Nice flavor to the bitter wort. The "open" fermenter is sanitized and ready, and the Windsor is proofing.

It's been a good day.

Bob

I've been thinking hard about a SMaSH lately and think I've come up with what I want to do. Golden Promise for the grain and lots of it. I'm thinking I want to aim for 7.0% abv or so. I'll boil down about a gallon of the first runnings for a little color and complexity of flavor and hop heavily with EKG. The resulting beer hopefully being a pale-golden rich beverage somewhere between an ESB and an English IPA. I feel like calling it an English Golden Ale but I think that's an ale more akin to a light lager.

What is a Smash? Probably a dumb question but whatever.

What is a Smash?

Click to expand...

Single Malt and Single Hop beer. An excellent way to 'learn' a specific hop or malt.

Single
Malt
and
Single
Hop

=

SMaSH

There's a usergroup here on HBT dedicated to it; I'm a member. Have a look at HomeBrewTalk Groups - SMaSH Enthusiasts for more.

SMaSH brewing is a wonderful way to gain greater familiarity with ingredients and technique. If there's only East Kent Goldings in your beer, f'rinstance, you know damn well the hops flavor and aroma in your beer comes from EKG. If you memorize those flavors and aromas, you gain greater insight in how using EKG as an ingredient will impact any beer in which you use them.

You dig?

Bob

Isn't toasting the grains in the oven kind of against the spirit of a SMaSH? You are essentially creating crystal 10 or more by toastin/kilning the base malt right?

Not really. You're making Amber or Brown malt, depending on how long you toast.

Crystal is made by "stewing" green malt in a sealed kiln. The heat converts the starches - each corn is a mash! - and crystallizes the sugars.

Whether or not it's out of the SMaSH spirit is beyond my judgement. Some brewers find base malt too one-dimensional for their tastes. Personally, I don't mind toasting, but then I know what most base malts taste like alone.

Bob

pjj2ba said:

I'm curious to here a report on the PA Gem. I used them in some wheat beers and stouts. I found the bitterness a bit harsh - but that was before I started to decarbonate my water. In the wheat beers I did some 20 min. additions and got a farily noticeable berry aroma out of them so I'm curious to see what you get with the later additions.

I'm just finishing up a keg of a lager with Sorachi Ace, and everyone who tries it would swear I added lemons. The lemon seems to have gotten stronger as the beer has aged.

I'm mulling over the idea of a PA gem porter (brown, not robust), trying to bring out the berry notes.

Click to expand...

I'm drinking an all Pac Gem ale right now.

OG 1.055
FG 1.013
IBU 40

4.5# 2-Row
4.5# Vienna
1/2# Crystal 15
1/2# Wheat Malt

Mash at 152 for 60 mins.

0.5oz Pac Gem @ 60
1.0oz Pac Gem @ 10
1.0oz Pac Gem @ 0

Ferment with SafAle US-05 at 65F for 21 days.
Carbonate to 2.4 vols.

Its nice and bitter, but the bitterness is not harsh. The blackberry/currant flavor and aroma come through, especially as the beer warms, but it is not particularly strong. I think it would easily get overwhelmed by a citrusy hop. If I were going to pair Pac Gem with another hop it would be Willamette or another mild hop like that. I would do this again, but I think in the future I'll use Pac Gem mostly as a bittering hop.

Isn't toasting the grains in the oven kind of against the spirit of a SMaSH?

Click to expand...

I don't believe so- but it all depends on what you are trying to accomplish in brewing a SMaSH. If you are using a single malt as a one-dimensional backdrop to experience a hop's unique aroma and flavor characteristics and commit that to memory, then toasting would only muddy things.

On the other hand, if you look at a SMaSH as a challenge to brew extemporaneously and experimentally, then toasting is kosher in my book. If you don't want to toast a portion of the malt, boiling down the first runnings to get heavy caramelization would give more dimension to the overall recipe while staying within the parameters of a 'single malt'.

flyangler18 said:

If you don't want to toast a portion of the malt, boiling down the first runnings to get heavy caramelization would give more dimension to the overall recipe while staying within the parameters of a 'single malt'.

Click to expand...

I have been seriously considering doing this, with Golden Promise as my base malt, and attempting to make a Single Malt Scottish Ale.

Caramelize the first 1/2 gal into a thick 1 pint syrup. Single charge of Goldings at 60 minutes. Shoot for 1.060, collect slightly more wort than I need to, and do a nice long 90 minute boil. Edinburgh Ale Yeast? Or stick to the Irish Ale?

Are the beers good with just 2-row? It would be a very light beer.

I was thinking of doing beers with just one hop but I don't know about just one malt.

Beers with just 2-Row are just fine - Even without toasting the malt.

I did a 1.048 blonde with 2-Row and Hersbrucker hops that made a very, very good BMC-type ale. Lighter, even, than the new Bud American Ale.

My BMC-drinking friends LOVED it and told me "Screw all that other hoppy or dark stuff, we'll pay you to keep brewing this!"

I'll be bottling my SMaSHing Session (2-Row + Riwaka @ ~4-4.5% ABV) today.

The smell of the Riwaka going into the boil was mind blowing

Thanks for the answers, I haven't done a SMaSH yet since there are so many recipes I want to try, and with winter coming up I need to get some darker beers on tap. I may try a SMaSH in the spring though for a nice drinkable beer over the summer. Probably will be 2-row so we'll see! (P.S. I'll probably toast...)