Rauchbier Revisited

Hey guys, I still haven't made one but my kegarator is almost empty and I figure I could use it to lager a couple of batches. I was thinking of making a Marzen & a rauchbier. My only problem is that I'm not currently setup for all grain & I know that the Original Bamberg stuff uses 100% rauch malt. I can mash 4lbs of it in my mini-mash setup, is this enough? I would use pilsener LME for the rest...

Traditional rauchbier, probably not enough.

4 lbs will still give a very nice smokiness though.

So will a little over 1 tsp of liquid smoke...

homebrewer_99 said:

So will a little over 1 tsp of liquid smoke...

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Do you really do that?

Dude said:

Do you really do that?

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I did it in a porter when I was a nooob, at it turned out really well. I used the most expensive liquid I could find.

There, I said it!

Chairman Cheyco said:

I did it in a porter when I was a nooob, at it turned out really well. I used the most expensive liquid I could find.

There, I said it!

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I actually considered it once, but had no iea on how much smoke to use. So I sh!tcanned that idea and used rauchmalt.

Yeah, I don't know how I feel about the liquid smoke, but it might be worth a try....

Liquid smoke scares me. If I were doing extract batches and didn't want to futz around with partial mashes, I'd think about it, but I'd rather just buy rauchmalt (or smoke some myself).

I was told when using rauch malt to do so sparingly, a little goes along way. I have yet to use it in anything.

Peated malt, you have to be extremely conservative with; like, 2oz at the most. At that level, you just get some smokey aroma, nice in a porter. If you've had Stone Smoked Porter, kinda like that; not much of a flavor component, just a real complementary aroma.

Rauchmalt, you generally use between a couple and maybe five pounds, depending on the recipe (and some are even more aggressive). That smoke flavor is a lot smoother than what peat malt gives, so it can be a pretty substantial portion of the grain bill.

Dude said:

Do you really do that?

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No, not for a full batch...I did it with a 5 liter keg though. I think I used 1/4 tsp. I didn't touch it for about 1.5 years. It was actually very nice and lightly smoked. Enjoyable to drink.

You could mash 4 lbs of rauch and an ounce of peat smoked, then make up with extract.

You could make your own liquid smoke by steeping peat smoked and adjusting after the ferment.

In my smoked porter form way back I used 5 lbs. of Rauch Malt and wanted more smoke. In my smoked IPA, I intentionally used a little less because I didn't know how smoke would taste in a lighter beer. Now that I've done it, I wouldn't be afraid to use an all base malt of smoked malt in either beer--in fact I'll never brew another smoked porter without 100% smoked malt (minus adjuncts).

I love smoke flavor though, so take that for what it is worth. I put smoked sea salt on just about everything I cook.

Dude said:

In my smoked porter form way back I used 5 lbs. of Rauch Malt and wanted more smoke. In my smoked IPA, I intentionally used a little less because I didn't know how smoke would taste in a lighter beer. Now that I've done it, I wouldn't be afraid to use an all base malt of smoked malt in either beer--in fact I'll never brew another smoked porter without 100% smoked malt (minus adjuncts).

I love smoke flavor though, so take that for what it is worth. I put smoked sea salt on just baout everything I cook.

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I thought the SOS had a real good balance between the smoke and the hops; I'm not sure I'd dial in much more smoke than you had.

Has anyone tried AHS's kit for the Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen? I bumped into this kit and they have it as an extract or PM version. Wonder how they do the smoke deal. I might give it a try.

omniscientomar said:

...anyone tried AHS's kit for the Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen...

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No, but I did live in Bamberg for 5 years.