Smoaked Schwarzbier

Need some help making additions to a True Brew German Dark Lager kit. The included ingredients are:

Munton’s Hopped Dark Malt Extract, 3.3lb
Munton’s Dark Dried Malt Extract, 2lb
Munton’s Crushed Crystal Malt, .38lb
Hop Pellets, UK First Gold(7%),1oz
Fermentis S-23 Lager Yeast, 11.5g

I'd like to add notes of smoke and oak, but don't have the equipment to just smoke the chips and put them in the secondary. Would 3 oz of peat-smoked malt steeped with the crystal impart a noticeable smoke flavor? I'd also like to add 8 oz of oak chips to the secondary. Couldn't find any similar recipes while searching the boards, anyone have suggestions for making this happen?

brewbies said:

Need some help making additions to a True Brew German Dark Lager kit. The included ingredients are:

Munton’s Hopped Dark Malt Extract, 3.3lb
Munton’s Dark Dried Malt Extract, 2lb
Munton’s Crushed Crystal Malt, .38lb
Hop Pellets, UK First Gold(7%),1oz
Fermentis S-23 Lager Yeast, 11.5g

I'd like to add notes of smoke and oak, but don't have the equipment to just smoke the chips and put them in the secondary. Would 3 oz of peat-smoked malt steeped with the crystal impart a noticeable smoke flavor? I'd also like to add 8 oz of oak chips to the secondary. Couldn't find any similar recipes while searching the boards, anyone have suggestions for making this happen?

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No one had anything to say about your post. What did you do and how did it come out?

Peated smoked malt is usually reserved for making whiskey. Generally a hardwood is used for making smoked malt for beer. I haven't used peated but have used Rauch and homemade smoked malt from pecan and hickory.

Peated sounds like the path of least resistance but it may not yield the profile you're going for. I would say a few ounces is conservative enough to get a general idea of it's flavor without making the beer undrinkable if you don't like it.

I believe it was Papazian that suggested just smoking some crystal malt. Dampen the malt, spread it on a cookie sheet and lay it on the grill. Bank a small pile coals to one side and throw on some wet wood chips. I've done something similar on a gas grill. I didn't turn the grill on but instead, made a smoker box out of a tin can.

I poked holes towards the bottom of the can for air and built a little fire inside of it. Set it inside the grill with the malt and closed the lid. This filled the grill with smoke without any real heat.