Beechwood smoke

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Stauffbier

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So, I'm brewing a smoked saison in a few days.. Have any of you brewed one before?
 
Not specifically a Saison but I have made a few smoked beers. If you are planning on using beechwood smoked aka Rauchmalt, I would use a few pounds. If you use Breiss smoked (cherry) or home smoked grains use up to a pound and no more IMO or you may have a brew that tastes like chewing on old campfire logs...
 
Not specifically a Saison but I have made a few smoked beers. If you are planning on using beechwood smoked aka Rauchmalt, I would use a few pounds. If you use Breiss smoked (cherry) or home smoked grains use up to a pound and no more IMO or you may have a brew that tastes like chewing on old campfire logs...

Thanks for the recommendation, but I only bought a pound of Rauchmalt. I bought it on a spontaneous whim while at my LHBS. I figured I'll try with the one pound, and see what it does. I do indeed want to smoke my own malt, though. I have some apple wood that would work nicely. I'll leave that for a porter later in the season....

EDIT: (side question) Would it be best to just stick to base malts for smoking, or can you smoke crystal malts as well?
 
A pound of Rauch is going to be pretty lightly smoked but in something like a Saison it may be perceived as "smokey funk".

As for smoking your own grains, I do not see why it would matter if it was base or crystal. I would definitely cold smoke it... I know there have been others who have done this with some success. IMO it would be fun to try but not something I would want to get into heavily.
 
A pound of Rauch is going to be pretty lightly smoked but in something like a Saison it may be perceived as "smokey funk".

As for smoking your own grains, I do not see why it would matter if it was base or crystal. I would definitely cold smoke it... I know there have been others who have done this with some success. IMO it would be fun to try but not something I would want to get into heavily.

Yeah I figured I would cold smoke. I also make my own liquid smoke on the smoker, and I thougt it might be fun to experiment with it in a brew, as well. It would definitely be an experimental process, because a tiny bit of that stuff goes a long way!
 
Yeah I figured I would cold smoke. I also make my own liquid smoke on the smoker, and I thougt it might be fun to experiment with it in a brew, as well. It would definitely be an experimental process, because a tiny bit of that stuff goes a long way!

There is NO room in ANY beer for liquid smoke. Try a tiny drop of it in a beer and you will understand. It just tastes horrid. Trust me I love me smoked flavor in stuff but not liquid smoke in beer.
 
i just brewed a smoked porter yesterday using 5 lbs of smoked malt. it was 30% of the grain bill.
 
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