RauchAle Recipe Critique

So I'm planning on brewing a RauchAle in the near future. I know that Rachbier's are traditionally lagered, but I don't have a lagering chest. Please let me know what you think of my recipe. Will that % be enough smoked malt to give a very substantial campfire flavor? Not looking for anything subtle.

While I'm brewing the RauchAle I'm going to toss in a bunch of leftovers grains, hops, yeast into a second brew kettle. Not really looking for critique, just curious how this will turn out.

TYPE: All Grain
Batch Size (fermenter): 7.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.061 SG
Estimated Color: 28.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 32.3 IBUs
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10 lbs Smoked Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 1 54.8 %
3 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 16.4 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 3 8.2 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 4 8.2 %
12.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.1 %
12.0 oz Carafa III (525.0 SRM) Grain 6 4.1 %
12.0 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 7 4.1 %
3.00 oz Spalter [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 32.3 IBUs
1 pkg Wyest1450 | Denny's Favorite 50


Garbage Beer
TYPE: All Grain
Batch Size (fermenter): 3.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.047 SG
Estimated Color: 4.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 68.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 90.7 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 69.0 %
7.4 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 8.0 %
7.3 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 3 7.9 %
7.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 4 7.6 %
7.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 5 7.6 %
0.50 oz Mt. Hood [6.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 16.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 14.8 IBUs
1.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 8.8 IBUs
2.00 g Seeds of Paradise (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 9 -
Will use some of the Wyest1450 from the RauchAle

No suggestions?

I was thinking about using WLP029 German Ale/ Kölsch Yeast instead of the Denny's Favorite 50. Any thoughts on that?

I actually just brewed what I called an American Rauchbier. I was going for a rauchbier with an American twist so I used Wyeast 1056 and Cascade and Willamette hops with some flavor additions and a small dry hop.

It's bottled now but I'm waiting to try one on the first day of Fall. The hydrometer sample was pretty amazing though. Pretty big smoke character (but not harsh or bad at all) with almost a bacony flavor, and I could just pick up some nice hop flavor and aroma.

I used almost 70% Weyermann beechwood smoked malt, and a bit less specialty grains than yours. Mine was about 14 SRM and 27 IBU. Your recipe looks pretty good too though. What kind of smoked malt is it? I think anything over 50% will give you an up front smoke character if you're using Weyermann. Briess cherrywood smoked I think might be stronger. I would NOT use peat smoked though, because it's way to strong and harsh. I thought about using a Kolsch yeast or a steam beer yeast to give it a little lager flavor, but just decided the 1056 would go with my "American" theme. Here's what I did (it's a 3 gallon recipe so you can just double the amounts):

Title: American Rauchbier

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Classic Rauchbier
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 3 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.033
Efficiency: 77.5% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.054
Final Gravity: 1.014
ABV (standard): 5.36%
IBU (rager): 26.89
SRM (morey): 14.19

FERMENTABLES:
4 lb - German - Smoked Malt (68.8%)
1 lb - German - Dark Munich (17.2%)
0.5 lb - German - CaraMunich III (8.6%)
0.125 lb - American - Aromatic Malt (2.2%)
0.0625 lb - United Kingdom - Chocolate (1.1%)
0.125 lb - German - Acidulated Malt (2.2%)

HOPS:
0.75 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 4, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 23.08
0.25 oz - Willamette, Type: Pellet, AA: 5.1, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 2.13
0.25 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 4, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 1.67
0.5 oz - Willamette, Type: Pellet, AA: 5.1, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 154 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 9 qt, Strike temp = 164.2F
2) Infusion, Temp: 212 F, Time: 10 min, Amount: 4 qt, Mashout
3) Sparge, Temp: 185 F, Time: 10 min, Amount: 10.5 qt

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.5 each - Whirlfloc, Time: 15 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil

YEAST:
Wyeast - American Ale 1056
Starter: No
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 75%
Flocculation: Med-Low
Optimum Temp: 60 - 72 F

1 gram gypsum (add to mash)
2 grams CaCl2 (add to kettle)

Actual OG came in at 1.050 and FG was 1.013.

peterj's recipe looks really good, and presented well. I'd like to know more about how it turns out.

I brewed a smoked porter with 60% weyermann beechwood smoked malt and it has the rauchbier smoked taste without being overwhelming.

Thanks for the suggestions Peter. It's Weyermann - Beech wood smoked malt from Germany. Purchased from Morebeer. Hoping it's relatively fresh.

Glad to hear that 55% of the grain bill won't be an overwhelming smoke flavor. I'm definitely looking for it to be the prominent flavor but don't want it to be off putting and taste burnt.

Anyone know the extract conversion recipe for pty?

niptek said:

Anyone know the extract conversion recipe for pty?

Click to expand...

I don't know what pty is. You can't really do an extract version unless you somehow have smoked malt extract. The rauch malt makes up the majority of the fermentables so it can't be steeped.

This beer turned out really well. It had a nice level of smoky almost bacony flavor. Not too sweet, but very malty. It finished at 1.013. I might try dry hopping with cascade next time for a little more pronounced hoppiness, but I wouldn't want to over do it and compete with the smoke character.