Specialty Smoked Beer Islay Ale (3rd Place Specialty Beer Winner)

Grains
1 lb Maris Otter Malt (12.48%)
8 oz Crystal 20L (6.24%)
10 oz Crystal 40L (7.87%)
7 oz Peated Malt (5.49%)
5 oz Carapils (3.87%)
2 oz Roasted Barley (1.65%)
5 lb Light DME

Hops
1.5 oz Willamette [5.3% AA] 60 min. boil

WLP002 English Ale yeast (1/2 L starter)

Mash grains in 1 G water at 148*F for 1 hour, sparge with 1-1/2 G at 170*.
Added 2 lbs LME at beginning of boil, 3 lbs as late addition at 15 minutes.

I love Islay scotches like Laphroaig, and wanted to brew a beer with a similar peaty character to pair with it. The peat-smoked malt has a unique flavor profile, more earthy and phenolic than something like Rauchmalz. You can pick up subtle notes towards the end, but it doesn't overpower or end up smelling like a campfire.

This beer won 3rd place in the Specialty Beer category at the 2016 Hammerdown Brewcup. They actually suggested using more peated malt, so feel free to tailor to your own preferences based on how much you like it!

Hale Yass! Everything I read gives peat smoked malt no love. I've been using it in my scotch ales for years and it gives a very nice smoked flavor. I'm not looking for BBQ or camp fire, I'm looking for Laphroaig!

Brew on!

ImNoExpert said:

Hale Yass! Everything I read gives peat smoked malt no love. I've been using it in my scotch ales for years and it gives a very nice smoked flavor. I'm not looking for BBQ or camp fire, I'm looking for Laphroaig!

Brew on!

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I lowballed it on the recipe because everything I'd read beforehand acted like it was nasty stuff, but I was quite pleased with the results. Either it's a very acquired taste, or something is horribly wrong with our palates!

I did something like this once. Grain bill was actually quite similar (chocolate instead of roasted barley, some slightly darker crystal malts, no carapils, and all-grain with Golden Promise, and 1.064 instead of 1.054, the rest is just give or take a percent two). I could probably do it again.

But I also aged it on oak I'd been soaking in Laphroaig. Highly recommended.

I made a 100% peated malt ale. I know, it defies comprehension. But if we're talking Islay (and especially peaty Islays), let's go Ardbeg Supernova (at over 100ppm peat phenols) or Bruichladdich Octomore (at 167ppm). For reference, the Laphroaig 10 is ~25ppm, and the Ardbeg 10 (my go-to) is ~35ppm. The beer (called For Peat's Sake) won first place in a local competition among other homebrewers. It placed high among the public.

Qhrumphf said:

I did something like this once. Grain bill was actually quite similar (chocolate instead of roasted barley, some slightly darker crystal malts, no carapils, and all-grain with Golden Promise, and 1.064 instead of 1.054, the rest is just give or take a percent two). I could probably do it again.

But I also aged it on oak I'd been soaking in Laphroaig. Highly recommended.

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I did rack 1 gallon off onto oak chips, but they weren't soaked in anything and I rushed it. I could sometimes pick up a hint of oak, but it didn't really stand out. If I did it again, I'd definitely add the Laphroaig.

jgourd said:

I made a 100% peated malt ale. I know, it defies comprehension. But if we're talking Islay (and especially peaty Islays), let's go Ardbeg Supernova (at over 100ppm peat phenols) or Bruichladdich Octomore (at 167ppm). For reference, the Laphroaig 10 is ~25ppm, and the Ardbeg 10 (my go-to) is ~35ppm. The beer (called For Peat's Sake) won first place in a local competition among other homebrewers. It placed high among the public.

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I read through your thread when I was researching recipes. The idea of a 100% peated recipe was certainly intriguing, but I wasn't sure I wanted to dive into the deep end on my first foray with that malt. I am curious to give it a shot in the future.

I also now have some new Scotches on my "to-try" list!

Hi brainbamage and Qhrumphf, thanks for posting your recipe! I am putting together a similar recipe (replacing the LME with MO or Golden Promise). I hope to brew this one with a buddy who is really into peaty Scottish whisky. We want to enter the beer in a small 'who brings the best beer to the party' contest with some other friends where it will compete with some commercial brews and another one of my home brews.

Here's the catch: We have only 6 weeks from brew day till drinking day, leaving only 3 to 4 weeks to bottle-condition. Did you bottle or keg your beers? Can you tell me how long your beer took to age, and how the tastes changed during aging? Any tips on speeding-up the process? (lower OG, keeping the bottles warm during conditioning, et cetera)

I bottled mine, you can certainly have it carbed in time. At first the peat smoke (and in my case oak character, but you won't have time for that) is much sharper, but it'll mellow with time. That's where you may run into issues, maybe too overbearing at first. I found mine hit its stride in about 4 months.

I bottled mine as well, and found it eased off the "green" character after about 6 weeks. Mind you, I didn't do the aging on Scotch-soaked oak, so it wasn't horribly intense in the beginning.