Developing a house SMaSH recipe for 4 oz hops, need feedback

[Horseflesh]

I want to develop a SMaSH recipe that I can use to get a good sense of hops and base malts. A brewery near me does this, and it's pretty cool, but they have standardized on an IPA-ish Maris Otter SMaSH at 6.7% ABV and 70 IBU. I would prefer something a little less bitter and malty, more akin to an American Pale Ale. I'd also like to find a way to get a good idea of a hop's character while limiting myself to no more than 4 oz--because I have several 4 oz packs that I want to take for a spin!

Right now I am looking at this approach:

• US-05 yeast, because it's cheap, reliably done with 1.050 wort in 14 days, and fairly neutral (I am cheaper than the yeast and do harvest and reuse US-05 slurry!)
• Maris Otter sufficient for OG 1.050 / ABV approx 5.1%, sub in other base malts when the mood strikes. MO seems highly regarded for hoppy SMaSHes.
• Water profile: Bru'n Water "Yellow Balanced" (listed as Ca 50 PPM, Mg 7 PPM, Na 5 PPM, SO4 75 PPM, Cl 60 PPM)
• IBU target 30 +/- 10%
• Hop schedule: Approx 0.5 oz at 60 minutes, balanced by approx 0.5 oz at 5 minutes, together providing the vast majority of the IBU
• Remaining ~3 oz hops split evenly between 130F whirlpool and one 7-day dry hop addition

The idea behind using the sole hop for bittering also is to get an idea of what kind of bitterness it provides... smooth or harsh, etc... but am I really going to use something cool and expensive for bittering? Ehh, I dunno. So I am open to making the bulk of the bittering IBUs come from an ol' reliable hop like Magnum, since that will likely be the case for a "production" brew. In this case it isn't a SMaSH, but that's OK if it better serves the ultimate goal of highlighting the character of the flavor/aroma hop.

The 5 minute hop addition is there because I feel like there should be at least one "hot" hop step, to produce whatever notes that brings compared to my cool whirlpool and dry hop steps. I really have no idea if 5 minutes is optimum. Some people swear by 10, 20, or 30 minute steps, too.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance for any feedback!

 

[Jayjay1976]

I want to develop a SMaSH recipe that I can use to get a good sense of hops and base malts. A brewery near me does this, and it's pretty cool, but they have standardized on an IPA-ish Maris Otter SMaSH at 6.7% ABV and 70 IBU. I would prefer something a little less bitter and malty, more akin to an American Pale Ale. I'd also like to find a way to get a good idea of a hop's character while limiting myself to no more than 4 oz--because I have several 4 oz packs that I want to take for a spin!

Right now I am looking at this approach:

• US-05 yeast, because it's cheap, reliably done with 1.050 wort in 14 days, and fairly neutral (I am cheaper than the yeast and do harvest and reuse US-05 slurry!)
• Maris Otter sufficient for OG 1.050 / ABV approx 5.1%, sub in other base malts when the mood strikes. MO seems highly regarded for hoppy SMaSHes.
• Water profile: Bru'n Water "Yellow Balanced" (listed as Ca 50 PPM, Mg 7 PPM, Na 5 PPM, SO4 75 PPM, Cl 60 PPM)
• IBU target 30 +/- 10%
• Hop schedule: Approx 0.5 oz at 60 minutes, balanced by approx 0.5 oz at 5 minutes, together providing the vast majority of the IBU
• Remaining ~3 oz hops split evenly between 130F whirlpool and one 7-day dry hop addition

The idea behind using the sole hop for bittering also is to get an idea of what kind of bitterness it provides... smooth or harsh, etc... but am I really going to use something cool and expensive for bittering? Ehh, I dunno. So I am open to making the bulk of the bittering IBUs come from an ol' reliable hop like Magnum, since that will likely be the case for a "production" brew. In this case it isn't a SMaSH, but that's OK if it better serves the ultimate goal of highlighting the character of the flavor/aroma hop.

The 5 minute hop addition is there because I feel like there should be at least one "hot" hop step, to produce whatever notes that brings compared to my cool whirlpool and dry hop steps. I really have no idea if 5 minutes is optimum. Some people swear by 10, 20, or 30 minute steps, too.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Sounds good to me! I've been wanting to brew a beer like this, just picked up a sack of dingemans belgian pale ale malt and some hallertau blanc and bavarian mandarina. This looks to me like a hoppy, modern twist on a patersbier if you went with a belgian strain like 3522 ardennes. Cool idea! I think your 5 minute addition is spot on, adding both flavor and bitterness.

 

[Horseflesh]

Thanks for the feedback, appreciate it.

I am still torn on one issue... using exclusively one hop, or doing the main bittering with Magnum. I would like to see how bittering tastes with the other hops, but it is also hard to imagine finding that the quality of bitterness is so awesome that I decide to do that all the time. It might be a better idea to repurpose that ~0.5 oz to another late addition, or beefing up the dry hop step.

 

[deadwolfbones]

I don't think there's any reason to stick to the pure dogma of a SMaSH if you don't intend to bitter with the hop you're trying out in the future. Some aroma hops do interesting things when used for bittering, but if you really just want to try out the aroma using a neutral bittering hop like Magnum is fine.

 

[bassmang4]

Yup. No reason to go true smash here. I use the row 2 hill 56 recipe for this. Has pils, MO and c20. Use 4 oz of the test hop. 2 oz dry. 1 oz 0 min. The remaining oz is in the 30 and 90 with added magnum or warrior at 90 if need to hit target ibu.

 

[Horseflesh]

Yeah, I think you're right. Don't tell the SMaSH police!