Tapped the keg of my "pseudo-grodziskie" today while brewing another batch of my fantastic coffee dry stout. This beer was a 5gal batch made with 3# each of Belgian pilsner malt and white wheat malt, plus just enough acid malt to balance the mash. I smoked it over beech chips for around 3 hours, and then dried the malt in a food dehydrator.
The color came out a bit darker than I anticipated, likely due to temperature within the smoker. After breaking into the keg today, I can say with confidence that this is quite a fun little beer. The smoke flavor, strangely enough, reminds me more of the schlenkerla urbock,rather than the marzen. I will say I'm a bit disappointed in the amount of smoke. I would of course like more. Next batch will likely have a similar malt bill, (I may toss in some dextrine malt) and smoke the malt for a longer period, trying to pull more flavor.
I'm glad to see you are drinking your rauchbier. Also, that you like it too. As for smoke flavor, it's like hops. After you get taste for it you want more and more. I always like the first pour of the day and the first few sips. The smoke is the strongest at that time, then fades. But it doesn't, your pallet adjusts to it.
Regarding smoking, each of us has different equipment, the smoke generated can slight to almost invisible to copious and thick. It might be equipment related and the choice of smoking medium. Wood chips or pellets.
That said, I think beach is a very good mild clean smoke. I really like Apple. Maple is good too. I've done a blend with apple, cherry and maple that was outstanding. You might change it up a little from beech wood. Something less mild and mellow. Maple, hickory, pecan, mesquite... Also adding 2, 4, or 8 of black malt helps get a roasty flavor that pairs well with rauch malt.
If you want to make a malt that has a really good depth of smoke, make a brown malt. Using the maple or the maple blend. Soak the grain with distilled water, so much water that its equal to its grain weight, less 5%. Soak the grain at least 24 hours refrigerated, this should give the grain time to soak it all or most of it into the kernel. Smoke it two hours as usual, then a few hours at 250-300 and few hours at 350-400. The malt will pop like popcorn at that level. Then dry it as normal. Use this grain in ale where its 50% with a good enzyme rich malt like pale malt. Maybe make a brown ale or a porter where 5lbs of this malt makes up the base malt, add the required specialty malts for the style. I think you'll like the beer for the smoke flavor.
If you want an over the top smoke bomb you can use pellets in a 14 oz can with torch to fire it up. The earlier part of the thread discusses this. It will be super smokey. It took me half a keg before I stopped saying it's too smokey.
If you want to talk options or ideas... let's have at it here.
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