Sessionable SMaSH IPA?

[wolfareno]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a good starting point for a couple different AG session SMaSH IPAs. I recently brewed a great SMaSH IPA with MO and Cascade, but I could only drink two before everything tasted good.

I don't use brewing software (maybe now is a good time to start), and I'm not well-versed in developing my own recipes, so I'm looking for a good starting point.

I want to make a few different SMaSH IPAs using 2-row, MO, cascade, citra, columbus, etc., and here is one quick example (5 gal batches):

9lb (or less?) MO (mash at 151)
1oz cascade - 60
.5oz cascade - 20
.5oz cascade - 0
1oz cascade - dry (in keg)

I guess my bigger question here is can I use a template like this, change the hop variety or grain, and leave the quantities/times the same?

Thanks for any info. I looked around, but I had a hard time finding info on session beers + SMaSH + IPA.

Cheers!

 

[RmikeVT]

I'm guessing you are going for a 5g batch?

I think you need to up your hop bill. I would shoot for something around 40-50 IBU's.

By session what do you mean for ABV? By definition, I think session is under 4%, but in today's craft beer world, they call hoppy pale ales around 5% session IPA's when actuality they are just Pale Ales.

I am going to assume you mean the 5% variety.

I would use enough MO to get to 1.050 ish. Mash 150 ish, and add more hops, way more.

9lbs Marris Otter
1 oz cascade 60
1oz cascade 10
1oz cascade 5
1oz cascade 0 (flameout or whirlpool)
2 oz cascade dry hop

I just eyeballed it, basically adjust your 60 min addition to get to 40-50 ibu's, but don't back off late additions if you are really going for session IPA.

I'm all for SMASH, but it only took me brewing 2 of them to realize I was really missing out on complexities of specialty malt. Especially, on the lower gravity beers that don't have as much malt to back them up. Consider adding a 1/4 lb of victory and maybe 1/4lb - 1/2lb of crystal malt (20-80).

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Hi all,

I don't use brewing software (maybe now is a good time to start), and I'm not well-versed in developing my own recipes, so I'm looking for a good starting point.

I'll plug BeerSmith here. Free 30-day trial and I think it's worth every penny of the license cost. There are cloud softwares out there as well.

You can easily add your grain bill and hops, and get an estimate of SRM, ABV and IBUs.

 

[1977Brewer]

I just made a great Pale/Cascade Smash. 11lbs Breiss Pale, 1 oz. Cascade 60 min, 1 oz 30, 1 oz FO, 1 oz dry hop. It's going in bottles tomorrow or Sunday. OG 1.040, FG 1.008. 4.2%. Hydro samples smell and taste great. With the extra oz. in the boil and dry hop, you're going to get a good un. I want to try the same recipe but with Marris, once I find Marris cheap enough for my $25 self imposed batch restriction. Might parti-gyle and get an ESB out of it to justify the $$.

 

[wolfareno]

Thanks for the feedback.

5g batch and just relatively low ABV (targeting 4-5%). My motivation is twofold:
First, I like the taste of IPAs and pale ales, I drink a lot, and I get drunk (sometimes this is OK). I'm taking steps to be drunk less often.

Second, a great friend of mine had to back off his consumption a bit because of a brain injury (he fell off a cliff), but he still loves a good IPA or pale ale too... and I want to brew some beers we can enjoy together.

I think the good thing here is that I can play around a bit to find what we like (the beauty of SMaSH?).

Thanks again for the help. I'll try to share my adventures with this project.

 

[1977Brewer]

I whipped upo a parti-gyle mild off that first Smash that's finished at 3.2%. It's gonna be the best light beer I ever drank, I hope.

 

[wolfareno]

This is the first I'm learning of parti-gyle, and I'm excited to try it out. I could do two SMaSHs with two different hop varieties, then switch them the next time around to see how the gravity affects the flavor. So many things to learn!

 

[tagz]

Other folks might disagree but I think a hoppy session beer is going to need some specialty grains to provide enough body to showcase the hops. I don't do too many smash beers but I would bet they work best at the ipa level. At 1.060 or above they'll retain enough maltiness to hold up against the hops. Lower gravity beers with loads of hops might come across as thin and watery. You can still experiment with grains and hops by keeping a set specialty grain profile and changing the hop or base grain. Just a thought.