Smoked beer recipe

[Jack Arandir]

My brew club is hosting a smoked beer challenge next month. They gave me a pound of cherrywood smoked malt as an incentive. The only smoked beer I brewed was terrible, and I have almost no space for another beer, so I want as tiny a batch as practical. I'm thinking a 2 gal batch fermented in a keg with floating dip tube.

For style, I'm thinking a basic Rauchbier built off a Märzen base, rather than a more exotic style. I mostly brew lagers (Festbier is bubbling in the conical), so toss in some German malts and hops. I'll harvest some 34/70 from the Festbier to pitch in the Rauchbier. Since the conical is occupied, ferment in the garage in the mid 50s. A spunding valve will keep pressure up and esters down.

I've never done full volume BIAB, so I spec'd 70% efficiency. Ramp up the temp while steeping grains for a pseudo beta/alpha rest. Whatever. I don't expect it to be my best beer, or even very good at all. It's just to use up the grains and get something into the brewer's challenge. And to explore a style I've never tried. Thoughts?

EDIT: Took out the duplicate CaCl2.

 

[AlexKay]

You probably know this, but you won't get esters off 34/70 even if the temperature goes high and the pressure stays low. It's a very forgiving yeast.

That seems like a lot of brewing salts for a small batch.

I'm not a big fan of the cherrywood-smoked malt, but if you've got it and want to use it, ok! My first rauchbiers used Weyermann rauchmalz (beechwood smoke) and Munich, about 75/25, with a touch of chocolate and Carafa Special. But I have a fairly high tolerance/low sensitivity to smoke, so you may be happy with a smaller proportion of smoked malt.

I'd lean towards dropping the Pilsner in favor of more Munich or Vienna. And I like Tettnang for rauchbier.

But nothing seems too far off with the recipe you've got. Except the salts. That's a lot of salt!