Smoked Malt Curious

[frazier]

Over the last year or so I’ve been dialing in a Scottish Ale recipe, which many among my clientele enjoy. My research began with the recipes in BCS, where Jamil goes to great lengths to emphatically warn against the dangers of using smoked malt.

On the other hand, many on-line recipes call for some. For example, the well-known Old Chub clone calls for 4.5 ounces of Weyerman smoked malt (roughly 2% of the grainbill). This is a luscious beer, with none of the ashtray qualities that Jamil warned us about.

My vendor of choice (BMW) carries four different smoked malts: Briess cherrywood smoked; Simpson’s peated; Weyermann oak-smoked wheat; and Weyermann beechwood smoked. I would love to hear any experiences you have had with these. I’m particularly intrigued by the cherrywood smoked, since I have a virtually unlimited supply of free cherrywood, and could pair the smoked malt with some aging on cherrywood, which might be interesting.

So, is there any experience you can share? Thanks!

 

[aiptasia]

I use the cherrywood on my wee heavy. It's relatively light in my grain bill for a 5 gallon batch, maybe about 4 oz. or so. It's just enough to give it the smoked presence in the flavor, but I do back it up with a 1 oz. grain bag soak of Scotch Whiskey soaked light toast oak chips. The oak adds some additional woody-ness of the hops and accents the smoke flavor. You could try something similar with the cherrywood, add some shavings to a grain bag and soak them in some Johnny Walker red, then sink them into the beer for about a week and taste.

 

[siobhan]

I used 2 ounces of the Simpson's Peated in a 5 gallon partial mash Wee Heavy. It's just bottled a week ago, so nowhere near done aging yet.

I kept tasting the samples I used to check my gravities. At first, I thought it might be a little too much. But by bottling time, it has faded nicely. I think it's going to be great. No ashtray effect here.....

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Peat malt produces a very acrid smoky flavor. In extremely small amounts it is an indistinguishable smoke flavor.

Beech-smoked rauchmalt produces a meaty, bacon-y smoke flavor. In small amounts it also produces an indistinguishable smoke flavor but you can use more of it than peat malt and still reach indistinguishable smoke flavor.

Oak-smoked wheat malt is designed for gratzer. The smoke flavor is somewhat citrus-y and can come across somewhat harsh. In low amounts it would probably be indistinguishable although I'm not sure the flavor would make sense in a scottish ale.

I have no experience with the cherrywood malt.

A couple weeks ago I smoked some munich over mesquite. It smells ****ing awesome. I don't think that's right for your beer but any smoking wood could be used to create your own signature smoke flavor. Although, honestly, if you are just looking for a hint of smoke flavor, the easiest route would be to use a small amount of rauchmalt. If you're looking for something unique, maybe a fruit wood would provide a little extra complexity, especially if you can consistently reproduce a self-smoked malt on an unusual wood like applewood.

 

[frazier]

Thanks RAM, that's exactly the kind of testimonial I was hoping for. I don't think I have the guts yet to smoke my own malt, but I may give the cherrywood smoked malt a try soon.

Cheers!