Smoked Rosemary Stout-What do You Think?

[WilliamWS]

So I'm going to be brewing something soon for Thanksgiving. I thought that a smoked rosemary stout sounded tasty but I've never brewed with smoked malts, never brewed with rosemary and haven't brewed that many stouts (I mostly stick to the various Belgian styles with the occasional bitter or esb thrown in). Here is the recipe I came up with. Tell me what you think. I'd be open to suggestions.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: 5th Floor Smoked Rosemary Stout
Brewer: William Snyder
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Stout
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 5.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.059 SG
Estimated Color: 33.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 42.55 %
3.50 lb cherrywood smoked malt (5.0 SRM) Grain 29.79 %
2.00 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 17.02 %
0.75 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 6.38 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Wheat Malt (400.0 SRM) Grain 4.26 %
1.00 oz Horizon [12.00 %] (60 min) Hops 39.7 IBU
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [Starter Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 11.75 lb
----------------------------
My Mash
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
40 min Step Add 14.69 qt of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F


Notes:
------
1 whole star anise @ 30 min
2 Sage leaves @ 5 min
1 Sprig rosemary @ 5 min
1 Sprig rosemary @ flameout

Should I add some crystal? Also, I was halfway thinking about throwing in 1/2 oz of amarillo or centennial @ flameout.
Thanks.
-William
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[riverfrontbrewer]

William, I have no input as I am doing my first smoked beer this weekend (smoked ESB). BUT I have read that a little rosemary goes along way, and that fresh is MUCH more potent than dried. I do look forward to seeing/reading how this comes out. So keep us up to date.

Good Luck

 

[smokinghole]

I think that much rosemary will be way too much. Try making a tea with amounts measured in grams. Then you can extrapolate how much you should use for a 5g batch based on how powerful the tea come out. The smoked malt seems like a good amount though. Someone might pop on here and say its too much but remember the rauchs from Bamberg are 100% smoked malt. Plus, unless I'm confusing things, cherry smoked malt is more of a mild flavor than the beech smoked malts.

 

[Blackgaurd_Brewing]

Cherry is the stronger of the two, but I think you have a good amount in there anyway. If you were using beachwood I would reccomend more like 60% Profile.

As far as the late hopping goes, it will take away from the smokiness and the herbs, I would stay away from it, Perhaps a small addition at 20 mins or so if you want a hint of hops. My experience with smoked IPA shows that the smokiness isnt as much of a taste as a feel, although you do get a little bit of a dry smoky sensation right at the end.

I think a small amount of crystal could be nice, perhaps depending on how you are serving your meat for the dinner, roasted, glazed, smoked, or deep fried? Hey, if your gonna build a beer especially for a day all about food, you may as well consider the pairings!

 

[WilliamWS]

Thanks for the input. My initial gut feeling was to stay away from late hopping so I'll probably keep it as is with just the 60 min addition.

As for the rosemary, I was thinking something like a two inch sprig for each addition (didn't really make that clear) but I guess it would be a better idea to actually pick the leaves and weigh everything, maybe cut back a little, too, as it's probably not too hard to add a little more rosemary aroma by dry hopping (herbing?) if need be.
I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

 

[Symbiote]

So how did it turn out?

 

[WilliamWS]

No final verdict yet. It is still in the fermentor (though it finished in about 4-5 days). My efficiency was way high on this one (I ordered from Brewmasters Warehouse this time and their crush upped my efficiency by about 6-7%) and it ended up at 1.065, finished at about 1.015-I forgot to make my starter so I used some S-04 I had laying around instead.

I'll say this much, though, from the hydrometer samples it initially tasted a LOT like liquid BBQ. Not bad but not exactly what I was going for. The flavors keep on mellowing and everything seems to be coming together pretty nicely as it ages a little: still has a slight background flavor reminiscent of BBQ but as the smokiness has become more tame the hint-of-rosemary finish has become more apparent.
It's not bad now and I think it'll be better after it's been in the bottle for a month or more. I'm relatively confident that it'll be an enjoyable brew to drink (though I don't think it'll be something you'd knock back a sixer of).

On a side note: Brewmasters Warehouse is AWESOME. Their delivery is super quick, I can save my recipes on their site and order with the click of a button, and their crush is great. I've brewed two batches since this one, all with grain ordered from BMW and my efficiency has been 6-7% higher than it was with place I used to order from.

 

[passedpawn]

Any feedback from the brewer would be greatly appreciated.

 

[colinthehippie]

How did this turn out?

 

[johnbrain]

Curious too. Considering an IPA WITH FRESH Rosemary from my garden. WE use it to cook. After reading the forums here I was thinking of adding barely any. Maybe 3 or 4 leaves just picked of the twig with about 8 minutes. Somebody posted .1 ounce was powerful. I'll add a lead to my scale until the very first 'tick' of the scale then stop.

Thoughts?

 

[Yooper]

Curious too. Considering an IPA WITH FRESH Rosemary from my garden. WE use it to cook. After reading the forums here I was thinking of adding barely any. Maybe 3 or 4 leaves just picked of the twig with about 8 minutes. Somebody posted .1 ounce was powerful. I'll add a lead to my scale until the very first 'tick' of the scale then stop.

Thoughts?

I don't know about this beer, but I happened to judge a smoked rosemary stout in a competition in January.

I think it will be good with time, but when I judged it all I could think was "lamb roast". The beer tasted just like lamb roast.

I think a tiny amount of rosemary would be a good place to start. Maybe just "dry herb" it if you need to add some more later on. It can be potent.

 

[colinthehippie]

I just racked a porter of sorts to the secondary and added two sprigs of fresh rosemary, maybe 1/4 ounce. THis same beer had about 1/2 ounce for 10 minutes in the boil. I am very anxious to taste it and see if it's what I'm expecting. The idea came from having used rosemary in some sweets before, namely shortbread cookies. The sweet blends well with the piney herbal flavor of the rosemary.

 

[WilliamWS]

Hey guys. Forgot about this thread. I didn't know it was still alive, haven't gotten notifications of new posts.
Yooper's right. That was this one (I knew it wouldn't do very well but it was one of the only things I had in a bottle at the time). This was probably the worst beer I've made-never really balanced out and pretty much tasted like drinking BBQ.
If you'd like, Yooper, I can send you a bottle of my bloodwood aged EIPA to make up for it. It may have been the best beer I brewed last year and I just rebrewed it, kegging today.