Tips on my first original recipe? (Rauchbier)

[uofmguy]

Hey,
So I'm trying my hand on making my own recipe for the first time and was hoping you guys could give me some tips before I brew.

I want to make a rauchbier. Except I don't want the smoke to be overwhelming, so I plan on not using it as the biggest grain addition. Also, I'm trying to make it more amber colored than dark. And I'm making it with ale yeast instead of as a lager.....

Yeah, I'm straying from the style a lot so maybe its not a rauchbier, but a smokey, german, amber ale.... But hey, that sounds good!


The things I'm most concerned about are:
*Too many pounds of grains?
*Too much hop bitterness or hop flavor? (beersmith says its at 29 IBUs / high end of rauchbier flavor style)
*Should honey malt be included or not?
*Will it be smokey enough / too smokey?

Here's the recipe:
Extract

3.3bs Pale LME
2lbs Smoked Malt
2lbs Munich Malt
1.5lbs Vienna Malt
.5lbs Honey Malt

1oz Vanguard 5.5%Aacids 60min
.5oz Vanguard 5.5%Aacids 30min
.5oz Vanguard 5.5%Aacids 3min

White Labs 003 German Ale II

1/2 Wirlfloc Tablet

Thanks for the help guys. I really appreciate it!

 

[masscarriers]

Hi there,

I did a similar all grain recipe a while ago. I'll try to answer to the best of my knowledge point by point.

Too many pounds of grains?
Depends on what is your batch size, which isn't mentionned in your recipe. Enter the ingredients in an online calculator and see if the ABV/SRM/IBUs are what you want to have.

Too much hop bitterness or hop flavor?
There's several things here that pops to mind. First one is that hops tend to mask the smoke, so if you want a hoppy but still quite smoky beer, you'll want to both increase hops and smoke malt. The other thing is that since you're adding some munich/vienna, you'll want to balance the maltness and hops to avoid generating a too malty/sweet smoked beer. This was one of my errors in my own recipe, I believe a really dry, well balanced smoked ale would have been way better than what I obtained. I've brewed a peat smoked porter before that that came really well, and it was fairly crisp and tasty.

Should honey malt be included or not?
IMHO I prefer simple grain bills, since you're already adding vienna and munich I wouldn't see the point of honey malt on top of it, but brewing is all about experiencing so have some fun there!

Will it be smokey enough / too smokey?
My latest smoked ale had about 40% german smoked malt and it wasn't over the top smokey (in fact I'm planning a smoked SMaSH soon), but I guess it varies between individuals. Since you're way lower than that you probably will detect some smoke flavors but really not that much. Don't forget that hops will tend to mask that character, and smoke flavor will also vanish with age. If you believe you will be disappointed if it isn't smoky enough, increased that smoked malt quite a bit. See other recipes around the board how much they use and read the feedback.

I highly suggest you keep fermentation temperature LOW in that kind of beer. Ester, fusels and stuff really clash with the smoke and make an undrinkable mess.

Good luck!

 

[McGarnigle]

My latest smoked ale had about 40% german smoked malt and it wasn't over the top smokey (in fact I'm planning a smoked SMaSH soon), but I guess it varies between individuals.

I agree with this. I've twice tried to add smoke to beer, and both times felt it was too low. I think 30-40% was the higher of the two levels.

But I like really smoky beers.... Aecht Schlenkerla makes a few of them.

EDIT: also put me down for no honey malt.

 

[uofmguy]

Thanks for the tips guys.

So how's this for a change?

5 Gallon Batch
2 lbs light DME (24% grain bill)
3 lbs Weyermann's smoked malt (35% gb)
2 lbs Munich (24% gb)
1.5 lbs Vienna (18% gb)

1.5 oz Vanguard pellets 60min (24 IBU)
0.5 Vanguard pellets 30min (6 IBU)
0.5 Vanguard pellets 3min (1 IBU)

WL029 German Ale/Kolsch Yeast (fermented at lower end of fermentation range)

I cut the honey malt, changed the grain percentage, changed the yeast to a less estery yeast, and upped the hops a touch to balance them out with all the malt.

I feel more prepared now, but beersmith is saying that I'll have 30 IBUs and Brewtarget is saying that I'll have 46 IBUs.... I definitely want it as 30 IBUs. I don't want to make a German IPA (at least not right now....) I want it nicely balanced, maybe a touch more on the malty side than hoppy...

Any new tips other than the hops?

 

[masscarriers]

I've never quite understood additions between 60 and 20 minutes, maybe I'm missing something but typically a 20min addition should generate more flavor than a 30min one. I generally build my recipes like this: I input all hops I want between 20 and 0 minutes for flavor and aroma respectively, then adjust to my desired IBUs with a 60min addition. I feel like anything in between won't really contribute to flavor or aroma, so why not put some less at 60 and call it a day?

I know that for double IPAs and such you may need a larger hop schedule, but for a regular beer if someone has an explanation I'd really appreciate.

 

[uofmguy]

Good point. I'll change those hops to 20min. Thanks!

 

[uofmguy]

Update:

DO NOT use flavoring hops with rauchbier. At least not the ones I used. They didn't go with the smoke flavor at all.

Also, it definitely could've used more smoke