What do you think the best SMaSH combo is?

My next brew will be a SMaSH. Any good ideas?

My favorite has been 2-row & Amarillo

pale ale malt and EKG for ale, Munich (7-10L) and Spalt for lager

wailingguitar said:

pale ale malt and EKG for ale

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Marris Otter pale and EKG

Waterboy42 said:

Marris Otter pale and EKG

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This, by far. So much so that I brew it up every few weeks!

There was a smash thread a few days ago and there was big support for the marris otter pale and amarillo combo, i was planning on doing that next.

For those doing Mo + EKG, how do you hop it ?

15.5 lbs MO

3 oz. 60 minutes
2 oz. 30 minutes
1 oz. 5 minutes
1 oz. Flameout

5 gallon batch, mashed at 152.
London Ale yeast.

I'll try to post the full recipe up when I'm not on my phone.

Waterboy42 said:

Marris Otter pale and EKG

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That's what I brewed last weekend... Used 4oz of EKG total, 1oz each at 60, 15, 10, and 5 minutes. Thinking about dry hopping in the keg too (1oz per 3 gallon keg)...

Maris otter and amarillo has easily been my favorite!

Another favorite is a Vienna/tettnanger SMaSH lager with a triple decoction.

Pilsner and Saaz
MO and Styrian Goldings just to be different
2-row and Willamette
Vienna and Hallertauer
Pale and Cascade

I whipped up Munich and Chinook once, everyone thought I was crazy but it was delicious !

Pilsner/Saaz or my favorite, pale/centennial

joeybeer said:

I whipped up Munich and Chinook once, everyone thought I was crazy but it was delicious !

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How was the malt profile? I'm intrigued!

Waterboy42 said:

Marris Otter pale and EKG

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Which yeast wlp002?

mux said:

Which yeast wlp002?

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Whoops, I see.

wailingguitar said:

Munich (7-10L) and Spalt for lager

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+1...it even works as an ale!

Weyermann Vienna and Amarillo, soooo dank! I used S-04 and it came out amazingly good.

Waterboy42 said:

15.5 lbs MO

3 oz. 60 minutes
2 oz. 30 minutes
1 oz. 5 minutes
1 oz. Flameout

5 gallon batch, mashed at 152.
London Ale yeast.

I'll try to post the full recipe up when I'm not on my phone.

Click to expand...

How big is this beer for you? 15.5 lbs must give you a pretty high starting gravity. I get 1.062 with 12 lbs in a 5.5 gallon batch.

vienna cascade

Mine was 15.5# too, but it put +/-6.5 gallons into primary. Target is 6.6% ABV (if it goes to plan)...

smokewater said:

How big is this beer for you? 15.5 lbs must give you a pretty high starting gravity. I get 1.062 with 12 lbs in a 5.5 gallon batch.

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I had 1.085 measured SG, down to 1.020 FG. Five gallon batch btw. 14 day primary, 21 day secondary. Took almost four weeks to carb decently, but was oooohhhh so good. After that lengthy time, hop profile came down just right.

Waterboy42 said:

I had 1.085 measured SG, down to 1.020 FG. Five gallon batch btw. 14 day primary, 21 day secondary. Took almost four weeks to carb decently, but was oooohhhh so good. After that lengthy time, hop profile came down just right.

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Bottle conditioned/carbonated, right?? Mine will be carbonated in about two weeks since I keg. :rockin: It's also why I don't need to go so high on the hops to get the flavors I want. Of course, if I dry hop in keg, I'll wait either until it's going into the brew fridge, or after it's been chilled for 24 hours before adding the hops. I'm liking what the extra ounce (per 3 gallons) of EKG has given my current English IPA that's on tap.

Yeah, bottle conditioned. On really big beers, I like to bottle condition to let everything mellow out. Not so much on a SMaSH, but on others, it gives the flavors more complexity, and a chance to intermingle.

I still give mine the time it needs, in bulk form though (in primary)... Since I use 2.5 and 3 gallon kegs, I'm only dispensing half a batch at a time. The other half is in reserve/storage, waiting for a spot to open up. :rockin: With doing things as I do, I'm getting excellent brews from the faucets.

mux said:

Which yeast wlp002?

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I use S-04.

I did a SMaSH IPA with Marris Otter and Citra which was awesome.

Finally starting to drink my MO SMaSH batch... My GOD it's great!! I'm already putting the recipe into rotation again. Just hope I can have another batch ready before the second keg of mine kicks.

BTW, I haven't dry hopped this yet. I wanted to try it without dry hopping it first. So, the first 3 gallon keg is without the dry hops. I might add an ounce of EKG (whole hops) into the second 3 gallon keg as it's going into the brew fridge.

Very much a candidate for 10+ gallon batch sizes as soon as I have a way to chill/carbonate/serve 5 gallon kegs. :rockin:

I've only done a few but the ones I liked the most were MO/Centennial & MO/Magnum

Waterboy42 said:

Marris Otter pale and EKG

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ditto on this one!

This past season I did a small batch SMaSH with MO & my homegrown Cascades hops--fermented half with California V and the other with Burton Ale. The Burton Ale version was awesome, definitely will be a repeat brew.

What are your mash temps for this? I mashed at 154 and it fermented down from 1.055 to 1.010. I read somewhere to mash at 160 to produce a less fermentable wort.

Planning an MO/Amarillo for my next batch. Any suggestions on a hopping schedule? I'm thinking APA. My crack at it was:

1/2 oz FWH
1/2 oz 60
1/2 oz 20
1/2 oz 10
1/2 oz 1
1 oz dry hop

Gave an est IBU of 45.

Pils - Hallertau - WLP 830
Vienna - Centennial - WLP 007
Munich - Saphir - WLP 820
MO - EKG - WLP 007

mux said:

What are your mash temps for this? I mashed at 154 and it fermented down from 1.055 to 1.010. I read somewhere to mash at 160 to produce a less fermentable wort.

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I mashed my MO/EKG SMaSH at 150F for an hour. Went from 1.066 to 1.016. Used Wyeast 1768-PC this time, plan to use Wyeast 1318 (or 1335) next time, to see the difference...

Vienna and Northern Brewer...even the wife liked it!

10# Vienna
1 oz. NB at 60, 20, 5, 1
US05

Golddiggie said:

I mashed my MO/EKG SMaSH at 150F for an hour. Went from 1.066 to 1.016. Used Wyeast 1768-PC this time, plan to use Wyeast 1318 (or 1335) next time, to see the difference...

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I used wlp001.

I've never done a SMaSH before. Do you guys really like the way some of them taste, or mainly do it to get a feel for MO vs 2row, different hops? I generally try to keep my recipes very simple; and feel that evem great stouts only need a good five ingredients not .5lb incremental monsters like some do. But going to one of each? Sounds boring .

edit: I'll definitely have to do a couple SMaSHs in the future to try some different yeasts. I generally am boring and just do US05 for most of my beers, usually just do clean IPAs or stouts.

the maris otter EKG is on of my favorites and has been a hit with everyone who has tried it. i would say genuinely like the way they taste. I can't speak for all, but i have had great luck with the simplicity of the recipe style- and it's also an opportunity to see what different mash schedules can do to shape flavor profile. kind of like using an eight iron from 150 in...

SpacemanSpiff said:

Planning an MO/Amarillo for my next batch. Any suggestions on a hopping schedule? I'm thinking APA. My crack at it was:

1/2 oz FWH
1/2 oz 60
1/2 oz 20
1/2 oz 10
1/2 oz 1
1 oz dry hop

Gave an est IBU of 45.

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This is one of my favorites. I like hoppy, bitter beers, but for a SMaSH I think 45 IBUs I'd just about perfect.