SMaSH recipe help

This might seem like a strange question asking for help on formulating a smash recipe, however I could use some direction on this. I want to start with a malt forward version by keeping the hop variety the same and just changing up the malt for a few varieties. Does anyone have any recommendations on a target OG and IBUs and a yeast strain to bring out the malt? Then after I brew some malt forward beers I want to choose one malt then change up the hops. Again, I'm hoping for some recommendations on target OG and IBUs. I'd appreciate any input. Thanks

 

Well, I would go with something simple like an APA OG of 1.050 and IBU of 45 to give you .90 Bitterness Ratio to keep it drinkable like a great APA. Utilize a cheap and solid hop like cascade to keep the beers enjoyable. I would then either utilize WLP 001 to cleanly accentuate the hops and malt, or the WLP 007 to accentuate the malt and suppress the hops a tad. If you just want to play with the malt I would go with the WLP 007; however, when you go for the hops you will not get a solid pop. Start your fermentation temp at 65 to keep your ester production down, and have fun with it.

 

Thanks for the info JLP! I've never heard of a Bitterness Ratio before. I'll keep that in mind. So when I switch to making more hop forward smash's when trying out different hop varieties, should I up the ratio a little bit? Do you have a recommendation as to how much?

 

If you really want to tell between the malts I'd keep the IBU a bit lower than that, more along the lines of a British pale ale. I'd bet on OG 1.048, 30-35 IBU. Can be quite flexible with the malts and I bet pretty good with some Mild malt, Belgian ale malt or Vienna malt.

 

An EPA style is a good choice too, and especially with the WLP 007. I always start with an BU/GU of 0.91 for APAs on brand new recipes. I would imagine your going to make an IPA of some sort for your hop forward beer. I would start around 1.2 for an AIPA. These are really just numbers to jump off from. Once you get into the swing of things you will find what suits you personally.