Adding smoke flavor

[divrguy]

Been brewing for a while but never added smoke flavor to a beer. Recently had a smoked porter and would like to add a touch of smoke flavor to a rye. Anyone give me a good starting point on a touch of smoke flavor? I don want it to take over the beer just have a slight smoked quality that I think would compliment the rye. Any thoughts?

 

[pdxal]

How about Rauchmalz, perhaps 1 pound in a 5 gallon batch. There's also the cherry wood smoked malt (Breiss?) as an option. For a subtle flavor about a pound would work or you could adjust up/down.

 

[nberna19]

You could go w/ a peat smoked malt which Stone uses in their Smoked Porter. The recipe in their book calls for 4.9 oz per 5 gallon batch or 2.5% of the total grain bill.

 

[ktblunden]

You could go w/ a peat smoked malt which Stone uses in their Smoked Porter. The recipe in their book calls for 4.9 oz per 5 gallon batch or 2.5% of the total grain bill.

The smoke very subdued in Stone's Smoked Porter, you'd want to go a little heavier than that to get a noticeable character from it.

 

[ploppythesausage]

Stone's smoked porter has next to no smoke character to it. They could easily name it after any other ingredient in the beer. Stone's 120L crystal malt porter or something...

 

[divrguy]

Thanks gents i will give it a shot

 

[folly]

You'll want to be really careful with peat malt. It doesn't just add smokiness but also that astringent peaty flavor at larger amounts. I use 2 oz in a wee heavy with a 23lb grain bill and I can tell its there.

If your lhbs has some, ask of you can try a little bit. Just eat a few kernels of the peat and the rauchmalt. Use the one you like best.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Do you want the smoke to be a subtle flavor or a prominent part of the beer's character? You said you wanted a touch but as you can see, there's a lot of variance on what people think is "enough" smoke. You can get a subtle flavor with 5% rauchmalt but at least 25% to start to move the smoke into a prominent flavor component.

 

[divrguy]

Do you want the smoke to be a subtle flavor or a prominent part of the beer's character? You said you wanted a touch but as you can see, there's a lot of variance on what people think is "enough" smoke. You can get a subtle flavor with 5% rauchmalt but at least 25% to start to move the smoke into a prominent flavor component.

I tasted a few grains of each and I like the flavor of the rauch. I really only want a hint of it so I think I'll do a test batch or two in the 2 gallon size and and use about 2% of the grain bill on a recipe I know what it tastes like already. Thx