There’s an easy and delicious way to improve your beer creation skills. Just get "SMaSH’d" on brew day. Not smashed as in “drink a beer make a beer,” but SMaSH’d as in brewing Single Malt and Single Hop beers.
Brewing SMaSH beers dials you directly in to the abundantly flavorful and educational essence of two key ingredients, malt and hops. Sound good? It’s delicious. Also, having the simplest recipes make experimenting with ingredients approachable, and flavor profiles identifiable.
Making SMaSH beers help you clearly define flavor profiles beyond what's listed online.
In his book “Malt, a practical guide from field to brewhouse,” John Mallet describes malt as, “the soul of beer.” SMaSH brewing is the best way to learn the ways of the soul, although I’m not sure C.G. Jung would agree. Nevertheless, malt choice matters to the extract, partial extract, BIAB, and all-grain brewer alike.
In fact, one of my first SMaSH beers was a series of extract beers I brewed for one day’s worth of consumption among many beer-geek friends. I wanted to know whether a store-brand’s “golden” extract was better than the “big boy” brands. To find out, I made the same blonde ale with each brand.
It was a good bit of brewing to make all those batches identical, but it was worth it. At the time the store brand batch cost was approximately $6 less than the other brands’ batches. However, if it held up to a taste test, the savings would make the intense brewing schedule worthwhile. Game on.
Two things happened during the process: I got a lesson in brewing consistency, and my friends and I threw a heck of a BBQ under the guise of an “official taste testing.” Guess what else happened? The store brand won! My first exploration in brewing SMaSH beers would end up saving me serious coin. Not to mention we had a SMaSHingly good time at the BBQ.
Now, fast forward to when I dove into all-grain brewing: what a pool of choices there are here. It would be overwhelming if there weren’t a way to understand the flavor and performance of the many awesome base malts available to homebrewers. Sure, you can read about them on the internet and think you know them, but reading isn’t tasting, and tasting can’t be done on the purest level without SMaSH brewing.
Brew with a single malt and really know--not think you know--you have fully experienced your preferred malts.
Want to explore the difference between run-of-the-grist-mill US 2-row and California Select malts? What about the difference between Continental pilsner and German Pilsner malts? Does this maltster’s Maris Otter taste different than that maltster’s Maris Otter? What is Maris Otter anyway? The questions seem endless until you start to taste and brew with all these malts. Now, to many it might not matter. To them, good beer is good beer. Yet, to some what you learn about brewing with these malts in their purest form could mean the difference between perfection and ho-hum; it could be the difference between good beer and great beer.
Tasting the grain raw (or with a bit of yogurt), can also help your perception of malts' flavors.
This is how I tackle a SMaSH brewing challenge to learn all I can from a single malt.
1) Read about the malt.
2) Taste the malt.
a. Whole
b. Crushed
c. Mashed (I like mine in the morning with yogurt and honey)
d. As wort
e. As beer
3) Take notes with a. b. c. d. and e.
sneaking a peak of the hop aroma in the beer to be.
If malt is the soul of beer, hops then must be malt’s soulmate. Soulmates know when to lead, and when to step back for the other’s sake. Soulmates know when balance is best, or when to encourage the other to take center stage.
Your job as a brewer is to make sure these soulmates meet in your beer every time. SMaSH brewing can teach you how to do that. How to be the matchmaker, puppeteer, omnipresent beer master -- sigh -- whatever title floats your boat. SMaSH brewing will make you a better brewer because you and your taste buds will be in control of which hops, when and why…
Here’s a great activity for you and your club to do: Deconstruct an IPA. Or any beer for that matter.
For this example, we’ll deconstruct the hops listed on the brewer’s website for New Belgian Ranger IPA: Cascade, Chinook, and Simcoe. These are classic American IPA hops. You think you know them. But do you know them enough?
You will need to choose:
• Three brewers with identical water: one brewer for Cascade, one for Chinook, and one for Simcoe.
• Base malt – a 2-row variety for sure, but which is up to you! Shoot for a gravity of 1.060
• Mash temp – 148-152°F likely works best here.
• Hopping schedule – go with 30, 15, and flameout additions to hit your target IBUs (40). Don't forget to dry hop. A 60-minute addition is optional and its value to today’s IPA is fodder for another article. Perhaps you could write it after you do this exercise.
• Packaging – choose to bottle or keg with identical methods.
The best part is... Tasty drinkable results.
Lastly, record your results. Perhaps the only thing better than SMaSH brewing for making you a better brewer is note-taking. Also, when you’re done with your SMaSH beers, maybe eat some ribs, chicken and brisket with your friends while you’re at it.
It makes for a SMaSHingly good time.
Brewing SMaSH beers dials you directly in to the abundantly flavorful and educational essence of two key ingredients, malt and hops. Sound good? It’s delicious. Also, having the simplest recipes make experimenting with ingredients approachable, and flavor profiles identifiable.
SMaSH’d on Malt
Making SMaSH beers help you clearly define flavor profiles beyond what's listed online.In his book “Malt, a practical guide from field to brewhouse,” John Mallet describes malt as, “the soul of beer.” SMaSH brewing is the best way to learn the ways of the soul, although I’m not sure C.G. Jung would agree. Nevertheless, malt choice matters to the extract, partial extract, BIAB, and all-grain brewer alike.
In fact, one of my first SMaSH beers was a series of extract beers I brewed for one day’s worth of consumption among many beer-geek friends. I wanted to know whether a store-brand’s “golden” extract was better than the “big boy” brands. To find out, I made the same blonde ale with each brand.
It was a good bit of brewing to make all those batches identical, but it was worth it. At the time the store brand batch cost was approximately $6 less than the other brands’ batches. However, if it held up to a taste test, the savings would make the intense brewing schedule worthwhile. Game on.
Two things happened during the process: I got a lesson in brewing consistency, and my friends and I threw a heck of a BBQ under the guise of an “official taste testing.” Guess what else happened? The store brand won! My first exploration in brewing SMaSH beers would end up saving me serious coin. Not to mention we had a SMaSHingly good time at the BBQ.
Now, fast forward to when I dove into all-grain brewing: what a pool of choices there are here. It would be overwhelming if there weren’t a way to understand the flavor and performance of the many awesome base malts available to homebrewers. Sure, you can read about them on the internet and think you know them, but reading isn’t tasting, and tasting can’t be done on the purest level without SMaSH brewing.
Brew with a single malt and really know--not think you know--you have fully experienced your preferred malts.
Want to explore the difference between run-of-the-grist-mill US 2-row and California Select malts? What about the difference between Continental pilsner and German Pilsner malts? Does this maltster’s Maris Otter taste different than that maltster’s Maris Otter? What is Maris Otter anyway? The questions seem endless until you start to taste and brew with all these malts. Now, to many it might not matter. To them, good beer is good beer. Yet, to some what you learn about brewing with these malts in their purest form could mean the difference between perfection and ho-hum; it could be the difference between good beer and great beer.
Tasting the grain raw (or with a bit of yogurt), can also help your perception of malts' flavors.This is how I tackle a SMaSH brewing challenge to learn all I can from a single malt.
1) Read about the malt.
2) Taste the malt.
a. Whole
b. Crushed
c. Mashed (I like mine in the morning with yogurt and honey)
d. As wort
e. As beer
3) Take notes with a. b. c. d. and e.
SMaSH’d on Hops
sneaking a peak of the hop aroma in the beer to be.If malt is the soul of beer, hops then must be malt’s soulmate. Soulmates know when to lead, and when to step back for the other’s sake. Soulmates know when balance is best, or when to encourage the other to take center stage.
Your job as a brewer is to make sure these soulmates meet in your beer every time. SMaSH brewing can teach you how to do that. How to be the matchmaker, puppeteer, omnipresent beer master -- sigh -- whatever title floats your boat. SMaSH brewing will make you a better brewer because you and your taste buds will be in control of which hops, when and why…
Here’s a great activity for you and your club to do: Deconstruct an IPA. Or any beer for that matter.
For this example, we’ll deconstruct the hops listed on the brewer’s website for New Belgian Ranger IPA: Cascade, Chinook, and Simcoe. These are classic American IPA hops. You think you know them. But do you know them enough?
Get SMaSH’d on them, and find out how much more you can taste, and know about them.
You will need to choose:
• Three brewers with identical water: one brewer for Cascade, one for Chinook, and one for Simcoe.
• Base malt – a 2-row variety for sure, but which is up to you! Shoot for a gravity of 1.060
• Mash temp – 148-152°F likely works best here.
• Hopping schedule – go with 30, 15, and flameout additions to hit your target IBUs (40). Don't forget to dry hop. A 60-minute addition is optional and its value to today’s IPA is fodder for another article. Perhaps you could write it after you do this exercise.
• Packaging – choose to bottle or keg with identical methods.
The best part is... Tasty drinkable results.Lastly, record your results. Perhaps the only thing better than SMaSH brewing for making you a better brewer is note-taking. Also, when you’re done with your SMaSH beers, maybe eat some ribs, chicken and brisket with your friends while you’re at it.
It makes for a SMaSHingly good time.
