Brown ale tastes like bacon?

[bransona]

I've been playing around with Briess cherywood smoked malt in a brown ale. First attempt came out like a porter and tasted like mesquite bbq. I revamped and now...well...it tastes like mesquite smoked bacon. It's not fully conditioned by any means, but I thought I'd share the recipe and see what you guys think is making it "meaty." I'm assuming it's just perceived due to the mesquite flavor of the smoked malt, but it's hard to say.

Smoky brown ale
1.5 gallons

2# 2-row pale
6oz pale chocolate
4oz cherrywood smoked
2oz Munich 60L
1.3oz C20 (didn't quite have the 2oz I planned on)

Mashed at 154

Fwh and 60min additions of nugget for 40ibu. No other hops.

Ferment at 64* with us-05

OG was something like 1.060 and fg is 1.012. Mouthfeel is a medium-bodied brown/porter. Fairly creamy and easy drinking. No sweetness, no noticeable caramel notes. Malt body is definitely a classic brown ale, but it has this overarching theme of BACON. AGH.

It's delicious, honestly, but what the heck?

 

[dmtaylor]

Smoked malt will make a beer taste just like... smoked bacon. It's the smoked malt, plain and simple.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

The smoked malt is a start, but I've had some young stouts without any smoked malt be kind of meaty. It went away after another week or so of bottle conditioning.

 

[bransona]

Smoked malt will make a beer taste just like... smoked bacon. It's the smoked malt, plain and simple.

Bacon brown ale. Sounds like a great time to me. What other styles would you recommend for this malt? I have a half pound, more or less.

 

[MVKTR2]

Thou hast unlocked yonder key to better life, Magical Bacon Beer!

Alas!!! The chosen one is revealed! Teach us thy ways Brother Bransona.


My honest thoughts are 2 fold:
1 - I'd guess you're very sensitive to smoke. For me the less than 10% of commercial smoked malt wouldn't be nearly enough. When I've made smoked malts I've gone very heavy with smoke for 1.5+ hours and used at minimum 20% smoked malt in the recipe. However for you the current level of smoke is very bacon like, oddly enough bacon isn't that smokey to me ... generally speaking, plus it's a lot of artificial flavoring so it's a different smoke.

2 - If you no like bacon or smoke, quit using smoked malt. Seriously, maybe its not your thing or perhaps you prefer an even more subtle smoke note or something super heavy like classic Rauchbier?

 

[bransona]

Thou hast unlocked yonder key to better life, Magical Bacon Beer!

Alas!!! The chosen one is revealed!


My honest thoughts are 2 fold:
1 - I'd guess you're very sensitive to smoke. For me the less than 10% of commercial smoked malt wouldn't be nearly enough. When I've made smoked malts I've gone very heavy with smoke for 1.5+ hours and used at minimum 20% smoked malt in the recipe. However for you the current level of smoke is very bacon like, oddly enough bacon isn't that smokey to me ... generally speaking, plus it's a lot of artificial flavoring so it's a different smoke.

2 - If you no like bacon or smoke, quit using smoked malt. Seriously, maybe its not your thing or perhaps you prefer an even more subtle smoke note or something super heavy like classic Rauchbier?

I laughed way too hard at this.I love the smoky flavor! I love the bacon, too! I guess I'll just have to follow in your footsteps and smoke it up hard

 

[drainbamage]

I laughed way too hard at this.I love the smoky flavor! I love the bacon, too! I guess I'll just have to follow in your footsteps and smoke it up hard

Yeah, this sounds more like a blessing than a problem.

 

[dmtaylor]

Bacon brown ale. Sounds like a great time to me. What other styles would you recommend for this malt? I have a half pound, more or less.

It depends only on how much you like bacon flavor in your beer. You can use smoked malt in virtually any style. Semi-famously for me myself my own recipes, I have used smoked malt in my apple ale for many years, and it has scored and medaled very well in various competitions.... however recently I finally decided that I'm really not personally keen on the smoky flavor and from now on have decided to skip the smoked malt and will replace with base malt. Recipe for my Smoked Harvest Apple Ale is right here:

http://forum.northernbrewer.com/t/apple-ale/6671/3

 

[foam_top]

http://www.northernbrewer.com/bacon-smoked-red-ale-recipe-kit

 

[bransona]

http://www.northernbrewer.com/bacon-smoked-red-ale-recipe-kit

Ha, i basically made the brown version of this amber by inverting the malt proportions. Glad to know I'm crafting recipes similar to the big dogs

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

Brown ale tastes like bacon

...so what's the problem?

 

[bransona]

Cracked one about five days after bottling, and it is delicious! I'm also pretty happy with how it came out visually, as this is the first batch I've used gelatin in.