First SMaSH - Asheville Pale Ale

[Stephonovich]

Recently, while visiting home (Asheville, NC) I picked up some local Chinook hops. I decided to do a SMaSH with them. This was my recipe:

10 # Munich Malt
0.5 oz. Chinook Mash 60 Min
1 oz. Chinook Boil 60 Min
0.5 oz. Chinook Dry Hop 7 Days
1 Package S-05

Whirlfloc @ 15 min
Mash @ 148 F, batch sparge, mash out @ 165 F
Est. O.G. 1.053, IBUs 39, SRM 10, ABV 5.8%

I ended up having to throw some extra boiling water into the mash tun to raise temps up, and then accidentally drew off too much into the boil kettle (was supposed to draw 6.5 Gal, hit about 8 Gal before I realized it - I was distracted by my neighbor and his home made (in New Zealand, of course) whiskey). So, the boil was actually around 2 hours to get the volume and O.G. down. More hop utilization, I suppose.

Aeration was provided via 30 minutes of an air pump with stone. I also put a dropper of Fermcap-S in, for the supposed IBU boost. I like my pale ales on the IPA side.

This was also my first use of leaf hops. I used a muslin bag with marbles. Nothing really difficult about it.

Actual O.G. came in @ 1.052, which I was really pleased with, considering my difficulty with mash temps and water volumes. All in all, it turned out great, and I can't wait to try it in a couple of weeks.

To all of those still on the fence about AG or SMaSH - do it! It's not hard, and it makes such an awesome product.

 

[TimTrone]

I have some family that lives there. It's a great area. Apparently both Sierra Nevada and new Belgium are opening breweries there. That will make family visits even better.

 

[Stephonovich]

There are tons of small breweries in the area, too. Bruisin' Ales has a great selection of local brews if you get the chance. (in bottles - not a pub, although there are plenty of those as well)

 

[Stephonovich]

Bottled this today, after a 21 day Primary (14 days on its own, 7 days dry hopped).

I'm sorry to say it's "eh". I expect it to pick up some crispness in the carbonation, but I'm just not thrilled with it right now. FG came in at 1.012, 4 points higher than Beersmith estimated. That's fine, but overall, it's bland. Munich on its own doesn't have enough oomph for a solid malt base (IMO), and I didn't use enough hops to make it even a decent pale ale in terms of IBUs.

Don't get me wrong, I'll be happily drinking it - drinkability, if you will, is quite high. If I had to do it over, though (as a SMaSH), I'd switch out the mash hops to FWH, and add another 0.5 oz to the dry hop for aroma. Also perhaps add another pound or two of Munich.

 

[Stephonovich]

Couldn't resist trying one today, after 3 days in the bottle.

Surprisingly, there is a good amount of carbonation. The hops are pretty mellow, mostly only showing up with a sharp inhale. As I mentioned, dry hopping would do this well, or of course simply more hops in the boil. As it is, it's more like a brown ale vice pale ale.

The Munich shines through, with a clean initial taste, and a glorious full, slightly sweet after taste.

I must say, I'm very impressed with my first SMaSH. I never thought you could get this much complexity out of a single malt bill. I can also see this being a great way to develop non-SMaSH recipes - find what you like about certain malts, hops, and techniques, and blend them as you see fit.

 

[kh54s10]

3 days in the bottle is way too soon to tell you what the final product will be.

I did a Columbus SMaSH? Although I took 1.5 lbs of the 2 row and toasted at 275° for 45 minutes to try to give it some more flavor that just the 2 row alone.

I noted that at 2 weeks bottle conditioning I was not really impressed. At 3 weeks it became one of my favorites so far.

It was a 3 gallon BIAB that came in low for the OG. I will be doing this again although I may make some alterations.

 

[Stephonovich]

I know it's really early, but I wanted to see what it was like. I was pleasantly surprised. I do look forward to trying it after a few weeks, as well.