How does this plan sound- New brewer

[jonny24]

Hey guys,

I'm relatively new at this, have done 4 all grain batches and 2 extracts before that. I've been doing lots of reading and learning here, so thanks to everyone!

I've been thinking of doing a series of SMASH beers to learn about different hops and malts. I did one so far, 2row/ Hallertau. I'm wondering what I should tackle next, are there any particularly good pairings I should try out?

After I've done the major base grains I think I'll continue with the same approach, but using say around 20% specialty grain with a single hop to learn what those do as well.

I'll probably also try out some other recipes in between as well to break it up a bit and hopefully get some good beer. The 2 row/ Hallertau was not that great, not sure what went wrong but at least it's drinkable.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

A good idea, but as you've found out, can leave you with a lot of one-dimensional beer, especially if you use standard 2-row.

I went through a stage of trying different American/Australian/NZ hops using the same malt bill (ale malt, 15% vienna, 4% medium crystal to about 5.2%ABV) which was tastier than using SMaSH recipes if you like APA's. I was adding all of the hops at 20mins and later.

However, I would suggest using Pils, Vienna and Munich (good German versions) in SMaSH beers to see what they add. They are all really flavoursome but can be hard to distinguish if you haven't tried them on their own. Maris Otter is also excellent in SMaSH beers (try it with EKG).

 

[Cyclman]

I have a "typical" pale ale recipe I use for SH beers. Then, I know I love the "base" beer and it is only the hop variable affected. It has been very educational, but doing 2.5G batches I have had lots of boring beers. Moving forward, I'll do one gallon batches, enough to learn, but not so much as I feel I "have" to drink it.

 

[ChelisHubby]

Try to limit your smashes to the ingredients you are likely to use on the majority of beer you drink, Or you could find yourself drinking Smashes for a long time.

 

[jonny24]

Thanks guys!

I like the idea of coming up with a good "base" beer to then experiment with after a few Smashes. To date I've used EKG/Fuggles, Cascade, and Hallertau and Saaz (haven't tasted this one yet) Based on that, here's what I'm thinking a few smashes:

Marris Otter / Challenger

Munich/ Perle?

Pils/ Citra

Vienna/ Spalt

6row/ Columbus

Pale Ale malt? / Northern Brewer

And then continuing trying to hit a variety of different hops in a typical pale ale recipe (possibly splitting batches). Amarillo, Simcoe, Centennial, other Noble hops are possibilities that caught my eye.

Actually, maybe I should spilt all the Smash ones as well... so many possibilities.

 

[jschein]

Marris Otter / Mosaic is nice