I won my first competition! Now what...

[bransona]

After 4 years of brewing, I finally joined a club earlier this year. As luck would have it, they were about to hold their annual competition. This year's prize was to brew with a phenomenal local brewery on their system and to release your beer in their taproom. After three rounds, I won one and TECHNICALLY had the second-place overall score. However, first-place was held by a budding professional brewer who didn't feel right holding onto the prize for herself; that means I WON, even if by default [emoji28]

So, now I have a month or so to decide what I'll make with them. The brewers were very interested in making my beer that won the last round, as am I, but there was a general consensus it needed a little more. The beer is a Golden Promise and Mosaic SMaSH (a regular recipe of mine) that I finished with a pound of mixed berries toward the end of fermentation. Great hop profile, berries were clean and balanced, but the malt fell flat.

What malt would you guys add to that brew? I dont have all the vitals, but its something like 7% and 40-50 IBU, fairly dry. I'm considering a 5-10% C40 addition, as well as 5% honey malt.

Cheers!

 

[Pappers_]

Wow, congratulations on winning the competition and on the prize - brewer-for-a-day at a pro brewery is fun! A little C40 would be good and is common in many hoppy American-style beers, but at relatively low amounts - I'd keep it to 5%, maybe. The honey malt would also be interesting. You could substitute some Munich in for the Golden Promise.

I would think the berry addition would be the thing the brewers would be most worried about - how to scale that up from the homebrew level to their system.

 

[Unicorn_Platypus]

Congrats on winning! If you won...why change the recipe? ;-p

If you just want to add some malt sweetness, but not caramel flavors I'd go with 1 pound of Carahell 10 in 5 gallons (its basically a german crystal 10). I've had great success with this adding just a touch of sweetness and body in IPAs without getting too chewy.

Crystal 20 will add even more noticeable sweetness, but not get caramel.

if you go with a medium or dark crystal I would use a light hand, unless you want prominent caramel flavor. A darker caramel malt might compete with the more subtle berry flavors.

I wouldn't use more than a pound of crystal 20 personally.

You could also add a few pounds of light munich to enhanced perceived maltiness, but that won't really increase the body of the beer like crystal.

Adding a few pounds of some wheat malt (I tend to like red wheat) might also do the trick. It won't increase sweetness, but will give the beer a fuller and creamier mouthfeel.

I'd skip the honey malt. Its a very specific flavor and may or may not be what you want. A little riskier of an addition than some light crystal or wheat.

Side Note: I tend not to use mosaic early in the boil. Usually reserve it for later additions and dry hop.

 

[MGamber]

No advice, just congrats on the win! I won a competition this past spring and brewed on a local brewpub's 7 barrel system and had a blast. Even better, it rated above 4 on Untappd and sold out in 3 weeks. Hope you have a great time brewing!

Edit: After dumping 11 bins with 70 pounds of grain each into the mash tun, my arms hurt for a couple weeks. If you have a job that doesn't involve lifting and the brewery doesn't have a mechanical way to move the grain, get ready for a it. :-D

 

[JimRausch]

Congratulations! You'll find that brewing with pros on their system is an amazing experience (I've done it twice).
Me, I would substitute a couple lbs. of the GP with Munich malt, and add 6-8 oz. of melanoidin malt. Melanoidin is a great addition to german beers of course, but my 1st win was with Denny's Waldo Lake Amber, and that is basically 90% pale ale malt and 10% melanoidin. It adds a great maltiness without the sweetness that crystal malts can add.

 

[mongoose33]

I'm a big fan of Maris Otter; I've kind of shifted toward adding Munich to some of my recipes, either in large amounts or just 10 percent or so.

Here's a suggestion: Unless you're absolutely convinced it has to be a SMASH, try 80-90 percent of the grain bill Maris Otter, 10-20 percent Munich. That should give you some malt backbone.

You also can control that a bit by mash temp; try 153 or a bit higher.

 

[MaxStout]

Congrats on the win!

I'd skip the crystal. You could add some dimension with a little melanoidin.

 

[dmtaylor]

I think 5% each of honey malt and Crystal 40 are solid choices. Go for it, why not.

 

[bransona]

Congrats on winning! If you won...why change the recipe? ;-p

If you just want to add some malt sweetness, but not caramel flavors I'd go with 1 pound of Carahell 10 in 5 gallons (its basically a german crystal 10). I've had great success with this adding just a touch of sweetness and body in IPAs without getting too chewy.

Crystal 20 will add even more noticeable sweetness, but not get caramel.

if you go with a medium or dark crystal I would use a light hand, unless you want prominent caramel flavor. A darker caramel malt might compete with the more subtle berry flavors.

I wouldn't use more than a pound of crystal 20 personally.

You could also add a few pounds of light munich to enhanced perceived maltiness, but that won't really increase the body of the beer like crystal.

Adding a few pounds of some wheat malt (I tend to like red wheat) might also do the trick. It won't increase sweetness, but will give the beer a fuller and creamier mouthfeel.

I'd skip the honey malt. Its a very specific flavor and may or may not be what you want. A little riskier of an addition than some light crystal or wheat.

Side Note: I tend not to use mosaic early in the boil. Usually reserve it for later additions and dry hop.

For the mosaic: this recipe calls for the first addition at 10 minutes, then huge flameout, whirlpool, and dry hopping. Gets plenty of ibu and enormous flavor. I accidentally added the first charge at 60 minutes once, which was ok but had a slight metallic quality from the bittering.

 

[Kyle]

One of my favorite beers was like what your trying to do. I tried the mosaic and golden promise SMASH and felt it needed something. Added some light Munich and wheat malt and that definitely hit the spot.

 

[kevin58]

I went on a Golden Promise experiment two summers ago where it was all I used. I noticed it wasn't a robust as what I was used to which was Maris Otter. I would suggest using that.... or! I've heard great things (but no practical experience) with a malt called "Mecca Grade". It is talked about in this podcast: https://www.experimentalbrew.com/podcast/episode-76-having-old-night-cap

 

[Unicorn_Platypus]

For the mosaic: this recipe calls for the first addition at 10 minutes, then huge flameout, whirlpool, and dry hopping. Gets plenty of ibu and enormous flavor. I accidentally added the first charge at 60 minutes once, which was ok but had a slight metallic quality from the bittering.

late additions with mosaic sound good

 

[bransona]

late additions with mosaic sound good

It's awesome. You end up with the fruity pungency of a NEIPA without being so sweet (or hazy, for that matter). This beer is a crowd pleaser for sure. With the new malt...we'll see [emoji482]

 

[bransona]

I went on a Golden Promise experiment two summers ago where it was all I used. I noticed it wasn't a robust as what I was used to which was Maris Otter. I would suggest using that.... or! I've heard great things (but no practical experience) with a malt called "Mecca Grade". It is talked about in this podcast: https://www.experimentalbrew.com/podcast/episode-76-having-old-night-cap

I love me some MO, but I've found that golden promise is somehow...softer? Its pillowy and delicate, a little sweet and a little crackery. Really nicely balanced. MO has a bit more in-your-face quality.