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Maris Otter Mosaic SMaSH

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rhys333

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Hey everyone,

I just stepped up to maris otter grain, and since I recently scored a pound of mosaic I thought I'd try a small 3 gallon SMaSH. Never done one before! Thinking 1.058ish and five 1/4 oz mosaic additions at 60, 30, 15, 10, 5 for a total 50 ibus. Also one oz dry-hop in primary. I might bend the rules a bit and add a dash of chocolate for colour. WY 1469 yeast for malt and hop complexity at around 5.25% abv.

Figured I shoot for something easy drinking and sessionable. Should I big it up a bit?
 
Maris Otter SMASHes are awesome. Looks good as is! The only suggestion I'd make is: Maris Otter is kinda amber-y on its own and, based on my experience, you'll have a pretty great color without the chocolate.
 
Looks nice - I'd want to brew it.

I'd up the dry-hopping a bit though - something like 0.5-0.75 oz..
 
A MO SMaSH is my next brew. It'll be more in IPA range though. Don't add any other grain or it isn't a SMaSH. I really wanted a brew that highlighted two great ingredients, Mosaic hops and MO so I don't intend to do anything else to it. My hop additions are planned at 60/20/5, likely an ounce each and then two ounces at 2 weeks in primary.
 
Maris Otter Mosaic is my favorite SMaSH right now. I usually shoot for 5% and about 35 ibu's with 1-1.5 oz dry hop, it's a big crowd pleaser since it has just enough bittering so you know it's a pale but the fruity flavor of the hops makes non-hoppy people like it too.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. Looking forward to doing this one. I'll omit the chocolate and go with straight MO. Makes sense to do this if I want to see what MO has to offer. I think I'll mash around 154-155 to get some increased body and sweetness.
 
Just finished off a keg of an all Mosaic IPA I did. 2 row, vienna and some c-40 for the grain bill. 1/2 oz at 60. 1 oz at 10, 5 and 0 minutes. Dry hopped after 5 days with 2.5 oz for 3 more days. S-04 yeast. This beer was fantastic. Just kept getting better as the keg emptied. Very subdued bitterness with a bunch of fruity aroma and flavor.
 
My two row/mosaic smash is almost bottle conditioned.... and to compare I just bottled a two row/citra smash....
 
Just finished off a keg of an all Mosaic IPA I did. 2 row, vienna and some c-40 for the grain bill. 1/2 oz at 60. 1 oz at 10, 5 and 0 minutes. Dry hopped after 5 days with 2.5 oz for 3 more days. S-04 yeast. This beer was fantastic. Just kept getting better as the keg emptied. Very subdued bitterness with a bunch of fruity aroma and flavor.

You read my mind with that grain bill... doing something very similar. I might flavor hop at 30 and then every 5 minutes until flameout.
 
A local brewmaster talked about not using mosaic as the only hop in a beer. They're most popular beer is an IPA featuring mosaic and they use it mainly as a late hop/dry hop. I think after a long boil he associates it at cat pissy like Simcoe can be, which it is a sister hop of if I remember correctly.
 
A local brewmaster talked about not using mosaic as the only hop in a beer. They're most popular beer is an IPA featuring mosaic and they use it mainly as a late hop/dry hop. I think after a long boil he associates it at cat pissy like Simcoe can be, which it is a sister hop of if I remember correctly.

What I think is the best beer in Texas.... Lone Pint Yellow Rose.. is a smash IPA.. with only Mosaic hops... and it is amazing.... hangs with any IPA I've ever had...
 
Founders has a beer right now called Mosaic Promise that is just Golden Promise and Mosaic hops. They hopped it up pretty good to be about 50 IBUs. I enjoyed it, SWMBO did not. Might be something to try if you can find it so you can get an idea of what the hops will be like.
 
Has anybody tried single malt and bittering ONLY hop, basically focusing entirely on the grain? I'm wondering if it'd be worth trying maris otter with a singe addition of a clean hop like magnum, say to 25 IBU. Still doing the mosaic smash though.
 
You just described my favorite lawnmower beer recipe. 25 IBU at 60 of whatever hops you have around and ferment with a clean ale yeast. I like 1007 fermented cold to be really clean.
 
You just described my favorite lawnmower beer recipe. 25 IBU at 60 of whatever hops you have around and ferment with a clean ale yeast. I like 1007 fermented cold to be really clean.

I'm gonna have to try this as well then. I recently did a kitchen sink pale ale with homegrown centennial (78% 2Row, 9% vienna, 6.5% carapils, 6.5% C60). Unfortunately, I lost flavor and aroma on the hops due to storage mishaps, but wow does it ever work well. Super chewy and malty with clean bittering.
 
I like soft water and a mash temp around 149 for a Maris Otter lawnmower beer. I tried it at 152 or something like that (maybe as much as 154?) and it was tasty, but not a refreshing crisp lawnmower beer.
 
I like soft water and a mash temp around 149 for a Maris Otter lawnmower beer. I tried it at 152 or something like that (maybe as much as 154?) and it was tasty, but not a refreshing crisp lawnmower beer.

I was thinking initially I would mash around 153 - 155 since there won't be any extra sweetness or body from specialty grains. When you mash at 149 does it end up more like a pils?
 
Not at all. It's surprisingly rich and there's even a subtle chocolatey flavor IMO.
 
Three weeks ago I did a Maris Otter/Magnum @ 60 min brew (33 IBU) with WLP001 and kegged it at 1 wk old. Needless to say it was very good and now gone. Very nice pairing and not as one dimensional as one would think. Then try it with .5 oz of your favorite dry hop (I love Centennial) and see what you think of that. The possibilities are endless.
 
After I tried Maris Otter a couple times, I tried the exact same thing with Golden Promise. Holy smokes, was it good. I have to try good ol' American 2-row one of these days.
 
One of the first AG beers I brewed was MO/Cascade/US-05. I might have to revisit something similar, for a nice change of pace. Maris stands quite well on its own, and I was pleased with the amount of body and flavor from just a base malt.

Making a good, quaffable beer for around $20 is another great reason.
 
30 or less of Ca, whatever Cl comes with the CaCl needed to get that amount of Ca, then no SO4, but I suppose SO4 wouldn't hurt.
 
I have about 100 Ca with no clue on the others. All I know is I've brewed with this water for 21 years and it tastes great (50/50 pre-boiled/decanted tap water mixed with RO; 100% RO for sparge).
 
I like me a beer with some body and head retention. Can I expect any of that with my maris otter SMaSH? I'd be a sad boy with a thin fizzy brew.
 
For those who have brewed this, was it cloudy even after cold crashing?
 
I like me a beer with some body and head retention. Can I expect any of that with my maris otter SMaSH? I'd be a sad boy with a thin fizzy brew.


I mashed in at 152. I actually find the mouth feel to be great. But I don't know if it should be so cloudy. It's still in the dry hopping phase so I don't know about head retention.
 
Just finished off a keg of an all Mosaic IPA I did. 2 row, vienna and some c-40 for the grain bill. 1/2 oz at 60. 1 oz at 10, 5 and 0 minutes. Dry hopped after 5 days with 2.5 oz for 3 more days. S-04 yeast. This beer was fantastic. Just kept getting better as the keg emptied. Very subdued bitterness with a bunch of fruity aroma and flavor.

Mosaic has become my favorite hop of late. The complex aromas I just love and doesn't give an astringent bittering either. I've got a Mosaic DIPA that I toss a bit of top shelf Tequila into at bottling time that I've done 4 batches of now and can't keep it around as it gets consumed so quickly.
 
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