Marris Otter Simcoe SMaSH APA

[Surgicalbrews]

I have never tried M.O. and am very curious how it taste! I have done 3 all grain brews thus far and could use some input in hop schedule. Here is my current recipe:

12 lb of M.O.

Simcoe addtions:
0.5 @ 60
1 @ 20
1 @ 5
1 @ Flameout
1 Dry hop

55 IBU's
Mash at 152 for 60 minutes
75% est. efficiency for 1.062 OG

Does this sound reasonable, anyone have any suggestions or experience with this combination?

Thanks in advance

 

[beertroll]

Maris Otter tastes fantastic. If you're trying to let the grain character really come through, the IBUs might be a touch high and Simcoe might be a bit heavy. In that case, I'd say use a milder English hop and target about 45IBU so it's more of an ESB. If you're just looking to make a really tasty APA, your recipe is great.

 

[tuskenraider]

I did a SMaSH of Maris Otter and Simcoe last year. 1.052 OG and I just divided up 1 oz. to give about an APA level 40 IBU's so the hop and the grain could be tasted. I was pretty happy with it.

 

[BigFloyd]

Your IBUs aren't that high, but I suspect that all of the hop flavor will overpower the character of the M.O.

 

[Surgicalbrews]

I will decrease my late hop additions and try to get my IBU's in the 40's. I hope this will showcase not only the malt but also the hops and make for a well balanced SMaSH APA.

 

[BigFloyd]

I think you will find that, with only one base malt like M.O. in the recipe, it doesn't take an abundance of hops for them to make their presence known.

I'm currently drinking/sharing a Vienna/Amarillo SMASH that's very balanced and pleasant to drink. I can taste the Amarillo, but it's subtle. 12lbs Vienna mashed at 53*F and one oz Amarillo pellets added at mashout. That's it.

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

Word of caution, if you're drinking a vertically-hopped Simcoe beer, it MAY taste like onions, caramelized onions, just saying, has happened before. Happy brewing.

 

[BigFloyd]

Word of caution, if you're drinking a vertically-hopped Simcoe beer, it MAY taste like onions, caramelized onions, just saying, has happened before. Happy brewing.

Yuk.

 

[Hopper5000]

Anyone else think the mash should maybe be a bit higher to bring out more of the malt flavor, like 154ish? I only have done one smash and it was with munich. I mashed at 152 just like you did, but that was because munich is known to be malty. Just thinking you might want to go a bit higher with MO to help balance the potent simcoe hops.

 

[JoeSpartaNJ]

I made a MO simcoe smash IPA 2 months ago. It was an awesome beer.


I mashed at 152, but if I made it again, I would mash higher to let the malt shine more.

No onion flavoring from using 6 oz of hops in the boil.

 

[Surgicalbrews]

I made a MO simcoe smash IPA 2 months ago. It was an awesome beer.

I mashed at 152, but if I made it again, I would mash higher to let the malt shine more.

No onion flavoring from using 6 oz of hops in the boil.

What was your hop schedule??

 

[Surgicalbrews]

Considering I'm making an APA do you think mashing at a higher temp would make it too malty? I can see the argument for an IPA which has the higher IBU but may bet out of balance for APA. Or am I completely wrong, lol.

 

[Hopper5000]

You do have a point, I was just thinking if you want to accentuate the malt and don't have any speciality grains to help with that then mash a little higher.

 

[JoeSpartaNJ]

What was your hop schedule??

1 oz @ 60
1.5 oz @ 20
1.5 oz @ 15
2 oz @ 5

2 oz dry hop

 

[beertroll]

Word of caution, if you're drinking a vertically-hopped Simcoe beer, it MAY taste like onions, caramelized onions, just saying, has happened before. Happy brewing.

Stupid question time: vertically hopped?

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

Stupid question time: vertically hopped?

Fancy dancy term for single hop beers, not necessarily SMaSH. Using one hop in a beer recipe of choice. Just more lingo really. Come to think of it, that MAY be why the simcoe-only beer I has tasted distinctly of onions. maybe something with the grain bill helped accentuate it. I wouldn't worry though. I've made an all willamette IPA and some advise against it. came out really good (to me)

 

[mjohnson]

I find MO only beers at 152 are just fine. In my experience, the malt is always there (especially as it warms up in the glass), you can just adjust the body of the beer a bit with mash temps. For hoppy smash beers, I've found that my gypsum additions tend to have more effect on perceived malt character. That is, more gypsum make the beer more hop forward than malt forward. For what its worth, I tend to start with RO water and only add a bit of Ca and gypsum to adjust for pH and style.

Regarding onion flavors - I've heard/read that it often depends on the crop, not so much the usage. I don't have any personal experience to back that up, though.

 

[Hopper5000]

IMHO, with the dank american hops I try to throw the bulk in at the end of the boil past 15ishmin. I feel like the long boiling process can extract the funky flavors. However, I like aromatic beers that are less bitter too so its also personal preference for me.

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

I wanna say, but don't remember, that the one I tasted that was onion-y had a lot loaded on the front end for bittering (60min) but I can't recall. It wasn't a bad flavor if you like bread and french onion soup

 

[signpost]

I did a MO/Simcoe SMaSH that I mashed at about 154 and really liked it. I'm pretty sure it didn't stay at 154 throughout the mash though. It was BIAB and I typically lose temp a lot over the course of an hour long mash.

Oh yeah, my OG was 1.060 and I had 49 IBUs according to my notes. It was a 3.25 gallon batch, so my hop amounts were different than you have listed, but the hop schedule was 60/15/7/4/2/dry hop. Yeah, the difference in the last few additions probably wasn't huge (4 minutes vs. 2 minutes), but whatever. Also, I did 2 oz. for the dry hop. That would translate to over 3 oz. for a 5 gallon batch.

I wasn't so much worried about letting the malt shine. I just really wanted to know what full on Simcoe was all about. Although, even with that heavy of a late/dry hopping, the MO held up fairly well.

 

[Surgicalbrews]

That sounds tasty! I'm thinking 152, I don't want too much malt backbone, I prefer drier APA and IPA but also want to taste the MO. Brewing next weekend let ya know how it goes.