Peat-smoked beer (lagavulin-esque?)

[Edcculus]

Most of the smaller distilleries, especially the Islay ones floor malt and kiln/smoke their own barley. I'm sure most breweries back in the day either did the same (minus smoking), or just imported Pale malt from England. Peat is a very distinct flavor distilleries purposefully put in, or leave out. Like Clarno said, only the Islay Whiskys are known for their peat character. I doubt not many, if any distilleries get their water from peat bogs. Most brag about pure spring water etc, especially the Highland ones. They hold water to be one of the most important ingredients in Scotch.

 

[ClarnoBrewer]

Ben, I love that you describe the flavor as offensive and say that's why you like it! No, I get it, it just sounds funny. But I do know what you mean. I also hear you on not wanting to get into the Lagavulin too often. I used to always have a bottle on hand, then it became only for special occasions (birthdays, holidays, Sundays), and now I just can't shell out the cash for it. I'm more likely to buy a $14 glass of it once in a blue moon.

Pico, that's interesting. Do you know why? Is it a flavor issue or an availability issue or something else? Just curious.

 

[COLObrewer]

Most of the smaller distilleries, especially the Islay ones floor malt and kiln/smoke their own barley. I'm sure most breweries back in the day either did the same (minus smoking), or just imported Pale malt from England. Peat is a very distinct flavor distilleries purposefully put in, or leave out. Like Clarno said, only the Islay Whiskys are known for their peat character. I doubt not many, if any distilleries get their water from peat bogs. Most brag about pure spring water etc, especially the Highland ones. They hold water to be one of the most important ingredients in Scotch.

Not convinced yet, the research I've done on the Islay distilleries suggests their spring water runs down from the springs through the peat bogs to their sources.

 

[ClarnoBrewer]

I racked the peat beer yesterday. It tasted great to me, although I didn't really get much smoke or peat in the tasting. I also let a friend and fellow brewer taste it, without telling him what it was. The first thing he said was "wow, that's smoky!" So I guess it comes down to tolerance of such things. I think I'm going to love this beer and I think the peatiness is nicely balanced and not overwhelming. But some may disagree. I think I might throw this one into my whiskey barrel for a few weeks and add a little oak to it.

 

[smokinghole]

Good to hear. I was talking to a friend at the cigar shop I work part time and he really wants to do a peat smoked beer. So I'm thinking I'll do a few average run of the mill beers to figure out my being assembled AG setup and then I'll do one of these.

 

[StMarcos]

Most of the smaller distilleries, especially the Islay ones floor malt and kiln/smoke their own barley. I'm sure most breweries back in the day either did the same (minus smoking), or just imported Pale malt from England. Peat is a very distinct flavor distilleries purposefully put in, or leave out. Like Clarno said, only the Islay Whiskys are known for their peat character. I doubt not many, if any distilleries get their water from peat bogs. Most brag about pure spring water etc, especially the Highland ones. They hold water to be one of the most important ingredients in Scotch.

As of a couple of years ago, only 5 of the 90 distilleries in Scotland malted barley. And only one, Springbank, uses only its own malt.

 

[ClarnoBrewer]

I just kegged this beer today. It'll need to chill and carbonate, but the taste I had was pretty nice. It's slightly sweet with a definite peaty after-taste. I don't find it overwhelming, but I've already demonstrated that it takes a lot to overwhelm me. I'll let some friends taste it and report what the consensus is. As for the numbers, O.G. was 1.061 and the FG was 1.006, so it's about 7%. I'm surprised that it's not drier than it is with such a low FG, but I'm not complaining. I think this one may be a winner (in my book anyway).

 

[smokinghole]

See that sounds good to me. I'm switching to all grain in one more batch and I will be doing a witbier of some sort. So I need to decide after that what I'll do. Probably another IPA and then do your peat smoked beer.

 

[ClarnoBrewer]

I'll let you know how this turns out, and you let me know how yours goes if you do it. That's a lot of pressure though! I've never had anyone else brew a beer I made up. I guess there are a great many factors I can blame it on if it's no good!

 

[smokinghole]

Any update on your batch? I think I'll be brewing one up in two or three weeks. I have a blonde ale on deck for National Homebrew day and might do this the monday after or the following week.

 

[Coastarine]

I've been planning a peated ale for a while(I ordered the grain in '09! haha). I opted for this recipe:

9lb 2-row
12oz C60
3oz simpsons peated malt
1oz willamette @60min

Definitely similar to your recipe; less peated malt and a smaller overall beer. Should be brewing this in about 2 weeks.

 

[BeerPressure]

I love peat smoked malt. I use a 1/4 pound of it in a smoked porter recipe that I make and by the time its carbed and aged 3 weeks it has the perfect balance of smoke.

 

[smokinghole]

Well I got my peat smoked malt today. I will plan on doing the brew next week. I'm undecided on how much of the pound I will use but I'm leaning towards at least 8oz. I love how it smells! I finish up with school in a tad over a week so I'll brew this soon. I have two fermenters to bottle up right now.

 

[smokinghole]

I brewed mine up today and went with the full pound of peated malt. I thought it smelled great. I did a fairly big beer at 1.090 and ended up with 33ibus. I think I might throw some oak cubes in after the main fermentation is over. I used WLP028 in a 2L starter.

 

[BeerPressure]

I brewed mine up today and went with the full pound of peated malt. I thought it smelled great. I did a fairly big beer at 1.090 and ended up with 33ibus. I think I might throw some oak cubes in after the main fermentation is over. I used WLP028 in a 2L starter.

A full pound? god damn. Please keep us updated on his this beer turns out. I use a QP in a 5gal batch and it's plenty.

 

[smokinghole]

I'm sort of intending this for aging until fall time frame at the earliest. I will try one three weeks after bottling and report back. I'm not scared, if it's along the lines of the 100% smoked malt Schlenkerla - Urbock then I think I can handle the 1lb of peat. Now I know it's a different smoke and so forth but that Schlenkerla was some seriously smokey beer. One of the local brew pubs did a rauchbier and it was good but very tame. The commercial smoked offerings that I've had hardly taste like any smoke at all.

 

[smokinghole]

From 1.092 to 1.011 it was pretty much done tuesday. So far I've only measured with a refrac so realistically it's closer to 1.018 I think. Either way I'm sitting close to 10%. The small pipette I pulled for measure tasted good, I think I could have used more peat believe it or not. We'll see in a little while though. I have some Stavin Hungarian medium toast oak cubes on the way. I'll throw those when I transfer to secondary and let em sit in for a month then bottle. I'm looking forward to this brew. Here's the recipe I used.


16.00 lb Brewers Malt 2-Row (Briess) (1.8 SRM) Grain 88.89 %
1.00 lb Peat Smoked Malt (2.8 SRM) Grain 5.56 %
0.50 lb Caramel Malt - 60L 6-Row (Briess) (60.0 SRM) Grain 2.78 %
0.25 lb Aromatic Malt (Dingemans) (19.0 SRM) Grain 1.39 %
0.25 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 1.39 %
1.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 20.2 IBU
0.50 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (15 min) Hops 3.2 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (15 min) Hops 3.0 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (15 min) Hops 3.3 IBU
0.75 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (5 min) Hops 1.8 IBU
0.50 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (5 min) Hops 1.3 IBU
1 Pkgs Edinburgh Ale (White Labs #WLP028) [Starter 2000 ml] Yeast-Ale

It was loosely based on a recipe I found on here that I changed around a bit. I'll be carbing it pretty low like a RIS I think.

 

[smokinghole]

Okay a little update on my beer. I checked the gravity today and took a healthy pipette for tasting. It is sitting close to 1.014 and the oak has been in there for a month and a half. I am a fan of the taste big time at this point. I'd like to get a little more oak and will probably let it sit in there through August. At that point I will probably bottle it up and wax the caps. Lay a bunch down for long term aging in my parents cellar (easy to stay away from it being 100 miles away) and taste some probably at the earliest in October/November.

 

[clindt]

That sounds great. I think I'll brew up a batch for the fall. Keep us updated on the tastings.

 

[smokinghole]

This is bottled. After temp correction and an accurate reading with my hydro it's at 9.5%abv. It has a very unique taste and I like it. It spent a full three months with the oak cubes. After chilling my hydro sample in a glass I could certainly tell there was peat malt in there along with the oak. It seems pretty well balanced and should have a better taste once the bottles are carbed up. I will pop one in October to check them out. I figure with the high abv, three months of aging, and gelatin treatment I added some champagne yeast at bottling for added carbonation insurance. I figure for a $0.50 pack of yeast it's cheap to do with 18lbs of grain on the line. I will come back with tasting notes and have some of my peaty scotch fan friends taste it.

Again I'll say that the full pound was not overkill. Then again I sometimes smoke four cigars in a day so my taste buds react differently than someone else's might.

 

[smokinghole]

Okay I finally chilled and tasted this thing. I think it's DAMN good. Its very complex and has a sweet smokey flavor. I think my gravity ended up about perfect not too sweet but not too thin. The body is great the low bitterness, low carbonation, amount of peat and oak are all good. I think the next time I make it, yes this is a definite will brew again, I will up my oak cubes a little bit. I only used 1.5oz and might up it to 2oz for just a touch more oak and maybe age it longer than three months with the cubes.

The color came out a nice 9ish srm not dark not blond.

So I'd say if you like peaty scotch this ale is certainly a go. Its not over the top but if you can appreciate some peat flavor then you would like this recipe. I wonder what it'd taste like with marris otter, or even a 50/50 MO/2row?

 

[Edcculus]

Hi,

Scottish peast smoked malt that has been smoked over burning peat in order to add a dark aroma and flavor characteristic of Islay whisky and some Irish whiskey. Some recent brewers have also included peated malt in interpretations of Scotch ales. It has sufficient diastatic power to self-convert.

Thanks.

A guy on the internet said peated malt tastes like scotch. I want to make a pale ale that tastes like scotch.


Not to sound like a dick...but I don't think we ever doubted that....

 

[Zver]

I had very good experience with addition of 8,6% peated chateau whiskey malt 35 ppm with OG 1.100

 

[Miraculix]

 

[Zver]

Necro-posting detected)

 

[Zver]

Will put my recipe for peat lovers, next time will increase CHÂTEAU WHISKY at least up to 10%.

Ingredients

5,00 kg Pale Ale, Finest Maris Otter (Simpsons) (5,0 EBC) Зерно 1 43,0 %
2,00 kg Pale Ale (Ireks) (6,0 EBC) Зерно 2 17,2 %
1,00 kg CHÂTEAU WHISKY (3,3 EBC) Зерно 3 8,6 %
0,70 kg Oats, Golden Naked®™ (Simpsons) (18,0 EBC) Зерно 4 6,0 %
0,57 kg Crystal, T50™ (Simpsons) (133,0 EBC) Зерно 5 4,9 %
0,45 kg CHÂTEAU ROASTED BARLEY (1200,9 EBC) Зерно 6 3,9 %
0,34 kg Black Malt (Simpsons) (1666,5 EBC) Зерно 7 2,9 %
0,34 kg Chocolate Malt (Ireks) (900,0 EBC) Зерно 8 2,9 %
0,23 kg Crystal, DRC® (Simpsons) (300,0 EBC) Зерно 9 2,0 %
1,00 kg Candi Syrup, D-100 home made (200,0 EBC) Экстракт (сироп) 10 8,6 %
200,00 g Target [4,80 %] - На кипячение 60,0 min Хмель 11 68,0 IBUs
1,0 pkg London Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1028) [124,21 ml] Дрожжи 12 -

Beer Profile
Measured Original Gravity: 24,0 Plato
Measured Final Gravity: 9,8 Plato
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 8,4 %
Bitterness: 68,0 IBUs
Est Color: 147,7 EBC

 

[Gozie Boy]

I'll let you know how this turns out, and you let me know how yours goes if you do it. That's a lot of pressure though! I've never had anyone else brew a beer I made up. I guess there are a great many factors I can blame it on if it's no good!

Please don't leave us hanging! How'd it eventually turn out? Any thoughts on refinements for future efforts?

 

[jwd0416]

Has anyone else tried this recipe or experimented with stronger peat flavors?