Roast 'em, Toast 'em, Smoke 'em If you Got 'em

[homebrudoc]

I've been getting the itch to make some home-smoked malt to brew with. Picked up some oak but also grabbed some birch. Anybody ever smoked malt or food w/ Birch before? Curious
homebrudoc

 

[Schlenkerla]

I've been getting the itch to make some home-smoked malt to brew with. Picked up some oak but also grabbed some birch. Anybody ever smoked malt or food w/ Birch before? Curious
homebrudoc

I haven't yet, but birch is supposedly similar to maple.

I used maple to make a brown ale, it tasted very bacon like, whereas oak is more like ham.

http://www.dantesdevine.com/pages/Smoking-Woods.html

Looks like birch is good with beef, pork or poultry. Seems like you can't go wrong.

I may have to put this in my list of rauch beers to make.

 

[Schlenkerla]

Brewing a Classic Bamberg Rauchbier with 100% Beechwood smoked malt.

At the same time smoking a Greek Fatty.

Calling it; Gyro-Big-Ole-Fatty...

I also have two Schlenkerla Marzen to drink with the Fatty.

[emoji481] [emoji481] [emoji481]

 

[Schlenkerla]

Prost...

 

[Schlenkerla]

Smoke The Greek!

 

[Schlenkerla]

Smoking more pale malt with Pecan.

Not sure what beer is next. Hoppy & Brown or Dark & Malty.

 

[Schlenkerla]

Matched set...

 

[Schlenkerla]

Kegged my Schlenkerla Clone tonight.

She's very smokey...[emoji12]

10lbs of Beech Smoked Malt. Home made
1/2 lb of Black Malt
2 oz of Mt Hood @ 60 min

Mashed high for more mouth feel.

OG 10.53
FG 10.15
ABV 5.0%
SRM 25
IBU 40

 

[Schlenkerla]

Damn gnats pestering me... Just lit a mosquito coil...

Ah smoke...

.... Smells like a punk.

 

[Schlenkerla]

I effing love this beer.

Schlenkerla clone with Beechwood malt

 

[BikerMatt]

I've been getting the itch to make some home-smoked malt to brew with. Picked up some oak but also grabbed some birch. Anybody ever smoked malt or food w/ Birch before? Curious
homebrudoc

Birch is the "good" firewood here so yes I've been smoking/barbequing with indirect heat with birch a lot. Used solely and if it's still not completely dried it can give you a bitter taste but if properly dried it's nice and mellow. I usually do 50/50 alder/birch as dry birch blone tends to burn so hot it forgets to smoke so you gotta fiddle with the airvent all the time.

 

[Schlenkerla]

@aharri1,

Here's the zipped XML... This is a simple rauchbier boosted to make a bock.

Black or Carafa II can be used per Ray Daniels & Geoff Larson Recipe is from "Smoked Beers" . I always use black, but it might be worth trying Carafa II (Chocolate) malt.

https://www.brew.is/files/malt.html

This is an alternate recipe. It's in the same book. I believe @Blackdirt_cowboy made this recipe.

http://www.malt.io/users/jedouglas429/recipes/millennium-rauchbock

 

[BikerMatt]

Currently mashing the recipe you gave in the do thread. What surprised me is the mash doesn't smell ome bit smokey, is this normal or have the malts been sat for too long or sth?

 

[aharri1]

@aharri1,

Here's the zipped XML... This is a simple rauchbier boosted to make a bock.

Black or Carafa II can be used per Ray Daniels & Geoff Larson Recipe is from "Smoked Beers" . I always use black, but it might be worth trying Carafa II (Chocolate) malt.

https://www.brew.is/files/malt.html

This is an alternate recipe. It's in the same book. I believe @Blackdirt_cowboy made this recipe.

http://www.malt.io/users/jedouglas429/recipes/millennium-rauchbock

Thank you I got it I'm going to plug it into my beersmith app!

 

[Schlenkerla]

Currently mashing the recipe you gave in the do thread. What surprised me is the mash doesn't smell ome bit smokey, is this normal or have the malts been sat for too long or sth?

It should be a little smokey. A little smokey in the mash, makes it pretty smokey in the beer when its carbed. Don't be bothered by that. The boil won't be much different. You'll have to wait until you can taste the OG sample or the FG sample.

How did the grain smell? Typically the grain dry is more smokey than the mash.

I grab a hand full and stick my face in it and get a good wiff.

 

[BikerMatt]

Well I tasted the OG sample and it had a faint whiff of smoke that was quickly overwhelmed by the bitterness of the hops, somehow being used to needing to stink up the whole house to get a one kilogram tenderloin smoked I was expecting to need a gasmask to boil this thing but apparently the smokiness runs deeper than that. I didn`t really smell the grain too much when starting the mash, just dumped em in while stirring the water.

Pitching the yeast tomorrow after racking (hell actually today as it´s 2am), will report back in six weeks.

 

[Schlenkerla]

@bracconiere Cool DIY Smoker ideas....

http://cooldiyideas.com/diy-meat-smokers/

http://homestead-and-survival.com/15-diy-meat-smokers/

Here's a cardboard box idea...

https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Cardboard-Smoker/

I personally like the flower pot ideas.

Here's a pot smoker method, might work in small amounts of grain.

https://food-hacks.wonderhowto.com/how-to/easiest-way-smoke-food-without-smoker-0162328/

 

[bracconiere]

thanks for the info! will look into it more. unfortunately my first idea for the underpowered hotplate was not working, i bypassed the temp knob, and thought i'd use my fan speed controller. like when i use my big hot plate but the temp doesn't go low enough even only using 330 watts...

i will look over the links you posted and see what i can do with them!

 

[Schlenkerla]

thanks for the info! will look into it more. unfortunately my first idea for the underpowered hotplate was not working, i bypassed the temp knob, and thought i'd use my fan speed controller. like when i use my big hot plate but the temp doesn't go low enough even only using 330 watts...

i will look over the links you posted and see what i can do with them!

You can use pellets for smoking and they are real cheap and available all over the place. You said you used foil pans. Well, this idea uses foil pans, tin foil and some binder clips. You need a heat gun or hand held acetylene torch. Watch this you'll get the idea. You'll be able to use mesh baskets inside this to hold the grain.

I have used a tin can with pellets and a torch. Its super simple. The grain will be super effing smokey. The temp is usually not too high either about 100-110F max. I would add a thermometer to this set-up.

If you have a tin can, a torch, pellets and an enclosure you just need a way to hold the grain. Make sure you follow my wetting instructions or incorporate this with your malt kilning process.

 

[Schlenkerla]

thanks for the info! will look into it more. unfortunately my first idea for the underpowered hotplate was not working, i bypassed the temp knob, and thought i'd use my fan speed controller. like when i use my big hot plate but the temp doesn't go low enough even only using 330 watts...

i will look over the links you posted and see what i can do with them!

You're Welcome! Cold smoking works really good and its the probably the cheapest means to super infuse grain with smoke.

 

[bracconiere]

i had a post all written out, but it sounded like an excited 13 year old with a new toy. So i need a couple days to absorb this, right after my oven mod to make light beer again, i'm having more fun than a middle aged person can handle rationally! lol

 

[Schlenkerla]

i had a post all written out, but it sounded like an excited 13 year old with a new toy. So i need a couple days to absorb this, right after my oven mod to make light beer again, i'm having more fun than a middle aged person can handle rationally! lol

That's awesome. There's nothing wrong with being inspired.

 

[bracconiere]

That's awesome. There's nothing wrong with being inspired.

I get a lot of it here...just as long as i don't talk about ph, or brüt IPA!

 

[bracconiere]

remembered i watched this about 3 years ago!



and being i have trouble with making 'different' crystal malts..smoke might be good in light doses maybe 2-4oz in a 10gal batch for variety...smoked dark grain? smoked green? hmm, new ideas abound!

 

[Schlenkerla]

remembered i watched this about 3 years ago!



and being i have trouble with making 'different' crystal malts..smoke might be good in light doses maybe 2-4oz in a 10gal batch for variety...smoked dark grain? smoked green? hmm, new ideas abound!

Smoked malt needs to be have a much higher percentage of your grain bill. Treat rauch malt much like a base malt. It can be 100% to less than 10%.

My latest rauch bier is 10 lbs rauch and 8oz black malt. Your light doses apply to how much black malt I might want to use.

I've used small amounts 2-3 pounds in milds and brown malts, about a pound in a stout. Once a pound in a pale ale. I typically like about 50% or more in beer.

Such small amounts would be unnoticeable in most cases. Especially if you have other roasted malts in your grist.

 

[bracconiere]

Smoked malt needs to be have a much higher percentage of your grain bill. Treat rauch malt much like a base malt. It can be 100% to less than 10%.

My latest rauch bier is 10 lbs rauch and 8oz black malt. Your light doses apply to how much black malt I might want to use.

I've used small amounts 2-3 pounds in milds and brown malts, about a pound in a stout. Once a pound in a pale ale. I typically like about 50% or more in beer.

Such small amounts would be unnoticeable in most cases. Especially if you have other roasted malts in your grist.

this is where i'm at with smoked malt,

i've only used it once, and it was about a pound or so. i smoked it myself with hickory...But it completely took over the beer!

i'm just now recovering from 2.5 years of 100% munich equiv. base malt, i'm looking for light beer for a while! but think 8oz or less of a smoked malt in a other wise 100% pale malt beer would lend a subtle, different kind of caramel to it...

 

[bracconiere]

actually had to bump it up to 450 watts to get the wood to start smoking...

can't see it the pic but there's smoke coming out of the top of the box, figure couple hours, and i'll have a new flavor to add!

 

[Schlenkerla]

I gotcha, if that's all you want is a touch of smoke. I have several recipes, one of which is called...

Ein Hauch von Rauch. Which means a touch of smoke in German.

I'll get a look the grain bill when I get home. I don't know how much is a touch. LOL

Im heavy handed with the smoke.

 

[Schlenkerla]

View attachment 593040

actually had to bump it up to 450 watts to get the wood to start smoking...

can't see it the pic but there's smoke coming out of the top of the box, figure couple hours, and i'll have a new flavor to add!

View attachment 593039

How much grain are you smoking?

 

[Schlenkerla]

You mentioned caramel with smoke are you smoking a crystal malt?

If so that sounds interesting.