Smoked beer suggestion

[gspot]

Got a wild hair up my ass a couple weeks ago and smoked 6 lbs of Briess brewer's malt (see pics below).

Problem is, I've never smoked malt before our even used it in a brew, so I'm not sure the best way to go about using it. I've read many of the threads on here dealing with smoked beers along with plenty of recipes, and it seems like most people are using the Weyermann Rauchmalt which has diastatic power. Unfortunately I don't have a cold smoker so this malt was smoked at about 275 degrees for about five hours. That's about the minimum temp with my smoker to get it to smoke. Since this most likely denatured the enzymes, I'm assuming I'll have to use 10-20% as an adjunct only in a lightly hopped brew. I was thinking something along the lines of the Smoking Loon smoked porter recipe on this site or there's one in the AHA site called "brisket in a bottle" that looks interesting. I tasted the malt yesterday and it's pretty good. Sort of bacony and not too strong.

Although I usually do 10 gal batches, I was thinking of limiting this to 5 gals in case it turns out horrible. Can anyone give me any tips or suggestions before I get going on this?

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[mkyl428]

I don't have any advice to give, but this sounds awesome! did smoking the malt darken it at all? Did you moisten the grain prior to smoking it? I can't wait to hear how this turns out!

 

[gspot]

Thanks, I hope the end result turns out awesome. I've seen mention of smoked beers ending up like licking the bottom of an ashtray, and I'd like to avoid brewing a 5 gal dumper if I can. If I use all my Rauchmalt with one gallon experimental batches though, I'll have to smoke more, and the smokiness intensity would probably be different on the next batch.

The grain darkened just a tad while smoking, but not as much as I thought they would given the temp and duration. It now reminds me more of a medium crystal malt. Wish I had some to compare it to. I did spritz them with water before smoking. Unfortunately I forgot that I was supposed to use dechlorinated water.

I'll keep you updated on the progress of this experiment!

 

[pretzelb]

I've done the smoked porter from Brewing Classic Styles book with good results. But it was smoked malt from the store not by me. I also did a version with bourbon that was very well liked but I think that was the bourbon. I also did a strong pale ale with peat malt that was too much but ended up going fast.

 

[gspot]

@pretzlb: your experiences seem to be very similar to others I've read. Glad to hear that the peat smoked beer was a hit. I've seen so many recommendations to stay away from the peat stuff.

@mykl428: Here's some more information about the color: I rushed home after work and made a couple of small worts to compare. The first consisted of 5 TBS of plain, non-smoked Brewer's Malt steeped for 15 mins in 150 degree water. The only difference in the second was that it contained 4 TBS plain malt and 1 TBS of my homemade smoked malt which is 20% of the grist. On the left in the attached pic is 1 TBS of dry, plain Brewer's Malt and it's accompanying wort. On the right is 1 TBS of the smoked malt and the wort made with it. After uploading the file to Lightroom, I used the white balance eyedropper to click on the background piece of paper to (theoretically) set the colors to natural. As you can see, there is very little difference in color. If anything the smoked malt is ever so slightly more reddish than the plain straw-colored wort, but it's not overwhelmingly so.

Did I drink it? Hell yes! The plain wort tasted plain as you would expect. The one with the smoked malt was, I think, exactly what I'm aiming for. I wish I could somehow attach flavor to this post to share it everyone! The smoke flavor was definitely evident, but it wasn't overbearing, ashy, acrid, or acidic. I thought it was very pleasant, even if unusual to be experiencing in a beer (I've only ever had Rauchbier once before). Not sure why the word "bacony" keeps popping into my head, because it doesn't taste like liquefied bacon at all. But the level and flavor of smoke very much reminds me of bacon. And since bacon is pork candy, I think it's a win! Now to decide on a recipe.

 

[pretzelb]

I have to say, the peat malt recipe was the strongest of the ones I've brewed so far. I failed to mention (hopefully it was obvious) but the peat malt was also done by the LHBS. And in case you didn't guess ... it was STRONG. Of course there is no way for us to compare what I bought vs what you create but I used 8 oz in my "pale peat ale" and it just dominates.

It just so happens that I had a bad day at work today and decided to crack open several pulls from the tap (yea, too many). While my friends said they enjoyed this brew I have to admit it's really strong. It's hard to describe since there is no commercial comparison (and we can't compare the malts) but I think it has to be the pinnacle of smoke filled malt.

So the problem is determining the amount of smoke your malt has. As a comparison, my smoked porter had 3 lbs of smoked malt. The dark malts might be a factor but I think 8oz vs 3 lbs is a major factor in this equation.

If the recipe details will help let me know. I fear I've only confused the issue. But if you have the Brewing Classic Styles book it will all be really easy to translate.

 

[jtswkd]

I recently made a Smoked Porter recipe as follows (Based off a Founders Porter Clone I like):

4 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 36.8 %
3 lbs 8.0 oz Cherrywood Smoked Base Malt (5.0 SRM) Grain 2 32.2 %
1 lbs Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 3 9.2 %
14.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4 8.0 %
8.0 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.6 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 6 4.6 %
8.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 7 4.6 %
3.00 oz Willamette [4.70 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 8 38.9 IBUs
0.25 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 9 3.3 IBUs
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml] Yeast 10 -

Results:
A little too much smoke for the first week or two after I kegged it, it mellowed out after that and it was delicious! Next time I will cut the smoked malt down half a pound just to tone it down a bit. Everyone I had try it said it was meaty. Just try to keep the smoked malt around 30% or less of the bill, at least thats what worked with the commercially produced cherrywood smoked malt I used.

 

[gspot]

I recently made a Smoked Porter recipe as follows (Based off a Founders Porter Clone I like):

That looks like a good recipe. My brother-in-law recommended Founders to me, although I've yet to try any of their beers because you can't get it here. I'll add this to my list of possibilities.

 

[mkyl428]

@pretzlb: your experiences seem to be very similar to others I've read. Glad to hear that the peat smoked beer was a hit. I've seen so many recommendations to stay away from the peat stuff.

@mykl428: Here's some more information about the color: I rushed home after work and made a couple of small worts to compare. The first consisted of 5 TBS of plain, non-smoked Brewer's Malt steeped for 15 mins in 150 degree water. The only difference in the second was that it contained 4 TBS plain malt and 1 TBS of my homemade smoked malt which is 20% of the grist. On the left in the attached pic is 1 TBS of dry, plain Brewer's Malt and it's accompanying wort. On the right is 1 TBS of the smoked malt and the wort made with it. After uploading the file to Lightroom, I used the white balance eyedropper to click on the background piece of paper to (theoretically) set the colors to natural. As you can see, there is very little difference in color. If anything the smoked malt is ever so slightly more reddish than the plain straw-colored wort, but it's not overwhelmingly so.

Did I drink it? Hell yes! The plain wort tasted plain as you would expect. The one with the smoked malt was, I think, exactly what I'm aiming for. I wish I could somehow attach flavor to this post to share it everyone! The smoke flavor was definitely evident, but it wasn't overbearing, ashy, acrid, or acidic. I thought it was very pleasant, even if unusual to be experiencing in a beer (I've only ever had Rauchbier once before). Not sure why the word "bacony" keeps popping into my head, because it doesn't taste like liquefied bacon at all. But the level and flavor of smoke very much reminds me of bacon. And since bacon is pork candy, I think it's a win! Now to decide on a recipe.

Looks nice! I bet this is going to make one tasty beer! My mouth is watering just thinking about it I love a good smoked porter.. mmmm....


I would have thought it would have made more color impact than that. I really want to do this now

 

[wahmbush]

I did a smoked beer in the idea of New Holland's charkoota rye and Right Brain's Mangalitsa Pig Porter.

I split the 5 gallon batch. 2.5 gallons regular boil and 2.5 smoked skin added @45min in boil. Also split wort after boil and both have normal and 3oz of vodka soaked "dry pig" additions in secondary.

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[Dixon9717]

I been wanting to try smoking some malt. That seems like a lot of malt to have smoked. Next time I smoke cheese I think I'll try smoking a lb of malt. I can keep the smoke under 100* on a cold day.

 

[gspot]

I split the 5 gallon batch. 2.5 gallons regular boil and 2.5 smoked skin added @45min in boil. Also split wort after boil and both have normal and 3oz of vodka soaked "dry pig" additions in secondary.

Are smoked skin the same thing as the pork rinds you get at the grocery? Those are some interesting recipes! Reminds me of the pork chop beer in "Radical Brewing." I've never had those commercial brews either. How'd they turn out?

 

[wahmbush]

I enjoyed both commercial versions so was inspired to do a smoked pig beer.

I went to a meat packer and bought raw skin that had been smoked by them. I cut it up and roasted skin in 150°f oven for about and hour on a rack to extract fat.
All versions of beer turned out well to me. The one with pig in boil and secondary was a 5 oz sample kind of beer. Very smoky and intense. Base beer(no pig) was pleasant light smoke flavor. Both beers with pig skin in secondary suffered from fat killing head retention.

Defiantly was brisket in liquid form 🍻

 

[gspot]

Ok, I decided to do this one: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/alaskan-smoked-porter-clone/ I opted for this particular recipe because I've read many times that the commercial Alaskan smoked porter is such a stellar example of a smoked beer, and I'm curious. Never had and can't get it down here. Although I'm making a few changes, this will hopefully give me a little enlightenment.

Ordered the ingredients from Rebel Brewer yesterday. Only thing I changed is I'm using CaraMunich III in place of the Crystal, Carafa III in place of the Black Patent, Northern Brewer in place of Chinook, and chose Wyeast 1028 London Ale rather than 1056.

Getting excited about this one.

 

[gspot]

Brewed the (modified) Alaskan Smoked Porter recipe on Saturday using the smoked grains. Spent all last week building up a 3L starter of WY1028 because I planned on the beer being about 1.070. Pitched on Sunday about 4pm which was 24 hours after brewing. Came home today (Monday) at 4pm, 24 hours after pitching, and had krausen coming out the 3-piece airlocks. Had to rig up a couple blow-off hoses.

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[rlmiller10]

Let us know how it worked. looking at your smoking set up I suspect there is a big variation with the smoke from malt at the top of the pan and that on the bottom.

My experience with smoked malt (commercial only) is that it varies a lot. One batch has a nice smoke flavor and one batch almost none. I think the age of the malt has a lot to do with it.

In my experience you need close to 50% to really get a good flavor. Once again commercial malt. This is not peat malt which has a much more intense flavor. So I recommend using as high a % as you can if this batch does not turn out as smokey as you wanted.

 

[gspot]

In my experience you need close to 50% to really get a good flavor. Once again commercial malt. This is not peat malt which has a much more intense flavor. So I recommend using as high a % as you can if this batch does not turn out as smokey as you wanted.

I suspect you are exactly right on that. Mine came in at 17.5%, and I didn't notice much of a smokey aroma when mashing or boiling. I'm going to let the final product be the judge, but if it doesn't have a distinct smoke aroma then I probably won't smoke my own anymore. Rather I'll just buy Weyermann because it'll be too difficult to smoke much more than this with my current setup and won't really be that much more expensive. Of course I could always just do a smaller batch.

 

[gspot]

Here it is! Beautiful dark copper colored. Drank a half pint uncarbonated and slightly warm. I think it's fantastic. There is a subtle hint of bacon-like smoke as an aftertaste. I don't really think I'd care for any more smoke flavor. I'm going to let it age a couple more weeks in the keg and try it carbonated around Christmas, so i'm calling it my Christmas smoked porter. I would definitely brew this again next fall, but might try the commercial smoked malt to see what difference that makes. I'll post a carbed-up pic when it's ready.

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[mkyl428]

Nice! Thanks for the update, sounds delicious!

 

[gspot]

Christmas smoked rye porter. Didn't quite get the pic before the head fell.

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[Curtis2010]

Another idea: made a smoked braggot last year that was awesome. Go easy on the smoked grains, powerful stuff and too much smoke is not good.

Still have a keg conditioning for over a year now...looking forward to sampling it in Feb when I get back "home".

 

[gspot]

Must say, this beer o'mine makes a damn fine chili: smoked rye Porter chili. I've been lamenting brewing 10 gals of this because a smoked rye Porter is pretty heavy, but now that I've found yet another use for it. ..

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[Dixon9717]

I bought a beer bong but couldn't keep the beer lite so I gave the bong to my brother.
:mug[emoji12][emoji12][emoji12][emoji12]

 

[The_Happy_Dachshund_Brewe]

cooked this american farmhouse last spring, so far its taste good imo, but haven't tasted it in a long time, but i have a beertasting at work in two weeks and its on so im really looking forward to taste it again

71% pilsner
18% wheat
7% cara rye
4% smoked

herkules 60 min 20,9 IBU
Simcoe 10 min 7,9 IBU
Simcoe 5 min 11,9 IBU

WLP670

fermented around 71F

OG 1053
FG 1004
IBU 41
BU/GU 0,77
17EBC