Smoked Brie flavors?!

[spittybug]

I recently brewed up one of my go-to beers, a Munich Helles grain bill but brewed as an ale with Nottingham Ale yeast. It has the following recipe:

7.25 lb German Pilsner
1 lb German Caramel Pils
1 lb German Munich light
1 lb German Wheat malt
.25 lb German Melanoidin
1 lb DME light

.66 oz Perle at 55 min
.33 oz Perle at flameout

I decided to experiment with smoking the grains so I took 1/2 of them and smoked them over pecan wood, raking them frequently and preventing them from getting too hot. Tasting them was disappointing in that I really couldn't convince myself that they were absorbing any smoke. I brewed them up, OG 1.075 and FG 1.015 for an ABV of 7.88%. I pressure ferment in a corny. I've transferred off the trub into another corny. ~3 weeks or so and now I'm drinking. DEFINITELY getting a nice, not overpowering smoke taste. Curiously, I'm also getting what seems to be a smoked brie cheese taste which I really like. Obviously I know where the smokiness comes from, but has anyone else experienced the cheese note? It's not slap you in the face, but it's definitely there. I like it!

Since a Munich Helles is supposed to be a lager and I brew it as an ale, I suppose I need to rename it. Based on the grain bill, what would you suggest?

Thanks!

 

[Rootski]

Sounds good! I don't know about cheese, but a brewing buddy and I did a smoked porter in 2013 and one a year later in 2014. The grains in the 2013 version were smoked in the smoker after a bunch of meat and the grains for 2014 were smoked before any meat. When the 2013 beer was fresh there was definitely a hint of smoked meat flavor, but it aged out into a nice smooth smoked porter taste. The 2014 never had that flavor. I'm wondering if what you are tasting is just a young beer or flavors residual to the smoking process you used that may age out.