what malt for dark(ish) SMaSH?

[native_sun]

Hi all. I'm gearing up to take my first crack at a batch of beer( I have had a lot of success with wines and meads). I have settled on a modified BIAB method and am leaning towards SMaSH recipes due to their simplicity( I like simple. Less opportunity for Mr. Murphy to rear his ugly 'ed). Thing is, I like darker, more richly flavored beers. I gather from what I have read that a lot of the darker malts arent really suitable for SMaSH recipes, but I was wondering how dark of a malt you could get away with in a SMaSH, and not have something undrinkable. Any suggestions?

 

[Yooper]

Hi all. I'm gearing up to take my first crack at a batch of beer( I have had a lot of success with wines and meads). I have settled on a modified BIAB method and am leaning towards SMaSH recipes due to their simplicity( I like simple. Less opportunity for Mr. Murphy to rear his ugly 'ed). Thing is, I like darker, more richly flavored beers. I gather from what I have read that a lot of the darker malts arent really suitable for SMaSH recipes, but I was wondering how dark of a malt you could get away with in a SMaSH, and not have something undrinkable. Any suggestions?

The darkest base malt is Munich 20. It can self convert, but I'd do a 75 minute mash as least to ensure conversion. It will be very "thick" and malty, for sure.

I probably wouldn't use that dark malt as the only base malt in a recipe, though. I mean, sure it's darker, but pilsner malt is ultra light colored and has an awesome flavor, so it's not that the color "tastes" better.

 

[max384]

Hi all. I'm gearing up to take my first crack at a batch of beer( I have had a lot of success with wines and meads). I have settled on a modified BIAB method and am leaning towards SMaSH recipes due to their simplicity( I like simple. Less opportunity for Mr. Murphy to rear his ugly 'ed). Thing is, I like darker, more richly flavored beers. I gather from what I have read that a lot of the darker malts arent really suitable for SMaSH recipes, but I was wondering how dark of a malt you could get away with in a SMaSH, and not have something undrinkable. Any suggestions?

What do you consider a darker more richly flavored beer? Do you have any commercial examples of beers you like? Some consider porters and stouts as dark beers, others consider an amber ale dark.

My suggestion is to brew your first beer with an established recipe. Designing your own recipe, even simple SMaSH recipes, gives more opportunity for Mr. Murphy to show up than brewing a known good recipe. If your beer tastes bad, you won't know whether to blame the recipe or your process.

This being said, I love the idea of making as dark of a SMaSH recipe as possible. I wouldn't give up on this idea, I'd just save it for subsequent beers after you've got the brewing process down.

 

[Kent88]

I've made a munich-hallertau smash lager and it was particularly enjoyable. I tried to hit an OG that put it between marzen and bock.

The munich I used wasn't one of the darker varieties, though. It only came out to nice amber/gold color.

You can have a simple grist without narrowing it down to one malt. Give us some examples of what you like and maybe we can come up with some suggestions.

 

[Subdivisions]

As has been said before munich is probably your best choice for this beer. If you really want to do a dark beer then throw the SMASH idea out the window and use a couple grains. 2-row for the bulk of the fermentables and maybe something like a half pound of crystal 60 and a half pound of chocolate malt. This is all dependent on your final volume of course

 

[stpug]

If you pick your base malt and toast some percentage of it then it's still a smash 😉

 

[rupert130]

You could always use a "Pale Ale" malt like Marris Otter or one of many domestic examples. It won't be dark, but will have the rich flavor that you speak of.

 

[C-Rider]

I did a "German" IPA and could not get lite Munich so I went 100% Dark Munich (20) w/a 60 min mash and did not reach my intended OG. That said it was a nice RED IPA. I used only Magnum hops. I'm not going to repeat it although is was a good tasting brew.

 

[btbnl]

If you're primarily looking to simplify your first brewing experience I'm not sure that SMaSH is the direction I'd take.

In BIAB mixed grain bills are (by and large) treated just like a single grain - milled, mashed, and maybe sparged.

Similarly, brewday complexity in hopping is much more about the different types of additions - first wort, bittering, flavor, aroma, whirlpool, et al - than whether you're using one or many hop types.

Examples of "richer, more flavorful beers" would help narrow down the secondary grains, but a recipe along the lines of 90% 2-row + 10% crystal/roasted with a single 60 minute bittering hop addition, would be a pretty simple route to the amber to brown ale to stout spectrum.

 

[MXDXD]

Darkest is probably Munich20.
"Safer" darkest malt is probably Red X.

 

[JonM]

I did an all Munich (the 9 lovibond stuff) and it was too much. Next time I cut it 50/50 with Pilsner and it was perfect. if you want a single darkish flavorful malt without being TOO dark, try Vienna.

 

[native_sun]

Thanks for the pointers. Sorry about the late reply, my tablet wasn't letting me reply to anything for some reason. My favorite beer is Guinness Extra Stout, though I don't expect to make anything close to that. I just am looking to get a passable dark(ish) ale with as simple a recipe as possible.

 

[btbnl]

Check out the Ode to Arthur thread - pretty simple grain bill, single hop addition, amazing result.

 

[Subdivisions]

That's a good thread ^^^^. Making a dark beer isn't any harder than making a light one. It's all in the ingredients

 

[Kent88]

Humm.... with that Ode to Arthur, if one was to scale that down, could the acid malt be omitted entirely without significant change to the end product?

I ask both for myself and for the original poster. That recipe is for 10 gallons and the OP implied he (or she) would like to BIAB, and the impression I get is that BIAB is usually done with batches at or below 5 gallons final volume. Not that it can't be done with larger batches, though...

 

[btbnl]

Humm.... with that Ode to Arthur, if one was to scale that down, could the acid malt be omitted entirely without significant change to the end product?

I ask both for myself and for the original poster. That recipe is for 10 gallons and the OP implied he (or she) would like to BIAB, and the impression I get is that BIAB is usually done with batches at or below 5 gallons final volume. Not that it can't be done with larger batches, though...

The recipe can certainly be scaled down, but I would keep the acid malt. For 5.5G in the fermentor at 75% efficiency I used
6.5lb pale 2-row
2.5lb flaked barley
1lb roasted barley
2oz acid malt
mashed in 7.5G water at 154F.

 

[JKaranka]

If you want a dark SMaSH you could do a dark mild. Use one malt with character like mild malt or Vienna malt, and then use dark invert sugar syrup (~10%) and brewers' caramel (~0.5%) to bring the colour and complexity up. Last time I checked, neither sugar nor caramel were Malts

 

[Aristotelian]

Thanks for the pointers. Sorry about the late reply, my tablet wasn't letting me reply to anything for some reason. My favorite beer is Guinness Extra Stout, though I don't expect to make anything close to that. I just am looking to get a passable dark(ish) ale with as simple a recipe as possible.

Check out Jamil Zainacheff's Dry Irish Stout recipe. Similar to Guinness, very simple. Single hop but you really need a base malt for convertible sugars and the roasted barley for color and flavor. Call it a MMaSH (multiple malt, single hop).

https://byo.com/bock/item/1674-style-profile

 

[max384]

If you want a dark SMaSH you could do a dark mild. Use one malt with character like mild malt or Vienna malt, and then use dark invert sugar syrup (~10%) and brewers' caramel (~0.5%) to bring the colour and complexity up. Last time I checked, neither sugar nor caramel were Malts

Any other adjuncts nullifies it being labeled a SMaSH, As those would be ingredients beyond a single hop and Single Malt. Plus, it adds more complexity than a multiple malt beer, and the essence of a SMaSH is that it highlights one mash and one hop. When you add step and such, you are no longer highlighting a particular malt.

 

[JKaranka]

SMaSHaSS then!

 

[native_sun]

Check out Jamil Zainacheff's Dry Irish Stout recipe. Similar to Guinness, very simple. Single hop but you really need a base malt for convertible sugars and the roasted barley for color and flavor. Call it a MMaSH (multiple malt, single hop).

https://byo.com/bock/item/1674-style-profile

Thanks. I'll have to take a crack at those when I get a little more experience under my belt.

 

[RedlegEd]

Native_sun. Previous posters have given you lots of good advice, and I agree than Munich is probably the darkest base malt to use. I made a SMaSH using Munich and it came out great. If you're interested, here's my 2.5 gal recipe of a Munich SMaSH using Ahtanum hops and 1/2 packet of US-05 yeast. At this point, don't worry about matching the water chemistry, just use good quality water. BTW, the "CMC" stands for Colorado Malting Company, which is where I got the malt for this beer, but any good Munich malt will work.

 

[RedlegEd]

Subscribed. I'd really be interested in hearing how your first brew session goes. There's a ton of really great information on HBT, so any question you might have has probably already been asked & answered. Just a little friendly advice...have fun and don't obsess over minute details. If you miss hitting a number, or forget to add something at the right time, don't worry! Beer is very forgiving. It might taste a little different, but hey, it's still beer! If it's in your nature to obsess, then obsess about cleanliness & sanitation. Not doing so is about the only thing that will assure you get a "dumper." Good luck! Ed

 

[chickypad]

If you know you like Munich then go for it, but a 100% Munich beer (especially dark Munich) would be too much for me. It has a very distinct maltiness that many love, but I can only take in limited amounts. Honestly if you are a Guinness fan a basic Irish stout recipe is a great first all grain beer IMO. 80% MO/20% flaked barley/10% roasted barley like Jamil's recipe above would be the classic grainbill. I agree with a previous poster, there's really nothing inherently easier about brewing a SmaSH beer (unless you consider weighing out 3 grains "difficult"). In fact in some cases it might even highlight any flaws in your brew process.

Whatever you decide good luck!

 

[native_sun]

Well, I picked up some Munich. One of the Munich SMaSH recipes I found called for Cascade hops, so I went with that. Mashed and boiled it all tonight, now I'm just waiting for it to cool down. The wort smells and tastes good. I can't wait to taste it when it is finished. It came out a nice, deep reddish brown color. I'll post an update when its ready to drink.

 

[RedlegEd]

Very cool. Hope it tastes as good as you're hoping.

 

[Jwin]

I recommend starting with an ag kit or two or a reputable recipe todial in the process.
One grain or 5 different grains, doesn't matter. It's all going to the same place. It's more about temperature, sanitation, and patience.
Here's a cheap irish stout kit from my lhbs
http://www.rebelbrewer.com/shop/brewing-ingredients/ingredient-kits/red-beaver/irish-stout-kit

All the grain comes in one bag if that makes it any easier

 

[max384]

Please report back on your recipe and how it turns out!

 

[ong]

I did a SMaSH bock that came out really nice. It was around 12 lbs of Munich 9, and a couple ounces of Tettnanger. I did an overly complicated triple infusion mash, fermented with Munich Lager yeast, lagered for a month or so. It was VERY malty and sweet, but a pretty great beer.

 

[native_sun]

Day one of fermentation, and I have to say, wow. This has to be the most vigorous fermentation I've ever seen. The airlock is blubbing like crazy, and it nearly overflowed. The closest thing to this I've seen was the blueberry wine I made this summer, and that still wasnt quite this vigorous. I never realized how much yeast liked malt.