Hi all, new to the forum. Wanting to try some cherrywood smoked malts in a porter - shooting for a slightly sweet and smokey American porter. Not wanting it to be too overpoweringly smokey but not sure if I have enough of the smoked malt in it. I’d had it around 2 pounds but decided to be a little more conservative having not used it before. Reports about how much smokiness and sweetness it imparts seem to vary greatly. So I thought I’d seek some opinions here.
FWIW, we (my dad and I brew together) get a very consistent 79% mash efficiency with our process. The yeast will be reclaimed from a batch of oatmeal stout we brewed a few weeks ago. We make water from a mix of RO, our REALLY hard tap water, and mineral additions.
Cherrywood Smoked Porter
Method: All Grain
Style: Robust Porter
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 6.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.050 (recipe based estimate)
Efficiency: 79% (brew house)
OG: 1.059
FG: 1.015
5.81%
44.45
30.31
Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
7.5 lb American - Pale 2-Row 37 1.8 65.2%
0.5 lb American - Roasted Barley 33 300 4.3%
0.5 lb American - Chocolate 29 350 4.3%
1 lb American - Munich - 60L 33 60 8.7%
1 lb American - Caramel / Crystal 40L 34 40 8.7%
1 lb American - Cherrywood Smoked Malt 37 5 8.7%
11.5 lb Total
Hops
Amount Variety Type AA Use Time IBU
0.65 oz Magnum Pellet 15 Boil 60 min 33.65
1 oz Willamette Pellet 4.5 Boil 15 min 7.71
1 oz Willamette Pellet 4.5 Boil 5 min 3.1
Mash Guidelines
Amount Description Type Temp Time
15 qt Infusion 154 F 60 min
20 qt Fly Sparge 170 F 60 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb
Yeast
Wyeast - Denny’s Favorite 50 1450
Attenuation (avg):
75%
Flocculation:
Low
Optimum Temp:
60 - 70 °F
Starter:
Yes
Fermentation Temp:
65 °F
Pitch Rate:
1.0 (M cells / ml / ° P)
302 B cells required
Yeast Pitch Rate and Starter Calculator
Target Water Profile: Dublin (Dry Stout)
Ca+2 Mg+2 Na+ Cl- SO4-2 HCO3-
110 4 12 19 53 280
Mash Chemistry and Brewing Water Calculator
I suspect part of the reason you see so much variance discussed with smoked grain is that the smoke flavor dissipates in the grain over time so the slower a shop turns over their supply the less likely you are to have fresh and extremely smoky grain. I don’t think the cherrywood smoked malt is terribly popular so a lot of shops are probably sitting on grain getting long in the tooth.
IMO the cherrywood has good flavor but it’s a harsh so it’s not my favorite choice. I think it works well in porters but I would use a deft hand adding it to any recipe. One pound is probably enough if not too much for your recipe.
Thanks. The bolded is an interesting idea. The local shop I bought this from had to open a new bag to refill the bin so it will probably be a fresher, smokier than usual batch. The pound might be more than enough, I might have to cut that down a little bit. I suppose it’s probably safer to brew anything like this with less smoked malt and up it later in future batches rather than make something undrinkably smokey.
I know years ago when we made Scotch ales with peated malts, it was pretty hit or miss batch to batch.
The smoked porter I made from a LHBS recipe called for 6.7% that worked out to 1# Briess cherrywood smoked malt in a 1.073 porter. i thought the smokiness was noticeable but not overpowering. As said above, it will really depend on how fresh the smoked malt is
I did a porter with 21% and it was definitely up front but no one found it objectionable. If it were my beer I’d cut one of the crystal malts and double up on the smoke.
Here’s what we ended up brewing today - recipe got changed a bit to use what we had on hand. Mash had an interesting smell, hit our numbers on the dot, and preliminary tastes seemed pretty much right on. Smokiness is there but not overpowering (been there, done that with peated malt).
It’s dark - a stout rather than a porter, maybe but who cares if it ends up tasting good?!
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
8 lb American - Pale 2-Row 37 1.8 69.2%
12 oz American - Roasted Barley 33 300 6.5%
4 oz American - Chocolate 29 350 2.2%
13 oz Belgian - CaraMunich 33 50 7%
4 oz American - Black Malt 28 500 2.2%
1.5 lb American - Cherrywood Smoked Malt 37 5 13%
11.56 lb Total
Hops
Amount Variety Type AA Use Time IBU
0.5 oz Magnum Pellet 15 Boil 60 min 25.75
0.54 oz UK Challenger Pellet 8.9 Boil 15 min 8.19
1 oz East Kent Goldings Pellet 5.7 Boil 5 min 3.9
Mash Guidelines
Amount Description Type Temp Time
15 qt Infusion 149 F 60 min
20 qt Fly Sparge 170 F 60 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb
Yeast
Wyeast - Denny’s Favorite 50 1450
Great brew day other than the Packers game we listened to while brewing.
Just thought I’d follow up now that it’s been tapped. It’s a good porter, very happy with it. Next time, we’ll up the smoked malt a little but we went a little easy on it since it was a first time trying it. The smoke flavor is there but it could be a bit more forward on the palate. As it is, you taste it about midway through the sip and it doesn’t linger too long like some smoked beers tend to do.