I made a batch of Smoked porter that called for 2 pounds of Smoked Malted Barely. I used Breiss Cherry wood smoked malt. I just racked to the secondary fermenter after one week in primary and tasted the sample I pulled for a gravity test and the smoke flavor overwhelmed everything. What are your experiences with smoked malt and flavor? Will the smoke flavor reduce with time?
Based on the sample I tasted its drinkable but not what I was looking for. The recipe is all grain clone of Vermont Pub and Brewery Vermont Smoked Porter taken from the Big Book of Clone Recipes. I have not tried this beer from the brewer but the recipe sounded good to me. I used SA-05 for yeast, my go to for most of my brewing.
What percentage of the total grain bill was the smoked malt?
I used Breiss CW Smoked Malt in a Brown Ale once at 7% of the bill and it was completely lost. I will make that recipe again in the fall and intend to use 15% next time.
It will fade some. Hard to say how much. Every persons tolerance to smoke will be different. What you think it overwhelming is going to be underwhelming or pleasant to others. Hold on to it a couple weeks and see if it fades. You may have to brew another batch and blend it.
18% total grain bill does not sound too high for me – I did a smoked Scottish ale with about 20% and it was perfect. Definitely smoky though!
Supposedly the smoke intensity fades over time on the malt as well. The more fresh the malt the more intense the smoke. If it sat around for a while it may not be nearly as smoky as desired. But if its fresh smoked it may surprise you by the intensity.
No no, I know it wasn’t traditional – I understand that a lot of people thing Scottish ales are supposed to be smoked and that they are not. And I hate Peated Malt and don’t like scotch. Just something I did as a one off at the brewery several years ago. The Briess Cherry wood was a really nice addition. But I would never try to put that in a competition as a scotch ale and I wouldn’t ever use Peated malt any where near my brew house
The brewer of Alaskan Smoked Porter, Geoff Larson, once commented after a vertical tasting of several years of his beer, that the smoke intensity stays the same and that the other flavors change around it. I find that the smoke flavor and aroma intensities are difficult to predict with commercial malts and that it’s better to smoke them yourself, but 20% is a good starting amount.
I used 14% Bamburg smoked malt in my recent Swedish Gotlandsdricke. In this amount, the smoke is plenty noticeable but not overwhelming. In future I might reduce to just 8-10% because while I can appreciate them, I’ve never been a real huge fan of smoked beers. I think I’d still taste it at say 5% but it would become pretty slight at that point.
im interested in smoke, and over the years my enjoyment of schlenkerla rauchbier (never had spezial rauch) has increased more every time i partake of it.
its such a tricky thing to give suggested addition amounts because every bit of smoked malt is different, even based on age and every persons perception and enjoyment of smoke level is different.
i want to do a guideline style bamberg rauchbier (using weyermann malt) this year, and i believe its basically 100% smoked malt.
I made a “Smoketoberfest” once that was so delicious … well, to those who like smoke beers. I don’t recall the percentage of smoke malt I used but it was only mildly smoky. Of course, like schlenkerla, it’s one of those beers that you really only want one of. And I can’t see myself enjoying an entire liter of the stuff.
With the Smoked Scottish 8 oz was PLENTY. I loved it … but it became overwhelming.
I wonder if temperature affects how you sense the smoke intensity, the beer was at 70 degrees F when I tasted it. It may be different at 36F. I will have to update in a couple of weeks.
Smoked malt definitely does lose potency over time. I just did a rauchbier split between 05 and 34/70 with some Briess CW malt that has to be at least 4 years old, ~11% of the bill. I had one of the ales last night and the smoke flavor is VERY subtle, not nearly as strong as the last time I used the malt a few years ago. Just bottled the 34/70 the other day so I haven’t tried it yet.
If you walk by smoked malt at the homebrewshop and smell the smokey aroma, you know that is leaving the malt to the atmosphere. Fresh is best. I smoke my own Rauchmalz.
I have smoked my own a few times – it’s pretty easy even if you don’t have a cold smoker. I’ve done it in a mesh wire basket on a Weber grill before. Just spray the malt down a bit to dampen it and redistribute a few times and smoke till you feel it is good. Doesn’t take long IME
That said, the Briess Cherry wood has given me some good results and has been fresh when I ordered it in the past.
