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SMASH questions

evilgiraffe

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So help me out here if you can. I'd like to try some SMASH brewing and I'm living in Korea and have access to a rather limited amount of ingredients. Without breaking the bank the base malts I can get in bulk are:
Weyerman Pilsner
Weyerman Pale
Weyerman Munich
Weyerman Vienna
Crisp Maris Otter
The Swean Pilsner

Ideally, I'd love to try each one while trying to keep all other variables constant (as much as possible). That would, of course, take a few months as I'm currently set up to do just one 5-gallon batch at a time.

Anyway, my questions are:
1) Have of you done any SMASH brewing with the above grains? I'm particularly interested to hear how the Munich and Vienna turned out if you used them.
2) What hops would you go with if trying to SMASH with the above?
3) And what yeast? I'm thinking something rather basic like US-05 or Coopers, but I'll be interested to hear if you have other ideas.

Thanks.
 
1)  My go-to base malt for SMaSH recipes is Crisp Maris Otter.  It provides just enough flavor to keep the malt aspect from being not too bland.  I've tasted the Weyerman Vienna and Munich along side the Crisp Maris Otter, Briess Pale Ale and Rahr 2-row in a simple tea made with 25 grams of crushed malt in 200 ml of hot water.  Did this before settling on the Maris Otter as my base for the SMaSH recipes.  Since I wanted the hops to stand out, but also wanted something drinkable, I went with the middle of the road in terms of taste.

2) I have been working on doing a SMaSH brew using all my hops to get a better feel for their contributions.  So far, I've worked through Galaxy, Citra, Mandarina Bavaria, Huell Melon, Meridian, and El Dorado.

3) I used WY1056 (essentially the same as US-05) for a clean yeast, again to let the hops shine through.  I am not familiar enough with the Coopers yeast to comment.

Another thing that I do different:  I make a full volume of wort from my mash tun and divide it into 6 liter batches.  I then make each SMaSH recipe boiling for 40 minutes with hop additions at 30 minutes, 15 minutes, 5 minutes, and whirlpool.  I plan IBU contributions from each to be equal at 10 IBU.  This heavily weights the hops towards the latter part of the boil.  I end up with about 4 liters of 1.050 OG wort with 40 IBU (calculated) of bitterness for each hop.  Out of each mash, I get to test 3 or 4 hops and use Citra as my control.  I end up with 8 or 9 bottles of each SMaSH recipe, so I don't have one or two cases of a drinkable, but not exciting brew cluttering up my fridge.

 
I think Maris Otter is ideal for a SMASH. I used Fuggles and the two go really well together. I used Nottingham, but US05 will go alright.

Cheers
 
Marris Otter and Goldings are the classic combination which is pretty much unbeatable. Use White Labs WLP002 or WLP023 if you can get hold of them. Failing that, any good British yeast, dried or liquid will work.
 
I recently did a Munich Amarillo smash that quickly became my favorite beer.  Early tastes of the fermented beer were very sweet, almost throw-away sweet.  Just over 2 weeks of cold crash left me with the most nutty, incredible beer with a beautiful amber color and malty aroma.  Mmm mmm.  Already made a second batch of it but this time decided to not make a smash, used 25% 2 row to offer a little drier character / flavor.  In hindsight, the original smash was better though this with 2 row is probably more suited to typical drinkers. 

10 Gallon Batch Mashed at 148 for an hour.
20# Briess Bonlander Munich Malt.  Probably could have used less.
2 oz Amarillo for an hour. Probably could have used a little more.  3oz wouldn't hurt.
1 oz Amarillo for 5 min.

Safale US04 Slurry from previous beer.  Pitched at 69f, fermented at 66f.  Cold crashed for >2 weeks before kegging. 
 
I've used 2-row, Maris Otter and Vienna, and out of those I prefer Vienna first then Maris. Yeasts have been WLP001, WLP051, and Wyeast 1272, which I prefer 001 or 1272 for letting the hops come through. Cascade hops with either of these two yeasts & malts make for a tasty brew. It's one of the few hoppy beers I make that my wife likes  ;D

I like to brew a SMaSH when proofing out new equipment or making sure my process is consistent. The fewer the variables (in this case, ingredients) the better for this IMHO.
 
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