I’m transitioning to all-grain with SMaSH brews. I am curious about choosing ingredients. Specifically, the malt. I know certain styles don’t lend themselves to single malts, but what styles do? What kind of malts? I was pondering the regular 2 rows, 6 rows, and the pale ale malts.
Hops, as I’ve read, should be higher than 7% alpha for best results. I want to know what kind of hops you’re all using.
Any help is appreciated.
I have had good results with brewing just 2 row…I buy 50lb sacks and brew from that. You can add other grains to darken the color or give body. A lot of people add Carapilis for head retention. You don’t have to stick with just one hop…although then its not a Smash. I say go 2 row and go one hop if you want so you can start to tell the differences between hops.
JMO,
Tim
For SMaSH’s, I would start with a more nuanced base malt like Maris Otter, Thomas Fawcett Pearl or Pale Ale.
That being said, an all-2-row or pilsner malt summer beer with something like Perle, Saaz, or Northern Brewer might rock.
As far as hops, it really depends on what kind of beer you are going for, as you can do a lot of styles (or riffs on them) as SMaSH. What do you like to brew/drink, or is there something you’ve been wanting to try (either to brew or to drink)?
I have a friend that makes a SMaSH with all Vienna and Centennial hops and its awesome. I think he uses Chico/WLP001/US05, but I bet it would be good with Vermont Ale or a British Ale yeast as well.
Is there a reason why you are set on SMaSH?
[quote=“Pietro”]
Is there a reason why you are set on SMaSH?[/quote]
Cost effective and working with limited resources. Also, I want to get a handle on mashing correctly, even if it is one-step. I’m not necessarily tied to the SMaSH method, it just seems like good learning experience.
That Vienna/Centennial recipe sounds like something I would be interested in trying.
There are good reasons to experiment with SMaSH beers, mostly because it really lets you see how different malts and different hops contribute different flavors. But if you buy a single sack of malt to work from, you loose half of that. Some SMaSH beers that you might want to try:
Pale Ale malt and Cascade hops (or Columbus or Centenial)
Maris Otter and EKG (or Fuggles)
Munich Malt and Hersbrucker (or Mittelfruh)
Pilsner malt and Saaz (or Tettanger)
Or pretty much any combo you can think of. SMaSH beers are almost always drinkable, if not great.
It sounds like you have an excellent philosophy. Early on, it took me 6 months of brewing kitchen-sink beers to realize that simple is almost always better.
You can really learn nuances of different ingredients this way, and truly become a better brewer quickly IMO/E.
Hops for single hop beers are a little trickier. If you like American hop-forward beers (IPAs/APAs/Session IPAs, blah blah blah), be careful about what hops you use. Some that are great in hop ‘cocktails’ aren’t great on their own (IMO Columbus, Simcoe), but some are AMAZING on their own (Centennial, Amarillo, Citra, Belma, and the classic Cascade).
If you are trying to highlight yeast esters or the malt itself, Saaz and Tett are simply awesome. I make a faux pils that is 70% 2-row, 30% corn, saaz throughout, fermented with US-05 at a max of 60*. A batch costs me around $20 and people (including me) love this one.
I personally have not brewed a SMaSH but I have had Southern Tier’s 2014 2XONE. It’s a single malt single hope using Mosaic Hops. Mosaic is a very complex hop so its great for getting a more complex profile without having to use multiple ingredients.
Amen! Its funny when I look back on some of my older recipes… 2% C20, 1% C40, 3% C60. :lol:
[quote=“Pietro”]but some are AMAZING on their own (Centennial, Amarillo, Citra, Belma, and the classic Cascade).
[/quote]
You had me at hello but lost me here… only with Belma. I find that hop only a supporting hop. I did not care for it for a SMaSH. YMMV.
I’ve done a 2 row SMASH with centennial and one with Cascade. Both to about 65 IBU. They very good if a little thin for my taste but they do highlight the hops. I prefer them with about 12-15% vienna or munich added for a little more malt backbone.
I did a SMASH with Vienna and Hersbrucker at 60 for 20 IBU and 15 for total 25ish IBU. YUMMM!!
[quote=“Loopie Beer”]
You had me at hello but lost me here… only with Belma. I find that hop only a supporting hop. I did not care for it for a SMaSH. YMMV.[/quote]
What didn’t you like about it? I’ve never personally used it, but i’ve heard its extremely floral, and if used as single hop, can almost be strawberry-like.
Maybe its the new Citra, with its polarizing effect on its consumers!
My last beer was 100% Red X. Not a SMaSH, since I used columbus and pacific jade, but I’ve drank one with Red X and amarillo that was good.
Pietro, I found it had a weird “fruity, sweet” taste to it. It didn’t have a distinct fruit flavor and just seemed “off” and odd. I will say that I used it as a SMaSH the first time it was released so they might have bred some changes into it.
I do find it a very good bittering hop and an excellent hop to mix with damn near anything.
[quote=“rebuiltcellars”]There are good reasons to experiment with SMaSH beers, mostly because it really lets you see how different malts and different hops contribute different flavors. But if you buy a single sack of malt to work from, you loose half of that. Some SMaSH beers that you might want to try:
Pale Ale malt and Cascade hops (or Columbus or Centenial)
Maris Otter and EKG (or Fuggles)
Munich Malt and Hersbrucker (or Mittelfruh)
Pilsner malt and Saaz (or Tettanger)
Or pretty much any combo you can think of. SMaSH beers are almost always drinkable, if not great.[/quote]
I like these, have done 2 row with Cascade…nice
[quote=“Loopie Beer”]Pietro, I found it had a weird “fruity, sweet” taste to it. It didn’t have a distinct fruit flavor and just seemed “off” and odd. I will say that I used it as a SMaSH the first time it was released so they might have bred some changes into it.
I do find it a very good bittering hop and an excellent hop to mix with damn near anything.[/quote]
I did a signal hop with belma and really liked it. It was a pale ale 2row with some c40, it had a slightly under ripe strawberry type flavor that I liked. But I will say it was not very good as a dry hop the aroma wasn’t very strong more mellow. The price per pound was very low and like you said the bittering quality is very good. So for those who haven’t used it I would pick some up
I did 4 with Pilsen DME and mosaic, centennial, warrior, and simcoe. Made 1 gallon batches with 1 oz. of each hop…equal additions at 45, 10, 5, 3, and 1 minute. With its higher AA the warrior is just bitter…not much aroma. Centennial is good, mosaic is better and simcoe is still conditioning. Was a fun little project.
