I’ve heard about SMASH brewing. What do you think? Any good ones?
Rahr 2-row to about 1.070 and 70 IBUs of Columbus, Amarillo, or Centennial - FWH, 60/10/5/0, plus a heavy dryhop. Pick a yeast that doesn’t go bone dry.
Vienna Malt and Northern Brewer. Wyeast 2124. Working on a keg of it right now, and it is amazing.
Munich and simcoe….60/30/10 and 0 and a double dry hop.
I would like to try these. I see a lot of recipes with a ton of ingredients and don’t understand the point.
You have to be careful when finding recipes online. You don’t know who created them or their experience. I often see recipes that have a LOT of ingredients. Often this is the mark of a new brewer as they think the more ingredients the more complex the finished beer. IMO new brewers put recipes together on ideals (ie they want the flavor this ingredient adds and that ingredient adds and that one too) and the flavors/hops are muddled.
I just did a smash pilsner: Best pilsner malt and mittlefrueh hops at FWH, 60, 15, and 5 minutes.
I did a SMASH, 10 lbs 2 row, 1 oz Galena hops at 60, 15 and 5 min each. US-05 yeast. Turned out pretty darn good, in my opinion.
In general, I find SMASH beers to be pretty one dimensional and insipid. I have made some pretty good lagers like that, but in general they still lack complexity. I believe it was Vinnie Cilurzo who said “SMASH is a great way to learn about ingredients, but it’s a lousy recipe”.
The point is to use as many ingredients as you need, but not to put anything in without a point. There’s no “Golden Rule” about how many ingredients or how much of each one you use. A lot of my most popular recipes fly in the face of “simple recipes”. You do what you need to do to achieve the result you want. A simple recipe is always best, except when it’s not! 
I think what I would like is to start with a SMaSh recipe. Then add one thing at a time just to learn what each grain adds. Probably do three gallon batches or mabe even one gallon batches . I don’t know if one gallon all grain is practical in a mash tun. Mayb biab would be better.
I did my first SMASH figuring it would be a learning experience even if the beer wasn’t great and ended up really liking it. I’ve done a few afterwards and enjoy their simplicity.
I have three SMASH beers that I make in a variety of ways.
All three use Marris Otter and either EKGs, Chinook, or Simco. By switching yeasts, adding sugar, or pulling the first gallon or two of first running for a Maillard boil, you can make all kinds of fun, excellent stuff with the SMASH format.
Ten pounds of Marris Otter with 2oz for bittering and an oz at 10, 5, and 1 will be a much different beer than ten pounds of Otter with the first gallon mixed with 1lb of sugar and boiled down while the rest is given 1oz of FWH, an oz at 20 and the balance of the hops used as dry hops.
My SMASH beers are always on the big side, using 10lbs and up. I’ve found that as beers get bigger, simplicity pays dividends.
That is sound advice.
I did Maris Otter and Mosaic, just so I could call it MoMo.
That sounds pretty good. I’ll have to try that.
Rarh 2-row, cascade, wlp 076 or wyeast 1450
A high quality 2-row base malt like Maris Otter or Golden Promise, with almost any single hop of good lineage or noble quality ( EK Goldings, Cascade, Hallertau, Styrian Goldings, Challenger, etc.), given a good 90-minute boil to let the malt character intensify somewhat, should give you a very drinkable beer. Just try to avoid using a yeast that gives off any kind of funky character. Pick one that’s either clean and neutral, or one that gives just a hint of ester character or breadiness. The whole point of this kind of beer is to let the simple ingredients really shine, so choose a yeast that will contribute minimal character and let the malt and hops do the talking.
