Smoking your own grain

[KLyons]

Has anyone smoked grain using Irish turf? I'm going to make a smoked porter soon and am considering using some to smoke my own grain. Any thoughts on this? I've used it to smoke meats and it adds a nice flavor, but would rather not ruin 5 gallons of beer if sounds or tastes like a bad idea!

[alealex]

I'm planning to smoke some wheat soon, although want to use oak wood not turf. I've smoked meat, fish and sausages. No experience with smoking malts or grain before, but can't see why it wouldn't work.
I think Mr.Happy has done it some time ago with good result.
Happy any thoughts?

[mr hoppy]

I did a wheat ale with beechwood last autumn and linked to the two resources I drew on here http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,3715.0.html (reply 4)

Bit more here:
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,3715.0.html

I've a lump of oakwood that I'm planning on using to make oak smoked wheat malt for a gratzer.

I'm reading Smoked Beers by Ray Daniels and Geoff Larson at the moment. It's quite interesting and has some good information in it. They say (which I've heard elsewhere before) the peat smoke is quite intense and that peat malt should only make up a small (2-5%) percentage of the grist. They recommend being cautions on the portion of the grist that you use homesmoked malt for, as the intensity can vary.

One idea they suggest, which you might find useful if you do smoke some malt with peat is making a tea with hot water and the smoked malt to get an approximate sense of flavour before putting it in beer. They also say not to do this the day you smoke the malt because your senses will be saturated by smoke  already and you won't be able to evaluate it properly.

[mr hoppy]

Yep, also Aecht Schlenkerla do an Oak smoked Eiche Dopplebock. Might work in a Weizen, or Weizenbock as well and I'd say you could make a really nice smoked porter with oak - given that smoked salmon is often smoked with oak here, as opposed to the alder used in Alaskan Smoked Porter, and in salmon smoking out there as well it seems.

The recipe I used for the gratzer last time I did was along the lines of:

100% Weyermanns oak smoke wheat malt for OG 1028 (at 65% efficiency - which I believe was due to the smoked malt - Weyermanns recommend using 20% pilsener malt)
Single infusion mash at 67 C
40 IBUs of Saaz hops, majority (75% by weight - I'd need to check) added as First Wort Hopping addition and the rest as a late flavour addition (15 minutes I think).
Yeast - Fermentis S-33

Nice full bodied, characterful, hoppy and low alcohol summer beer.

[alealex]

I'm planning to smoke some wheat soon..

Gratzer?

No, Grodziskie
However I won't bother smoking malts if you have good selection in your shop, don't let us down Shane

Yep, also Aecht Schlenkerla do an Oak smoked Eiche Dopplebock. Might work in a Weizen, or Weizenbock as well and I'd say you could make a really nice smoked porter with oak - given that smoked salmon is often smoked with oak here, as opposed to the alder used in Alaskan Smoked Porter, and in salmon smoking out there as well it seems.

The recipe I used for the gratzer last time I did was along the lines of:

100% Weyermanns oak smoke wheat malt for OG 1028 (at 65% efficiency - which I believe was due to the smoked malt - Weyermanns recommend using 20% pilsener malt)
Single infusion mash at 67 C
40 IBUs of Saaz hops, majority (75% by weight - I'd need to check) added as First Wort Hopping addition and the rest as a late flavour addition (15 minutes I think).
Yeast - Fermentis S-33

Nice full bodied, characterful, hoppy and low alcohol summer beer.

That is what I'm looking into now.
Where did you get this book? Amazon?

[mr hoppy]

The recipe is tweaked from Kris England's one in Wheat (Stan Hieronymus). It's also got a recipe for Lichtenheiner, a sour beer with beech smoked malt.

It and the Smoked Beer book are both on Amazon.

[KLyons]

This is great information! Thanks for all the input, I'll let you know how this works out.

[mr hoppy]

Not sure I'd buy into everything he says but I linked an interesting beersmith interview with Stan H. on gratzers over on another thread.

http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,1864.msg72719.html#msg72719

[biertourist]

I'm way behind on this one, but be careful combining wood or peat-smoked malt with phenolic yeast strains such as hefeweizen strains and belgian strains; the phenolics from the yeast and the smoke combine to make for a very intensely smokey and sometimes plastery / plasticy flavor.

The rule of thumb that I've heard for a 5 gallon batch of beer in regards to peat smoked malt is that 1% makes itself known, 2% very known and at 5% it takes over your beer.  (This is from a post from Barry from a conversation he had with a probrewer back in 2010; after looking at lots of recipes, this high-level guidance seems to stand up to all but the most malty and strong beers, where you can be ok adding more.)

http://www.beoir.org/community/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3781


Adam