Another use for my smoker....

[twirled]

So, I was thinking last week... How do I combine my new love of smoking with my brewing hobby of 5 years. Besides the obvious drinking lots of beer with my bbq, and basting with it, that is.

So.... this last batch of IPA, I took my normal 1 lb of grain and smoked it. I just used 4 briquettes, got em nice and hot and put half-fist sized chunk of waterlogged hickory on top. Smoked the grain this way for about 2 hours and then used it as normal in my brew. The grain had a really nice medium smoky smell and taste. Seemed about right for a 5 gallon batch of beer.

Last night I moved the beer into the secondary ferment, which is where I usually taste it and make adjustments. Turned out GREAT! My main concern was not making it overwhelming and I think this experiment was a success.

Should be finished fermenting, carbonated, and ready to drink in about a week and a half. Just a little account for anyone who shares this "other" passion with me.

[Crabman]

Every Superbowl Sunday, the Smokin' Sergeants go and do a pig roast/BBQ for a good friend of ours in Sanford Florida. During one of these trips we met Pete Slosberg, who founded Pete's Wicked Ale. He became a friend & was at this years pig roast, when of course the subject of beer came up. Pete gave us a history lesson on 'smoked beer', then at around 9pm the night before the Super Bowl, took off for about an hour and a half and came back with a half a dozen different beers. One of them was a German smoke beer. The bottle is sitting on my desk and it's written in Olde English lettering Aecht Ochlenferla Rauchbier and at the top it says 'Original Schlenkerla Smokebeer'. It was very good and had a nice smoky taste. One of the others was a sour beer that kind of took you by surprise at first, but really became a nice drink.
Good luck with your smoke beer.

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In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.
Robert Frost

[deersteak]

Been brewing for a few months now, and smoking for a couple weeks now.

I see a merger in the future!

What kind of grains did you smoke? Did you crush them before or after the smoke?
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UDS

[sixfofalcon]

I did a peat-smoked porter a couple years ago, and it turned out awesome. I purchased the smoked barley rather than smoking it myself (got it from Northern Brewer, in case you're interested.)

I am thinking about smoking some Maris Otter with hickory and doing an ESB with Fuggles. Problem is I'm a bit behind in my brewing schedule and my beer inventory is dwindling so I need to do some quick and easy stuff like hefeweizen to get back on track.

One thing you need to be careful about, if you smoke the grain yourself on your BBQ rig, is that you don't get any contamination from food grease or oils, as that will carry over into the finished beer and you will have poor head retention (if any at all).
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Weber Performer
22.5" WSM

[mlockner]

Alaskan smoked porter is one of the best beers made. Good luck with your brew.
Mike

[Harry Nutczak]

I see a great connection happening, Lets look at a true Scotch Whiskey for instance, If I remember correctly they burn peat moss to process the grains.

I wish I didn't have an alcohol allergy, an Ice-Cold Petes wicked Winterbrew sounds really good about now. And I have always been interested in home brewing, but half the fun is sampling your brew, and I could not do that!!
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Just remember that the toes you may step on during your climb to the top will also be attached to the a$$es you'll be forced to kiss on your way back down!

[enzyme80]

this is great.

What did you put the grains on to not contaminate them? I have a decent sized camping pot and am thinking that i should put the grains in there to smoke them.

Trying to find this out, me and my buddy are going to try this next weekend.

[twirled]

I actually just made a pan out several layers of aluminum foil so that I could spread out the grain. I was worried about the oils and stuff as well too, so I cleaned the smoker pretty well beforehand. I used Crystal Malt and crushed it out before smoking them so I could maximize the surface area for absorbing the flavor. When I tasted the malt after, it was nutty and smoky, no greasiness or anything so I think it went fine.

I hopped it with Cascade and then thres in some Northern Brewer at the end of the boil.

I'm transferring it out of the secondary into my kegerator tonight. Ready to drink in a couple days.

[sixfofalcon]

I'll have to look through my back issues of BYO and Zymurgy, but I swear there was an article on smoking your grains and one of the setups used was a flexible dryer vent coming off the smokestack and leading to an external chamber of some sort where the grains were.
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Weber Performer
22.5" WSM

[deersteak]

[sixfofalcon]