Peat smoked malt

[cerevisia]

Hello all

 

I'm thinking of making another all grain, but using some peat smoked malt that I have lying around. It seems pretty strong stuff - one taste and my mouth feels like I just smoked a cigarette. I've got about 1KG of it. Normally when I do an all grain I do about 3Kg's pale malt and 1 Kg crystal malt. I'm guessing 1Kg of the smoked stuff would be too overpowering? I'd make it a dark ale if I was going to do this..

 

Anyone here used peat smoked malt, if so how was it?

[Stu McKinlay]

Yeh, Llew is right, they have always said up to 100% for the Weyermann stuff... I've been hassling Soren for ages, since a tasting we both did at Regionals about 18 months ago, about how little smoke he's got in Big Smoke. #needsmoresmoke ...

Seriously though, that was tasting lovely when I tried it on Tuesday. I seem to remember him saying he used about 30% of the Weyermann stuff in the grist for that beer.

 

I really like Andrew's idea above... mix some different ratios of Rex with a beer along the basis of what you want (e.g. Tuatara Porter if you want a smoked brown; Armageddon if you want an IIPA - Islay India Pale Ale... LOL).  I blend beers every week... just last night I mixed some Invercargill Saison with my own homebrew Black Saison for a brown version.

 

 

[Dan]

OMG! Imperial Rex is the stuff dreams are made of, can't wait for that one - how long do we have to wait Stu??

I made a Rex clone a few months ago using 5kg 100% HPDM  & willamette for a 14lt batch - I got pretty damn close to the real thing. Looked like milk going into the fermenter! Clean & bright now! Tastes great too.

[Stu McKinlay]

Nice work Dan... I'd love to have a try sometime.

 

xeRRex is conditioning now and will be out early December...

[Dan]

I'll be keeping an eye out for it Stu. 8 weeks isn't long to wait!

I've got 3 botles left, stashed away in the basement. I'm brewing a NZ Pale this weekend for the WBC at Hallertau next month. If your gonna be there I'll bring one along.

[Paul Broome]

I tried Rex (I can't get used to saying Rex Attitude... ! ) about two months ago, thats July 2011, it took me about 30 seconds to decide it was one of the best beers I'd tasted. I rate it up there next to Epic PA, but thats just me, I know plenty of guys thought it the worst they had tried. I also loved the paleness of it, it surprised me so much, I was expecting a dark beer since I knew it was a smoked beer, that was the first shock. The second was the aroma... old oak floors... freshly sanded...musty wardrobe.... peat fire somewhere 50 kms away... blah, blah, blah. Then the taste, ooooh weee thats smokin'. Was it too much smoke ? For some guys but not this one. Surprise number three was the hop flavour, more than I had expected. This beer is full of surprises !
Anyway, I'm brewing a batch tomorrow using 70% Medium Peated Malt. The reason I didn't go 100 % was because I was unsure whether Rex used Heavy or Medium.

[Dan]

Hey Paul - there's a bit of info in 'What are you brewing' - Stu talks through his R & D stage. IBU's at 45 and I think my clone had an OG of 1.065? Definately heavy peated! Mike @ Brewers Coop said to mash around 65 - great advise I rekon. I've still got 5kg HPDM left - so a re-brew is on the cards soon - since I'm just about out! Actually gonna do a side-by-side tasting tonight with the real Rex and my clone :)

[Paul Broome]

thanks Dan. I'm still finding my way around this forum layout, its very different to what I'm used to, there's a lot of pages on 'What are you brewing' are you possibly able to post a link for me to Stu's comments Re Rex ? Cheers.
Here's what I was going to run with tomorrow:
OG 1.063
IBU's 41
so looks like I might be in the ball park.

[Dan]

http://www.forum.realbeer.co.nz/forum/topics/1500433:Topic:8?commen... or page 463. All the info ya need. I'd shuffle some of ya hops around to get to that 45IBU at least - that peat is a grunty flavour. What hops ya using?

When I was mashing it I thought "what the hell am I doing??!!" it smelt so strong - and then the boil got stronger!! haha I'm glad I didn't back out - coz it tastes great!

[Paul Broome]

thanks for the link !

in the fermenter now.  I bumped up to 45.   70% Med Peat, 25% Pils, 5% Malted Rye.

S Cross, Hallertau and Cascade. 60, 15, 5 and zero mins. Mashed at 65 and will ferment at 18C.

EDIT: ok, just saw Stu's 16 C initial temp so yeah... will do that won't I, no point in doing it different when I don't know what I'm doing anyway...

I had not used the peat malt before and didn't know if it would alter my eff.  calculated on 77% but got my usual eff of 82 .  I always check OG before the boil so this time I adjusted for more hops and will add top up of water at bottling time.

Hey I've posted up about yeast elsewhere... are you into freezing yeast ?  I'm looking to add to my frozen yeast bank and would be great to swap yeasts if you or anyone's keen ? I'm in the Waikato.  Cheers.

[Dan]

Sounds like you know what your doing - I'll be keen to hear how your hop combo works out. I'll be doing a re-brew with my other 5kg HPDM, but was gonna fiddle with the hops.

Taste test last night with a mate - clone vs real deal. Couldn't really tell them apart - which could just be my pallet!

I'm still working with dried yeasts at this stage - mainly Saf's but I'm liking the Danstar a lot too. I've only been brewing all grain since Febuary - but put down 21 all grain batches so far.

I'm up in the winterless north - Whangarei! So I'm a little isolated from the great beer of the Tron.

[Paul Broome]

yeah, I might be a little optimistic about the yeast thing. 

Nope, I have no idea what I'm doing. 

[Chad Keven]

 

hi Paul i'm also in Waikato

 

yeah ive just done my first wyeast order and want to make the most of it by freezing i saw the link in the real beer library, i think i can get most of the stuff for it but have no idea where to get glycerine? (havnt really looked yet) any body know? is it a pharmacy thing? how much$?

maybe we could collaborate on this? thanks