High abv SmAsH recommendations..

[Monkhouse]

Hey, I’ve just picked up a new 25kg sack of crisp extra pale malt and I think I’ve got -00g of cascade in the freezer aswel as 2x US-05 dry yeast. Can someone point me in the right direction with this, I want the abv to be strong, around 7.5-8.5%. Just want the amount of grain I should use and when to add the hops and how much etc..
I’m hoping to do a brew day on thursday!
Cheers guys

 

[MrJay83]

Just play around with it on Brewfather (simple & free). For 16l batch I recently done, I used 3.3kg to get a 5.0% smash beer. I just added a bittering addition at the start, more at a hopstand and then dry hopped it.

 

[Monkhouse]

How does this look? Somehow I thought the ibu would be allot more than what it’s stating

 

[MrJay83]

I didn't use sugar but seems okay (I'm definitely not an expert). You can set a style (like a pale ale) to give you a bit of a steer. You'll see the green bands tighten up between values.
I'd chuck more in for a dry hop... but that's just me.

 

[Pennine]

I'd go a little higher on ibus it's gonna be a sweet malt bomb at 27, maybe shoot for 40-50. I like hoppy beers though.

 

[Pennine]

You are basically making a double IPA.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Hey, I’ve just picked up a new 25kg sack of crisp extra pale malt and I think I’ve got -00g of cascade in the freezer aswel as 2x US-05 dry yeast. Can someone point me in the right direction with this, I want the abv to be strong, around 7.5-8.5%. Just want the amount of grain I should use and when to add the hops and how much etc..
I’m hoping to do a brew day on thursday!
Cheers guys

See my sticky on the subject, in particular the third part which covers bittering. You need more bittering in a strong beer to get the same perception of bitterness as a weaker beer, so the BU/GU ratio is a convenient way to think about it - in this case you really want to be up around 50 IBU.

Personally I'm not the biggest fan of 100% extra pale beers but that's just my preference, you'll still have beer.

 

[Monkhouse]

See my sticky on the subject, in particular the third part which covers bittering. You need more bittering in a strong beer to get the same perception of bitterness as a weaker beer, so the BU/GU ratio is a convenient way to think about it - in this case you really want to be up around 50 IBU.

Personally I'm not the biggest fan of 100% extra pale beers but that's just my preference, you'll still have beer.

That’s the only malt I’ve got so it’s what I’ll have to use lol, what’s the issue will all extra pale malt?

 

[Monkhouse]

I'd go a little higher on ibus it's gonna be a sweet malt bomb at 27, maybe shoot for 40-50. I like hoppy beers though.

I’ve got 50g of 12.3aa nugget I could use too although this wouldn’t be a smash then, would it be best to use the 50g nugget as bittering and 50g cascade and maybe another 50g to dry hop?
I’ll be honest I’m not a fan of dry hopping so if I can avoid it at all I’d be happier

 

[Monkhouse]

How does this look? Obviously I can’t do anything about the colour but that’s not going to affect the flavour is it?

 

[Northern_Brewer]

That’s the only malt I’ve got so it’s what I’ll have to use lol, what’s the issue will all extra pale malt?

It just comes out a bit thin for my taste at the kind of ABVs I usually drink, I prefer to mix in some regular pale for a bit more body. Obviously it's less critical when you're up at that kind of ABV.

If I was you, I'd use Nugget to get to 50IBU, then 30g Cascade at 10 minutes before the end of the boil, 20g at flameout (end of the boil), then chuck in the rest for a "whirlpool" once it's at 75C and just carry on chilling. That way you get the benefit of the most volatile compounds that are boiled off in the copper, without doing a dry hop - to be honest Cascade is more of a whirlpool hop anyway.

Or maybe take 20g of that final 50g and throw it in the mash....

 

[Monkhouse]

Sounds good, I’ve had another idea- I could make some dark candi sugar and add 500g of this instead of just sugar. Do you think this would be good? Obviously this would darken the beer somewhat but would this help give more body to extra pale malt?
Honesty i had no idea that extra pale smashes weren’t a great idea!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Honesty i had no idea that extra pale smashes weren’t a great idea!

I'm not saying that! I'm just saying that I prefer a bit more body at the ABV I usually drink. But effectively a classic lager is an extra-pale SMaSH, which is the beer of choice for millions of people, so I'm not saying I'm right on this.

With the extra ABV I'm sure it will be fine, don't worry about the sugar - if nothing else it's good to experience extremes so that you can decide whether that's your taste or whether you'd do something different next time. It's the only way you make better beer.

 

[Braumeister]

Yeah looks good but the 50g cascade at 60 minutes is a bit of a waste. Like Northern Brewer said, cascade is good as a late addition hop, you could use something else for bittering? If not probably will turn out good as you have it anyway though, could just be even better with small extras.

 

[Pennine]

I'm not a big fan of cascade to be honest however I do love a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I'd roll with their hopping schedule plus say 50% for your bigger grain bill. I wouldn't add any sugar unless you are shooting for a dry west coast IPA.

 

[Braumeister]

I'm not a big fan of cascade to be honest however I do love a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I'd roll with their hopping schedule plus say 50% for your bigger grain bill. I wouldn't add any sugar unless you are shooting for a dry west coast IPA.

View attachment 81681

Good shout! A Sierra Nevada double pale ale you’d need some more hops though

 

[Monkhouse]

Yeah looks good but the 50g cascade at 60 minutes is a bit of a waste. Like Northern Brewer said, cascade is good as a late addition hop, you could use something else for bittering? If not probably will turn out good as you have it anyway though, could just be even better with small extras.

Here’s the hops I have-
Cascade 6.4aa 100g
Nugget 12.3aa 50g
Summit 16.4aa 15g
Fuggles 4.4aa 10g
Northdown 6.8aa 18g

 

[Braumeister]

Here’s the hops I have-
Cascade 6.4aa 100g
Nugget 12.3aa 50g
Summit 16.4aa 15g
Fuggles 4.4aa 10g
Northdown 6.8aa 18g

Great! Nugget for the bittering and then the cascade for late hops and whirlpool. Should be good!

 

[Monkhouse]

What’s the reason why my Belgian tripel yields 9.6% and this smash only 7.9% when the fermentables are both 8.5kg?

 

[MrJay83]

Boil volumes look different. More malt in one than sugar I suppose.
Just to throw in my own two cents... a Citra smash with best ale malt I did recently was amazing. Citra is such a great hop.