Peated Beer?

[ssashton]

I one had a bottle of reasonably light colour beer that was peated and had a define hint of whisky. I unfortunately don't remeber what it was!

I recently made a rauchbeir with smoked malt and it was lovely, but not the same as the peated flavour.

Can anybody give a recipe recommendation for a nice gently peated ale (not a stout)?

I'm not a fan of the astringency of some smoked beers, but I do enjoy the smoke.

 

[prog99]

Might have been one aged in old whisky barrels.
Peated malt is dangerous stuff if over used!

 

[ssashton]

Thank you, you might well be right! IT did mention peat on the label though I remeber that.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I bought some Peated malt from Worchester hop shop to make Skull Splitter. Bought a kilo and used 50g so a lot to use up. So would welcome recipes, also got Smoked Malt so only Peated recipes please.

 

[PhilBrew]

I bought some smoked malt to make the "Smoked Beer" from the Greg Hughes book, it had around 750g smoked malt in a grainbill of around 5.25kg IIRC, but I'm pretty sure what got delivered was peated malt ... because, while the beer is mellowing over time and the smokey flavours are becoming more acceptable, it's still extremely earthy and smokey ... still, it's only been in the bottle nearly two years, should be just about right in another couple :tinhat:

Like @prog99 says dangerous stuff that peated malt

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Where in Gods own county are you Phil?

 

[ssashton]

The Rauchbeir I made was about 50% smoked malt. It had a strong smoked flavour but not super strong. It does sound like you got peated malt to me!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

The Rauchbeir I made was about 50% smoked malt. It had a strong smoked flavour but not super strong. It does sound like you got peated malt to me!

Not Peated malt though

 

[PhilBrew]

Hi

The Rauchbeir I made was about 50% smoked malt. It had a strong smoked flavour but not super strong. It does sound like you got peated malt to me!

... yeah, I'm pretty sure there was a mix up somewhere along the line ... I've used (oak/beech) smoked malt before, in Porters, around the 5-10% mark where you just get a hint of smokiness behind the roastiness of the roasted grains ... the Greg Hughes recipe had that up nearer 15% so I still wasn't expecting the full "smokey bacon" beer experience ... and I was definitely not expecting the pine disinfectant floor cleaner taste of what I got out (the Chinook in the recipe probably didn't help with that though) ... like I say, it's mellowing, but I still have a crate (20 bottles) left after nearly two years, so you can see how hard I'm finding it to get through it ... I'd say if you want a "peaty whiskey" flavour, then go with the smoked malt (mostly) and add a touch of the peated malt, no more than 1-2%, maybe

Where in Gods own county are you Phil?

... I'm in South Cheshire Cheshire ... about as South as you can get and still be in Cheshire, past Sandbach, not far from J16 of the M6 ... if I walk South, I'm in Staffordshire before you know it, so ... the only way is UP

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Sadfield]

if I walk South, I'm in Staffordshire before you know it, so ... the only way is UP

Oatcake incursions are permissable.

 

[Sadfield]

@ssashton Try searching for Scottish Ale recipes from American brewer's. Many contain peat malt on the erroneous belief, perpetuated by their style guides, that the Scots used to malt all their Barley over burning peat.

Yeastie Boys Rex Attitude is brewed with 100% Peat Malt. Certainly not undrinkable if you like smoked beers.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Phil
Near Barthomley?

 

[PhilBrew]

Near Barthomley?

... near enough to walk to the White Lion for a Sunday Lunch, if only they were open

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Just to add to the above - the typical peated malt is way, way "stronger" than German rauch malts, like 10-20x stronger. So something like 2% of the grist is a good starting point, but you need to tweak it to your own taste - I seem to be quite sensitive to "something" in smoked malt so it tends to taste like licking a barbecue.

Can be a good way to add a bit of interest to porters etc, but don't overdo it.

 

[MyQul]

I bought some smoked malt to make the "Smoked Beer" from the Greg Hughes book, it had around 750g smoked malt in a grainbill of around 5.25kg IIRC, but I'm pretty sure what got delivered was peated malt ... because, while the beer is mellowing over time and the smokey flavours are becoming more acceptable, it's still extremely earthy and smokey ... still, it's only been in the bottle nearly two years, should be just about right in another couple :tinhat:

Like @prog99 says dangerous stuff that peated malt

Cheers, PhilB

I've made the smoked porter a couple of times from the GH book. Really nice (although I did use smoked malt rather than peated)

 

[PhilBrew]

I've made the smoked porter a couple of times from the GH book. Really nice (although I did use smoked malt rather than peated)

... thanks for that feedback @MyQul, I lost confidence in the recipes in the GH book after this peat-bog beer experience, even though I was quite sure it was a mixup somewhere in the supply chain that was at fault ... it wasn't helped by the fact that this was one of two brews in a row I'd made using recipes from that book, the other was the Harvest Pale Ale, which made a perfectly OK beer, but it was far too much like Doombar to recommend to anyone (other than someone looking for a recipe to brew Doombar) ... perhaps it is time to revisit the book and give some more of those recipes a go

Cheers, PhilB

 

[MyQul]

... thanks for that feedback @MyQul, I lost confidence in the recipes in the GH book after this peat-bog beer experience, even though I was quite sure it was a mixup somewhere in the supply chain that was at fault ... it wasn't helped by the fact that this was one of two brews in a row I'd made using recipes from that book, the other was the Harvest Pale Ale, which made a perfectly OK beer, but it was far too much like Doombar to recommend to anyone (other than someone looking for a recipe to brew Doombar) ... perhaps it is time to revisit the book and give some more of those recipes a go

Cheers, PhilB

Tbh, I think the Smoked porter is the only recipe in the book that I've followed 'as is'. I usually use it for inspiration and ideas