Smash brewing

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Was going to do a mosaic smash of vienna vs crisp best pale but I keep remembering this so might still add a little extra something.

 
I’m quite happily in experimental mode I’ve done a couple of AG Brews but Smash method piqued my interest as a way of brewing a small batch (1 gallon) seeing what’s happens once I’ve got the smash brew dialled in then I can add to the recipe take it beyond smash into larger quantities.
 
I’m in the same boat as you. Never brewed a smash before, but I have th ingredients to make a Mandarina Bavaria single hop ale from DIY dog. It just uses extra pale malt.
Hopefully brewing this week
 
Im waiting for my 12l stock pot and portable induction hob and some yeast to arrive planning my brew day for this Saturday going to be a busy day because it’s also bottling day for a Yorkshire bitter that’s ready.
 
Smash brewers unite!

My first beer (went straight in for all grain) was a Maris Otter - Mosaic SMaSH. Not my best work but given it was my first ever beer I was pretty impressed with it. I should try it again just to see how my technique has improved since then.
 
I’ve done both kits and AG in the past SMASH intrigued me so I’m going to give it a go as I said above it’s a way for me to experiment a gallon at a time plus a chance to Learn what grain and hop combinations work for what I like.
 
Same as @roboto, straight to AG with a smash. Mine was Pilsner, East Kent Goldings and Belle Saison. Yeast is often overlooked when talking about Smash, but really offers a lot of scope.

Some easily covered SMaSH styles.

English pale ale and IPAs.
American pale ale and IPA.
Belgian Pale Ale.
Saison.
Beire de garde.
Lager and Kolsch.
German Wheat Beer.
American Wheat Beer.
Rauchbier.
 
I m thinking for bitters Safale us 05 should do. Again time to experiment I’m only going to do Gallon brews initially that gets me into proper AG brewing which I have had mixed results before.
 
Same as @roboto, straight to AG with a smash. Mine was Pilsner, East Kent Goldings and Belle Saison. Yeast is often overlooked when talking about Smash, but really offers a lot of scope.

Some easily covered SMaSH styles.

English pale ale and IPAs.
American pale ale and IPA.
Belgian Pale Ale.
Saison.
Beire de garde.
Lager and Kolsch.
German Wheat Beer.
American Wheat Beer.
Rauchbier.
Really a wheat beer at 100% wheat?
 
I regularly do SMASH brews, especially for the summer - and we may get one this year - but I follow an old Burton Pale Ale recipe I found on Ron Pattinson's blog, you know the one, Barclay Perkins. Crisp best ale malt, Jester hops, judge to get about 1.050 - 1.053 and with Notty yeast it will end at about 1.010 and it makes a cracking barbecue beer. Mash at 65 DegC. for about 75 minutes to get a really good fermentable profile.
 
I've currently got 2 single hop AG kits from GEB in my FVs, the first is Mandarina Bavaria using BRY-97 yeast. The second is the Citra kit using MJ M44 yeast. I've also bought 100g of each hop for dry hopping 😀

I've got the single hop kits for Mosaic and Simcoe as at £15 a pop it seemed to be a good way to learn about the hops.

Last year I did a Cascade / Munich Malt SMASH which turned out very dark, quite bitter and very very refreshing. If it wasn't for trying to brew clones of my favourite beers (Sierra Nevada coming up next) I think I'd stick with SMASH !
 
I love a good SMaSH. Brewed a fair few recently to check out some hops that I’ve not used before. There was an Endeavour with Vienna that turned out very well. The flavour was like a slightly more intense Bramling Cross. I took a punt on some Ernest hops and brewed them with Maris Otter. It was...different. Kinda tasted a bit like a cider or perry. Not what I was expecting at all.

I’ve got a kilo of HORT 9909 that I’m gonna brew with bohemian pilsner this weekend.
 
Crisp best ale malt, Jester hops, judge to get about 1.050 - 1.053 and with Notty yeast it will end at about 1.010...Mash at 65 DegC. for about 75 minutes to get a really good fermentable profile.

Ive just done a very similar one with Crisp Extra Pale Floor M/O & Chinook.

OG 1051 FG 1008 using MJ 44 west coast yeast

Just being crashed before going into the keg.

buddsy
 
If you want to do a really weird SMaSH, here's one from the Durden Park collection that I knocked up to get rid of à mountain of out of date brown malt:
Brown malt 100%, amiloglucosidase 300 for overnight mash at 60C, fuggles to 42 IBUs.
Mine's been bottled a month and the one I tried was very promising. Needs at least 3 months in the bottle, though.
 
I had one at homebrew club, brewed by someone else, it was Mild Malt and Bramling Cross, and was lovely.
 
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Another vote for SMaSH brewing, I love doing small 4-5 litre brews. My favourite so far is one done with Cashmere hops (inspired by my work) although the beer has turned out a lot better than my work is 😉. I've done a few SMaSH beers now and I'll continue to experiment.
 

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