Rauchbier recipe advise

Looking for input on my grainbill. I plan to use 5 lbs each of Munich and Bamberg Smoked pale malt. Does this sound right or should I alter it?

You don’t need to post in every forum when looking for advice.

What does the rest of your recipe look like?

That’s probably fine, but I’d probably go 6.5 & 6.5 of each. A touch of carafa for color wouldn’t hurt either (1oz). bitter to~ 28ibus, no late hops and you should be good. I’d recommend a step mash as well to aid with clarity.

Originally posted by JoeMcPhee
You don’t need to post in every forum when looking for advice.

Thanks. I know that........now.

Originally posted by HornyDevil
What does the rest of your recipe look like?

I’d planned on using Cascade whole leaf to bring it up to about 25-30 IBUs. Problem is, they’re home grown and I have no idea what their AA is. I’m mostly concerned with getting enough smoke flavor and richness. Aecht Schrenkerla is my favorite rauchbier on the planet. I’m also reusing some English ale yeast from a brown ale brewed back in mid-July. The yeast has been sitting in my fridge for about two months. I question the sanity of trying this, but I’ve heard some folks reuse a yeast after several months to no ill effect.

That yeast is mostly dead by now, but you can try making a starter with some of it and see if you can propagate some healthy yeast out of it. I say just buy some new yeast and be safe. If you want the intensity of shlenkerla, I would use more smoked malt, like 90%. That’s about what they use (I’m told) though they smoke their own malt so it’s not going to be exactly like the stuff you can buy.

There’s activity in the yeast starter, so I’ll pour off the liquid and leave the sludge behind. It did smell a little off...

If you like Schlenkerla you can do all Rauch and then about 4% Carafa II Special for color. And for god’s sake don’t use that yeast if it smells off.

mmm smoke....

I wouldn’t go 100% with commercial smoked malt. I have done a 100% besalz rauchmalz beer and it worked great for blending and was palatable but took a long time to mellow. I recently did a smoked mild with 50% rauchmalz and English ale yeast and it is plenty smoky while letting the base beer come through as well. It’s one of my favorite smoked beers I’ve done.