Smoke Without Fire

By Arthur Olcot

Recipe is part of Recipe Index

BJCP 2021 Style - 32A Classic Style Smoked Beer

Smoked Helles

Around a year ago I purchased on a complete whim 1kg of smoked beechwood malt. Not entirely sure why as I’m not really a huge lover of smoked beers! Anyway, after it being sat around for a few months the time came to actually brew something with it. This recipe is a simple smoked Helles with a light smoke to the aroma and flavour, so it is a good gateway beer into the world of smoke beers. I did a single infusion mash but a decoction could take this to another level

Awards

Scottish National Homebrew Competition 2024 (Edinburgh)

2nd - Seasonal, Smoked and Wood Beer

Measures

• IBU 23
• ABV 5%
• OG 1.045
• FG 1.0075
• EBC 8
• Batch size 19 litres

Ingredients

Water

• Ca2+ 52; Mg2+ 7; Na+ 25; Cl- 99; SO42- 70; HCO3- 0
• 5.3pH using around 3.5ml of lactic acid to adjust
• I used distilled water as a base and added salts to get to the profile.

Malt

• 68.2% — Crisp Europils Malt — Grain — 3.4 EBC
• 19.5% — Smoked (Beech) — Grain — 10 EBC
• 9.8% — Dingemans Munich — Grain — 10.8 EBC
• 2.5% — Simpsons Dextrin Malt — Grain — 1.5 EBC

Hops

• 20 g (19 IBU) — Perle 8% — First Wort
• 15 g (5 IBU) — Perle 8% — Boil — 10 min
• 15 g — Perle 8% — Boil — 0 min

Yeast

• White Labs WLP830 German Lager - 2.5L starter

Process

Mash

• 60mins at 66 degrees

Boil

• 60 minute boil

Ferment

• Fermented at 12 degrees for a few days, ramping to 16degrees when fermentation tailed off.
• Held for a few days until no further sign of activity.
• Cold crashed for a couple of days then transferred to keg. Lager for at least 4 weeks

Serving

• Final beer carbonated to around 2.5 vols.