Smokey Bear (Session Smoked Porter)

A few months back I was introduced to smoked malts during a trip to my local home brew shop.  If you enjoy BBQ then the taste and smell of smoked malts is fantastic.  I recommend two malts from Briess if you want to try a smoked beer, Mesquite Smoked Malt and Cherry Wood Smoked Malt.  This recipe used the Cherry Wood Smoked Malt and I'm pleased with the results.  You could easily substitute the Mesquite Smoked Malt if you prefer that flavor.

A quick note on session beers before we get to the recipe.  When brewing a session style beer (> 5% ABV) it can be difficult to have enough flavor and mouthfeel for the beer to taste and feel like beer.  Nobody likes a watered down ale!  I recommend a a few different approaches to combat the issue.

First for taste, try using additives, fruit, or unique malts to bring additional flavor to your beer.  A little bit of fruit, rye, or smoked malt can go a long ways towards making your beer more palatable.  Pick your additive based on the style of beer your brewing.  If I was brewing a session wheat beer I'd probably choose some kind of fruit to add, or if I was brewing a session IPA I'd probably try substituting about 1 pound of rye malt for some of the base malt.

Secondly, mouth feel is an important consideration for session beers.  You want your session beer to have some body so it doesn't feel like drinking a glass of mildly flavored water.  I've targeted a final gravity in the 1.013 and above range.  To start with, use a mash temperature in the mid to upper 150s.  This will help keep you final gravity higher.  You can also use a yeast strain with a lower attenuation.

Lastly, I'm serving this session smoked porter at the upcoming NorCal Session Fest on May 23, 2015.  Look for this at the Bay Area Mashers tent!

Grains:

7.0 lbs US 2-Row
2.25 lbs Cherry Wood Smoked Malt
12.0 oz Chocolate Malt
8.0 oz Crystal 40
8.0 oz Crystal 75

(If I were to brew this recipe again, I would try to add some roasted barley in search of a little bit of a roast bite.  Maybe try reducing the chocolate malt to 6.0 oz and adding 6.0 oz of roasted barley)

Hops:

2.0 oz East Kent Goldings @ 4.5% AA @ 60 minutes remaining
0.75 oz Styrian Goldings @ 4.5% AA @ 15 minutes remaining
0.75 oz East Kent Goldings @ 4.5% AA @ 1 minute remaining

Yeast:

White Labs WLP023 Burton Ale

Mash & Sparge:

Mash 3.7 gallons of water at 156 degree F for 90 minutes (strike temperature of 173 degrees F). Sparge 4.6 gallons of water at 170 degree F for 60 minutes.  Collect approximately 7 gallons of wort and boil for one hour.  You may need to adjust how much wort is collected based on your system. 

Efficiency = 73%
Batch Size = 5.50 gal
OG = 1.048
FG = 1.015
ABV = 4.3%
IBU = 36
Color = 25.5 SRM

Keiffer Summer Ale

Here's another great recipe from the summer of 2014.  Last year I picked up a six pack of New Belgium Skinny Dip for a camping trip.  It was the perfect beer for drinking at the campsite and relaxing after a long hike.  I decided I needed to find a great clone recipe.  Below is the recipe I used to brew my Skinny Dip clone.  The beer was delicious and its a recipe I plan to brew again soon for some more summer camping.  Enjoy! 

Grains:

9.50 lbs US 2 row Pale Malt
12.0 oz Crystal 10 
4.0 oz Victory Malt

Hops:

0.75 oz Cascade @ 5.5% AA @ 45 minutes remaining
1.0 oz Willamette @ 5.5% AA @ 5 minutes remaining

Additions:

1 Whirlfloc Tablet @ 15 minutes remaining
1 oz Keiffer Lime Leaf @ 0 minutes remaining 

Note:  I used fresh Keiffer lime leaf's since my awesome wife bought a young knifer lime tree.  Keiffer lime leaves can usually be found at an Asian specialty market.

Yeast:

White Labs WLP001 California Ale

Mash & Sparge:

Mash 3.5 gallons of water at 150 degree F for 90 minutes (strike temperature of 167 degrees F).
 
Sparge 4.7 gallons of water at 170 degree F for 60 minutes.  Collect approximately 7 gallons of wort and boil for one hour.  You may need to adjust how much wort is collected based on your system. 

Efficiency = 70%
Batch Size = 5.50 gal
OG = 1.044
FG = 1.010
ABV = 4.45%
IBU = 17
Color = 5.1 SRM