Adding carapils to smash recipe?

I'm a one-malt, one-hop kind of guy.* In theory. When Smashing, I will use Warrior for bittering, especially when using a low AA hop for flavor/aroma. I'm not going to tell you how to Smash, but I don't intend to add carapils to any that I make. Honestly, I've found that body isn't an issue when you pick a good hop/malt combo and play it right. I tend to mash at 152 and let the malt do its thing from there. If you're going with a darker, more flavorful base (Munich), it's got more body than 2-row, pils, MO, etc anywho. Pick a hop accordingly - something heartier that you wouldn't necessarily associate with words like 'crisp' or 'spritzy'.

On the other end, if you're using a light base, work with those hops to which you could ascribe 'tropical fruits', 'bright', 'crisp', etc. Then if you carb on the higher side, you've gone a long way from having a thin beer to having one that's 'crisp and refreshing'.

That's just me though, and my oversimplification. But I rarely use carapils anyway.

*That's not at all the case. Malts and/or hops should be free to do whatever with whatever other malts and/or hops they so choose and pair well with.

 

MO + Simcoe sounds delicious to me.

 

I'll take a note from @ericj551 and say that you could use a heavier flavored base malt and be fine. If you want to do all Munich, Maris Otter or Vienna, you'd be fine. If you wanted to use an American or Canadian 2 row base malt you'll find that you may be missing a little body. I tend to put .5# of carapils in all of my APAs that have American 2 row in it. I wouldn't frown on you adding carapils to a SMaSH and still call it a SMaSH. Ultimately this won't add much flavor at all and give you a great representation of your malt, your hops, and your yeast. Remember, you're the one who has to drink 5 gal of the stuff.

You could also try mashing higher. 158F should add a touch of body.

 

Or you can toast some of your malt for a very different flavor and it will still be a SMaSH.

 

MO + Simcoe sounds great! Maybe use US-05, 1056 or Wlp002(my favorite yeast)

 

It is delicious.

MO + Amariillo is quite tasty...too.

 

You can always use flaked barley to improve the mouthfeel (it isn't malted).

 

No, it won't. Toasting a malt makes it a different kind of malt.

 

I always use about 5% unmalted grains like torrified wheat, oats or flaked barley in beers like this, helps mouth feel and depending on grain, head retention too. Although if it's a bigger beer, over say 5.5% or so, then it's probably needed less.

As FarmerTed says, it would technically still be a smash as they are unmalted

 

Technically true, but you're joking, right? If not, here's my 6-row/EKG SMaSH recipe*...

5 lbs 6-row
2 lb flaked corn
2 lb flaked barley
1 lb roasted barley

0.5 lbs cocoa powder
1 lb lactose
1 ounce Mugwort @ 60 min
1 ounce EKG @ 15 min
1 ounce Spruce Tips @ 5 min
0.32514 ounces cinnamon @ flameout

WLP002

Add Vanilla extract at bottling to taste


*disclaimer: not a real recipe.

 

Who cares if it is a true smash? The main point is to make a great beer using a minimalist approach that makes the best use of the few ingredients so that their contributions shine. It's Drewabage's brewing on the ones strategy. It's a good way to learn ingredients. You'll never learn what specialty malts are all about by brewing smash, but if you want to learn them, you still need a minimalist approach.

In this particular case, I would consider skipping the carapils unless I knew that I wanted the specific body and head characteristics. For example, if I hadn't been satisfied with those features in previous brews. Fwiw, I've seen several recipes for English styles that use a couple three percent flaked wheat for the same reasons.

 

Not really. My next brew is probably going to be a smash with flaked barley. It's an adjunct, not a malt.

 

That's cheating. How far can you take that? If you make a beer with maris otter, crystal made from maris otter, and chocolate malt made from maris otter, is it still a single malt beer?

 

Agreed. I did a single malt IPA with Vienna and it added a great light malt character. I intended on brewing my typical recipe, but failed to realize I had used all my base malt before moving, so I went with Vienna.

 

I did a simcoe / maris otter smash, came out great. I actually used 4oz of simcoe, most of it late*, and it came out like a good and hoppy pale ale, but NOT an IPA. I wouldn't change the recipe at all for batch 2.

you don't need carapils. that's one of the beauties of smash beers, you discover that base malts really don't need to be doctored up with caramel malts and specialty grains. And what's odd is that despite my being the NON-crystal police, I probably have used less of it than most brewers on a batch for batch basis because I've made so many smash beers. if smash beers came out with wimpy heads and lacking body, I would use crystal malt, but they don't, not even straight 2-row.

*aside from the publish hops bill, there was another half ounce added at flameout