First All-Grain Recipe: SMaSH

I love the recipe as written, and love a good MO/Willamette SMaSH. Looks like you have a good plan. My only suggestion might be to error on the hotter side for your mash, as this recipe with that yeast should ferment down better than any extract you have brewed yet.

 

Sounds very nice.I would change some simple things.

16. add 1.5 gallons 168F water.
I would use a little bit higher temp water(174F).

29. at 30 minutes, add about 1/3 tsp Wyeast nutrient blend to a small amount of spring water and dissolve.
That is not necessary using such a good dry yeast.IMO

Good luck !!!!!

 

With 1 oz Willamette at 7 min and 1 oz at 0 min for 3.5 gallons, you will end up with a lot of hop flavor. Depending upon your goals, it may en up being a bit unbalanced because of this.

 

I'd leave the mash temp where it is and switch to so4, you'll get more aromatic complexity that plays well with willamette.

 

I read your blog and it's a good plan but I do have two comments. One, I agree with mnstorm99, err one the side of overshooting your mash temp a little, not undershooting it. 152 is a pretty low mash temp to begin with for a 100% maris otter beer fermented with US-05, so if you overshoot a little that's ok, and with a target of 152 you're not going to overshoot enough to damage your enzymatic power. Also keep in mind that it's easier to cool a mash that's too warm (a few ice cubes or even just a little stirring works well) than it is to warm a mash that's too cool. The second thing is if your target fermentation temp is 167 it would be better to pitch at around 164 than 172. You really want to pitch a little cooler than your target and then allow the beer to rise to its target temp rather than pitch warmer than your target and then actively try to cool it.

 

I find that S-04 makes a bland beer, and the ester profile is off-putting to me personally. It has this strange raw bread dough flavor and aroma, and it's definitely not something I'd use in a SMaSH beer, but to each their own.

Personally I'd use a more characterful yeast that will accentuate the ingredients, like 1028, but that's just me.

 

+1.I don´t like S-04 either.I have brewed a nice SMASH beer using Coopers dry yeast but i used just Pilsen malt, i haven´t got any experience in regards Maris Otter malt.

 

I also agree with using a yeast that will accentuate, and 1028 (or 1968) would be great. But, I also think US-05 might be nice in this, and it is a familiar yeast so it helps with a comfort level on a first all grain.

 

I did a calculation using my brewing spreadsheet. Not including any heat being absorbed my the mash tun, a strike water temperature of 165 F for 7.5 quarts will give you an initial mash temperature close to 152 F for 6 lbs of grain. Accounting for some heat absorbed by the tun, an initial strike temperature of 167 F should put you in the ball park, unless for some reason you tun absorbs an inordinate amount of heat. Of course, if you decide to shoot for a higher mash temperature, you'll need to raise the strike temperature by the same amount.

 

The enzymatic power isn't as fragile as you're making it out to be. Sure, you don't want to strike so high that your mash settles at 170, but if you're striking with 170 degree water the temp is going to plummet as soon as you add the water to the room temp grain.

 

Looks like a good hop forward Smash, and you seem to have a good handle on your process too. As the others have said getting the right strike temp for you system/process is tricky. My only tip is to take good notes around that step so you know how to adjust for the next batch (if need be). Know your grain temp/qty before dough in, your water temp/qty before dough in, and your mast tun temp before dough in, and obviously your final mash temp. Good Luck,

 

The best way to avoid this issue is to simply look at the volume of your first runnings, you then subtract that from your desired pre boil volume and that how much you need to sparge with.

 

"The second thing is if your target fermentation temp is 167 it would be better to pitch at around 164 than 172."

I know you meant 67, 64, and 72, but there might be some newbies/lurkers here who don't know your "1" key is stuck : )

 

Ha, that was silly, not sure how I managed that one, thanks for catching it though.

 

I just did one with 10lbs of Vienna and 3oz of simcoe (60, 20, 5 min)
Very good.