German Brewing

Hey all,

I am really craving an intense Schlenkerla-esque Rauchbier and I was hoping to get some feedback on recipe as well as other process tips and the such. I am aware about keeping my chlorine levels as low as possible to none...possibly even just buying DO water at the grocery store (unless boiling and SMB would pretty much guarantee no chlorine in brewing liquor as I have recently adopted LoDO brewing practices to an extent).

Right now, I have a malt bill of ~96% rauchmalt (Weyermann) and 4% pale chocolate. Any tips on malt bill, hop bill, yeast, process, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Also, just what has worked for them on your own rauchbiers would be great.

Cheers,
Zach

I dont recall there being any rauchbiers recipes in the recipes section.

Here's mine, which I plan to brew this weekend:

60% Smoked Malt (Best)
31% Munich Malt, Light (Avangard)
5% Carahell
4% Caramunich II

21 IBU Hallertauer Tradition

Because Schlenkerla malts its own grain over a wood fire, their exact flavor profile is hard to replicate (or has been for me) with malts available commercially. But this recipe gets close.

Here's a photo of the furnace at Schlenkerla.

Oh, a couple other things. Your local water supplier may use chloramine instead of chlorine, in which case it is harder to remove through boiling. I'd use RO water (for everything, including cleaning your equipment before you brew).

In case you're wondering why I only suggest 60% Rauchmalt compared to your proposed 96%, smoked malts are heavily dependent on freshness, too. So my malt supplier might turn over grain faster than yours, resulting in fresher malt, resulting in me not needing to use as much.

Thanks guys! Yeah, I'm definitely not trying to clone Schlenkerla in any way....I just want something in that light: an intense meaty smoked dark amber lager! I was most likely going to get my rauchmalt from MoreBeer...and yeah, I would suspect that it wouldn't be incredibly fresh there...however, you have to think that HUGE online retailers would be turning over malt much more than LHBS's and the such, right??

I think I will go big on the smoke...like I said, I want something quite intense. And just to safe, I'll buy DO water from the store for any brewing liquor/cleaning water.

More feedback on your rauchbier experiences is still welcome!! Prost!

Man, as much as I enjoy a 0.5l of Schlenkerla on occasion polishing off a keg of it may be brutal for the palate.