German Brewing

I loved the Schlenkerla eiche doppelbock and set out to clone it, but there was no source of oak smoke malt at the time. I made a makeshift cold smoker and did it myself, smoking both the pima and muma. Came out great and I smoked some wheat as well for a gratzer. This is the post from my defunct blog that I will some day catch up on......https://switzerbrau.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/smok

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That looks awesome Feurhund!! Did you wet/soak your malt ahead of smoking it, if so for how long? How long did you cold smoke it for?

I smoked malt on a buddy's smoker over applewood for a porter a few years back....turned out quite well (maybe a touch harsh) but it was definitely "hot" smoked...did it for ~30-45 minutes.

Outstanding!

I sprayed down the malt on trays with filtered water till damp. The long run of ducting helped dissipate a lot of the heat so it didn't ruin the malt. I think I smoked it for an hour adding chunks once or twice. It all converted well and had a great oak smokiness.

I still have the setup and should really use it again. I still have a few bottles of the dopplebock and cracked one recently at 5 years old it is still great. Really smooth and I believe it was 9%.

Very clever setup. Is there a max temp you should not go over when smoking malt?

I can't remember how low I kept it, but I know they kiln pale malts towards 180F near the end so that or below is good.

I've got two rauchbiers under my belt now with Best rauchmalt. Hands down, it is the closest thing I've ever made to matching the smoke character of Schlenkerla. The aroma is spot on perfect for Schlenkerla. It was instant memory recall for a bottle of Schlenkerla, which the Weyermann has never done for me.

Unfortunately, my personal favorite may be the Weyermann. The smoke character of the Best is much more sharp. I can see now why some judges kept saying they wanted more smoke, even though I was using a really high percentage of the Weyermann smoke malt. To me, Schlenkerla and Best still have the black, sooty edge to the smoke character. It's what you smell when you lift the lid off your smoker: face full of actual smoke, then the smell of cooked meat. Weyermann is much more refined and mellow. It lacks that intense smoky edge, and simply tastes like cooked meat.

A blend of the two may be the sweet spot.

The WEY oak-smoked wheat malt is a seasonal tradition in our family!

Every year around X-mas I make our special wheat beer following the old Schroedinger recipe.

To cut a long story short, every maltster like BEST, WEY, Dingemanns, Crisp, Bairds etc... are, to be true, brilliant. Every single one of them does one particular malt that is simply superb.

It's up to the individual to find out though, and that's the fun.

Thanks! I still need to try it again soon.