"Rauch-ale" yeast choice.

[PseudoChef]

I want a smoke beer to get through the winter, so it will most likely be my brew on Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day, coming up on Saturday, November 1st.

However, I don't have the capability to lager, so I'm thinking about taking a Rauchbier recipe and using a German Ale yeast for the fermentation. I've never used any of these yeasts, however, so I'm wondering who here has any experience. What's going to give me the closest to the crisp characteristics I'm looking for?

So far, it seems WY1007 is a good choice, but there's also WY1338/WLP011 as well as WLP029.

I know I won't get the true characteristics, and if anything it will be a good experiment. Does anyone have any suggestions/opinion on the matter?

Evan, what was your final recipe and how's it progressing?

[Evan!]

I haven't used the German Ale varieties, just the lager ones, so I'm probably no help there. I'd say that they'd all probably do just fine---be sure to ferment cool and you might think about boiling the chloramine out of your strike and sparge water before you mash/sparge...if you're using muni tap water, that is. I've heard it can interact with the smokey character and really get nasty.

Mine's going fine. It's in a second quasi D-rest right now. I fermented it at 50f, then brought it up to 64 for a few days. At first, it said I was at 1.020 and I got worried that I'd have to "finish it off" by dumping on my biere de garde cake, but I gave a few days of 65-ish temps and stirred it up with a sanitized spoon handle a few times, and it finished at 1.015 (YAY!). I then put it in my fermentation cooler for 3 weeks or so at 52-54f. I'm about to rack to secondary because I now have room in my fridge (where I can get it down to a consistent 38f) since I kegged my munich dunkel last night. So I took it out of the fermentation cooler, and bam, it starts offgassing a little more co2. So it's kind of a second d-rest, I guess. Anyway, it tastes fantastic, not quite as smoky as Schlenkerla, which is good, because the wife wouldn't drink it if it was. It's plenty smoky, though, and has a great clean malt character which accentuates the smoke. Whatever you do, I'd say ferment yours at the low range of your yeast's temp range, and ramp up to 70 or so as fermentation starts to slow down. You want good attenuation and low esters. Oh, and IIRC, I think I did a mini-decoction to mash out, just for a little added maltiness. Here's my recipe.

Big Smoke

A ProMash Recipe Report

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------

22-A  Smoked Flavored/Wood Aged, Classic Rauchbier

Min OG:  1.050   Max OG:  1.056
Min IBU:    20   Max IBU:    30
Min Clr:    14   Max Clr:    26  Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal):         5.50    Wort Size (Gal):    5.50
Total Grain (Lbs):       10.69
Anticipated OG:          1.055    Plato:             13.46
Anticipated SRM:          16.7
Anticipated IBU:          26.1
Brewhouse Efficiency:       78 %
Wort Boil Time:             90    Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts
----------------

Evaporation Rate:      10.00    Percent Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size:    6.47    Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity:      1.046    SG          11.52  Plato

Formulas Used
-------------

Brewhouse Efficiency and Predicted Gravity based on Method #1, Potential Used.
Final Gravity Calculation Based on Points.
Hard Value of Sucrose applied. Value for recipe: 46.2100 ppppg
% Yield Type used in Gravity Prediction: Fine Grind Dry Basis.

Color Formula Used:   Morey
Hop IBU Formula Used: Tinseth
Tinseth Concentration Factor: 1.30


Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 51.5     5.50 lbs. Smoked(Bamberg)               Germany        1.037      9
  1.8     0.19 lbs. Carafa II (Dehusked)          Germany        1.030    400
 23.4     2.50 lbs. Pilsener                      Belgium        1.037      2
 16.4     1.75 lbs. Munich Malt(light)            America        1.033     10
  4.7     0.50 lbs. CaraMunich 60                 France         1.034     60
  2.3     0.25 lbs. Melanoidin Malt                              1.033     35

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.75 oz.    Hallertauer                       Whole    4.00  23.6  60 min.
  0.50 oz.    Hallertauer                       Whole    4.00   2.4  10 min.


Yeast
-----

White Labs WLP838 Southern German Lager


Water Profile
-------------

Profile:           
Profile known for: 

Calcium(Ca):           0.0 ppm
Magnesium(Mg):         0.0 ppm
Sodium(Na):            0.0 ppm
Sulfate(SO4):          0.0 ppm
Chloride(Cl):          0.0 ppm
biCarbonate(HCO3):     0.0 ppm

pH: 0.00


Mash Schedule
-------------

Mash Type: Single Step

Grain Lbs:   10.69
Water Qts:   13.65 - Before Additional Infusions
Water Gal:    3.41 - Before Additional Infusions

Qts Water Per Lbs Grain: 1.28 - Before Additional Infusions

Saccharification Rest Temp : 154  Time:  60
Mash-out Rest Temp :         158  Time:  20
Sparge Temp :                180  Time:  10


Total Mash Volume Gal: 4.27 - Dough-In Infusion Only

All temperature measurements are degrees Fahrenheit.

[PseudoChef]

Awesome, thanks a lot.

I carbon filter then campden all my water, so chloramines shouldn't be a problem. (Right?)

I think I can comfortably do 62°, and maybe even push it to 58-60° if I'm lucky.

Your recipe looks perfect...may have to steal that one.

[Ronthered]

I just made a smoked English Pale, and I used the London ale yeast

[Evan!]

Awesome, thanks a lot.

I carbon filter then campden all my water, so chloramines shouldn't be a problem. (Right?)

I think I can comfortably do 62°, and maybe even push it to 58-60° if I'm lucky.

Your recipe looks perfect...may have to steal that one.

Hm, yeah, I think I may have it backwards. CHLORINE can get boiled out, but CHLORAMINE needs campden tablets. Duh. Yeah, you should be fine.

[christo]

I really like 007 for kolsch and alt. It will give pretty good facsimile of a lager if you can keep at 60F. I also thing S-05 produces very similar results at that temp as well. Just give it a couple of days longer in primary to finish.

[PseudoChef]

N/m