Is it to early to SMaSH?

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The Klondike

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He everyone. I have brewed my first beer( a Citra Session IPA from MoreBeer.com). I am completing the ferment now, dry hopped this morning and will bottle Fri/Sat.
my OG was 1.051 and my reading yesterday and today were equal at 1.12 so why am I talking about my first brew in 15 to 18 years? Because SMaSH brews are new to me. Here goes...

I am going to embark on an adventure with a couple one gallon fermenters. I want to make some brew runs changing my hops and that is probably where i need the most help. I will start with one single type of malt. Im figuring a two-row malt or a pilsner malt(golden?) I know i will try both at some point before the year is out. Am I ok to not add a secondary/complementary malt? I suppose being a "SingleMaltandSingleHops" I should start with what i have listed. I know I like Citra hops, it's what is in the batch in my basement. I am thinking of starting with Simcoe, Nelson Sauvin, Mosaic and Galaxy. Am I missing any hops I should try? Then I will want to add some secondary Malts and of course start blending Hops and adjusting Hop Schedules. I am always open to new(to me) ideas and or books that you might recommend. I have had for quite some time a copy of "The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing" by Charlie Papazian. It seems a little out dated althought the basics will always be a starting point. Charlie desnt talk about the idea of smash brewing, I think that idea came later.
 
Here is a list I have compiled today of some of the hops i intend to try, secondary is a list of hop combinations that I will inevitably work on, most of which are pretty classic combos's :

1. Citra
2. Simco
3. Mosaic
4. Nelson Sauvin ( I don't know how this will work but probably as a combination with something fruity)
5. Amarillo
6. Centennial
7. Cascade
8. Cashmere
9 Chinook
10. Columbus
11. El Dorado

and combinatons:

1. Simco + Amarilo
2. Chinook + Columbus
3. Amarilo + Mosaic
4. Mosaic + El Dorado
5. Cascade + Simco
6. Amarillo + Crystal
7. Chinook + Cascade
 
Put Charlies book in a place of honor and smile when you look at it. It is so out of date I don't even bother cracking it open anymore.

Can you add a second complimentary grain to your SMaSH malt bill.? Sure, you can do anything you want. But it won't be a SMaSH anymore.
 
Kevin58 said:
Put Charlies book in a place of honor and smile when you look at it. It is so out of date I don't even bother cracking it open anymore.
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I've been looking through it and will be putting it in the "library". I have my eye on one or two books to replace it with.

Kevin58 said:
Can you add a second complimentary grain to your SMaSH malt bill.? Sure, you can do anything you want. But it won't be a SMaSH anymore.
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As you said, I can. And i am not entirely against it, my goal is to learn about flavors and structure. I am not going to work toward an Octoberfest this year but maybe next spring(seems counter intuitive I know) but I want to work toward light beers (that's why the 2 row) like a pils/lagers. I don't have refrigeration yet in my basement. I hear you with not being afraid to use lager yeast, I will work in that direction later.

So what idea did you have for a second malt? And why would you go that direction?
 
The Klondike said:
I've been looking through it and will be putting it in the "library". I have my eye on one or two books to replace it with.


As you said, I can. And i am not entirely against it, my goal is to learn about flavors and structure. I am not going to work toward an Octoberfest this year but maybe next spring(seems counter intuitive I know) but I want to work toward light beers (that's why the 2 row) like a pils/lagers. I don't have refrigeration yet in my basement. I hear you with not being afraid to use lager yeast, I will work in that direction later.

So what idea did you have for a second malt? And why would you go that direction?
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I have no ideas for you. You are the one who mentioned using a secondary/complimentary malt I was just pointing out that a SMaSH uses just a single malt... if you add a second malt it is no longer a SMaSH.

The advantage we have as homebrewers is that we can do whatever we want so yes, go ahead and add two malts. But what you have now is more along the lines of Drew Beecham's "brewing on the ones". A technique he promotes of taking the SMaSH method and adding one extra malt and/or one extra hop. This gives a bit of complexity to the beer and gives you, the brewer, a better idea of how ingredients interact with each other.

SMaSH beers an be great to teach you the characteristics of a single ingredient but you can do something very similar by steeping malts or making hop teas. What you learn about your malt and hops however is only what they give you on their own. Once you combine two or more malts or hops however their individual character can change and create entirely new flavor profiles.

As a side note I am curious about what you mean when you say you are working toward an Oktoberfest this year? Oktoberfest beers were traditionally brewed in the spring. Märzen for example translates to "March" which is the month they were historically made. Then left to condition (lager) until the fall where they were typically served at the Oktoberfest festival... which actually begins in late September.
 
Kevin58 said:
Drew Beecham's "brewing on the ones". A technique he promotes of taking the SMaSH method and adding one extra malt and/or one extra hop. This gives a bit of complexity to the beer and gives you, the brewer, a better idea of how ingredients interact with each other.
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That is exactly what I had in mind. Start with some Smash beers and at some point add an extra malt or hop and grow from there.

Kevin58 said:
As a side note I am curious about what you mean when you say you are working toward an Oktoberfest this year? Oktoberfest beers were traditionally brewed in the spring
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I only meant sometime this year, could be latter part of Dec, may not happen. Just that i am not going to make one now. I always thought Octoberfest beers were a fall beer, that when the american beer companies come out with their Octoberfests. Leave it to american companys to screw that up.
 
Here is Drew's talk from the National Homebrew Competition several years ago:

Oktoberfest began to celebrate the wedding of the prince of Bavaria around 1810. It runs from mid September to the first Sunday in October. Because of the lack of temperature control in the early 1800's there was very little to no brewing occurring during the heat of summer. Huge amounts of beer was brewed in the spring and cellared underground to be served throughout the summer and early fall until the weather returned to ideal. Additionally only a handful of beers brewed in Munich were allowed to be served at Oktoberfest... and that still holds today.
 
Kevin58 said:
Here is Drew's talk from the National Homebrew Competition several years ago:

Oktoberfest began to celebrate the wedding of the prince of Bavaria around 1810. It runs from mid September to the first Sunday in October. Because of the lack of temperature control in the early 1800's there was very little to no brewing occurring during the heat of summer. Huge amounts of beer was brewed in the spring and cellared underground to be served throughout the summer and early fall until the weather returned to ideal. Additionally only a handful of beers brewed in Munich were allowed to be served at Oktoberfest... and that still holds today.
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Thank you. I found the video quite educational and answered several of my questions. For the record, my smash brews are going to be small, 1 gallon. I'm sure there will be complications but thats just part of the human experience.

your explanation of when beers were made makes sense as there wasn't refrigeration yet. I always thought Octoberfest was about the harvest.
 
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