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I like to do the occasional Rauchbier and use a well-known beechwood-smoked malt from Germany. Seems like the amount of smokiness is not consistent between lots of malt. Is this a function of the time it takes to get the malt over the water? Has anyone found a way to mitigate this or figure out how to keep smoke level consistent in the final beer? Is there a domestic source of beechwood-smoked malt?
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For rauch malt, freshness is the key! I have brewed quite a few rauch beers at home, and found the best thing to do was call the homebrew shop a week ahead and ask him to order me some rauch. The smoke character dissipates quite a bit over time.
I don't know of any other sources of beechwood smoked malt, although Briess is now doing a cherrywood smoked malt that I have yet to try...it smells delish!!-Lyle C. Brown
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Camelot Brewing Co. -
I second the Briess, we brewed up a very pleasant Rauchbier last year with the cherrywood malt. Heed their advice and keep it under 50%, packs a big smoke wallop compared to the german you-know-who's (which is also a great malt, no snubbery involved). Wonder if they will think about foil packaging across the Atlantic someday to keep fresher?Comment
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I have a thought on this, but I may be wrong, but here goes anyway. It's not the travel killing the smoke smell and flavor. Barley get's harvested once a year as with hops. So, if you harvest it, then malt and smoke it, then it sits for the whole year, you now have year old rauchmalt. It's the fact that you're getting older grain that has lost it's flavor in storage, not the trip over here.
Gotta love the guys looking for fresh hops just before harvest time and don't want to buy "year old hops"Comment
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