Smoked wheat for brewing

[schneep]

Ok, My son brews beer (damn good too) and he has asked me to smoke some wheat for him.

Any suggestions or methods, as I have never done anything like that.

[mikecorn.1]

If you google smoked wheat, it will start listing smoked wheat beer recipes also. Good luck.


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[Salmonsmoker]

Schneep,
German rauchmalt is smoked with beechwood. The classic beer in that style is Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen. Alaska Brewings' Smoked Porter uses Alder smoked malt. Breiss malting now has a cherrywood smoked malt. You'd probably first want to match the beer style to the type of wood smoke that will compliment it. (cherrywood smoke adds a sweetness that some people find objectionable), but the beers I've tried have been enjoyable. At last year's NHC Geoff Larson, owner of Alaska Brewing gave a talk on smoking malt. One of the things they've learned is by putting the malt in dampened cloth sacks(like muslin I'm guessing) is that the harsh, oily, creosote type volatiles will stick to the dampened sack while letting the rest of the smoke components through resulting in a much smoother smoke flavor. It must be working- they've won more than a few gold medals with their smoked porter. After smoking, the grains need to age for a time to temper. A paper shopping bag works well. Minimum of 2 weeks up to 4-6 weeks. I would try 1-2 hrs. of smoke to start. It will take some experimenting on your son's part to find the level of smoke he likes in his Rauchbier. If your son has some Weyermann's Rauchmalz handy to do a side by side smell test, it will help him assess the strength of the smoke in the malt and give him a starting point. If the first attempt- malt smoking and beer brewing needs some modification, only change one thing at a time. That way you'll know what each change does. ie; If you change a bunch of things and end up with a winner beer, you won't know which change made that happen.

Cheers!
Homebrewer,
BJCP beer judge,
Smoker(food) ;D

[schneep]

Thanks salmonsmoker, great information,  it is actually a Grodziskie (Gratzer) Polish beer he will be making.

[schneep]

Ok, Another question, do  I cold or hot smoke grain??  I would think cold smoke, but have never done it and plan on doing it Christmas day while my son is here for his birthday and Christmas.

[Salmonsmoker]

I think I would cold smoke the malt schneep. Meat seals up at 140F and won't absorb any more smoke, don't know how malt reacts because it's dry. However, increase in temp. puts you into the area of changing the grain from a base malt to a roasted malt. Base malt is withered@120-140F and then cured@175-185F. Above that the malt character starts to change(color and flavor). John Palmer's book "How To Brew" is online and you can read it without cost. Chapter 12, "Understanding Malted Barley and Adjuncts" will help you understand the proccess. 

[schneep]

Thank you very much,

Merry Christmas