The rauchbier ingredients were delivered today in one piece. Everything looked like it was in order. Even the yeast looked like it survived the trip.
I was able to taste the smoked malt and was surprised that it wasn’t smokier. The smoke aroma and taste was pretty subtle and yet smoked beers that I have tasted seem to have a bold flavor. Interesting.
I also tried out the melanoidin malt to see what it tasted like. It had the sweetness of a light caramel malt, but it seemed richer, stronger. Good stuff.
I have my dry pilsner malt extra for the small beer yeast starter too. Now I just have to plan a brew day.
Jimmy Brokaw
I’m a huge smoked beer fan. Rauch malt is much more subtle than other smoked malts, such as peat malt or cherrywood. That’s why you can make a rauch beer with 100% rauch malt (if you like REALLY strong smoke). Of course, you can scale that down for a mild smoke flavor. Cherrywood malt, on the other hand, gets out of control if you use more than 10%. Not bad, if you’re a smokehead like me, but don’t expect anyone else to like it. 🙂
Mike
I imagine it will smell pretty interesting in the boil kettle.