Smash Beer Guide

It is time for an educational video that looks at SMASH (single malt and single hop) beers.
This video will guide you through designing SMASH beers with key advice around the "do's and don'ts". I also put forward why this type of recipe is so useful to those of all experience levels as well as how it can be used as a template for spontaneous brewing. I also include a SMASH beer recipe example of my own for reference.
Here is that recipe:-
Citra Smash APA - 6%
Created with Brewfather and shared Publicly
Brewfather recipe link:- share.brewfath...
Author: David Heath
Type: All Grain
IBU : 35 (Tinseth)
Color : 11 EBC
Original Gravity : 1.049
Final Gravity : 1.003
Brewing system used:- 65L Brewzilla
Batch Size : 20 L
Will work fine with other brewing systems capable of 20L and can be converted to any desired volume in Brewfather brewing software or similar.
Mash Efficiency : 80%
Mash Profile

65 °C / 149 °F - 60 min - Temperature
75 °C / 167 °F - 10 min - Mash Out
Fermentables
4 kg / 8,8 lbs - Pale Ale 8 EBC (100%)
Hops
60 min- Citra - 14 IBU
15 min-Citra - 8 IBU
5 min- Citra - 6 IBU
Hop Stand (0 mins/ Flame out)
15 min hopstand @ 85 °C / 185 °F
Citra - 6 IBU
Yeast
3/4 teaspoon of Bootleg Biology OSLO Kveik
Fermentation Profile
28 °C / 82 °F - 7 days - Primary only
Channel links:-
groups/Brewbeer
www.teespring....
Introduction music:- Drink Beer (Till The Day That I Die) by Dazie Mae

[@geneharrogate6911]

This channel is such a deliverance from the long winded and / or over produced hipster-ish crap that seems to be everywhere nowadays. Nice work mate.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Dav Dave Thanks a lot Dave. One of my favourite comments for some time :)

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Smash beers are a great to check out new hops or even new malts since there a less factors to "Muddy the waters" Great explanation and tips! The new logo looks good! (But I'm biased of course!!) Cheers! 👍🍻

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Many thanks again Brian for the logo! Seems everyone really likes it including me :) Yes, I think some people are at the stage where they need to be reminded or advised on how great SMASH beers are for learning and great results :)

[@dominykasbartkus1033]

As always, you're a godsend, David. Loving the simplified information on recipe writing and the general style guide. Saves me a lot of time when having to look up bits and piece of information.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Many thanks, much appreciated feedback :)

[@davidt8546]

My first ever brew of my own was 2 row/Styrian Goldings/ US-04. Tasted so so good...I was expecting a much blander beer but I was surprised by how much character a smash can have. Great video

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Cheers David. Yes, smash beers usually work very well 🍻🍻🍻

[@michaellewis4750]

Absolutely cracking stuff. I'm working on my own recipe at them moment and the information in here has been incredibly insightful. Thank you for doing what you do.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Great to hear Michael, stay with it :)

[@seewaage]

Thanks for your great ideas and information!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Cheers, much appreciated 🍻🍻🍻

[@FrankSluijter]

Again a very informative video David, I love brewing smash beer good to learn you ingredients. The new logo looks great.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Many thanks Frank :) Glad you like the new logo also, I’m very pleased with it :)

[@thermalflyer3601]

A wonderfully clear video. Thank you.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Glad you enjoyed it, thank you :)

[@jonNZ1000]

Cheers David. really useful. Especially the attitude/ Approach. I am often using substitutes that are local so it is definitely a way to test them.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Many thanks, much appreciated :) Yes, testing is a great way forward as I see it :)

[@kevinrich5312]

Great video, and I love the new logo! Great Job Brian!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Thanks man!! 👍🍻

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Thanks Kevin! Agreed!

[@AstroHAM]

Got great results doing SMASH Thanks again for this great video.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Great to hear :)

[@philcurtis8935]

Whenever I view one of your vids, I just want to go out and fire up the B40 and knock one out (ahem!) Another gem David.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Haha, sounds good to me Phil, I think :p

[@jarobles80]

Last weekend I did a SMASH british golden ale. I'll tell you later how it goes. ¡Saludos desde Ecuador!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Great, thank you :)

[@slaw38]

Smash are great beers. might try this one. This one seems to have a very low amount of hops. Can you still taste and smell the hops in the beer with such low quantities being used. Mosaic is also a great hop for smash beers.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

They sure are. This is not a super hoppy smash, just a regular smash ale.

[@jimmybacon1868]

Hi David, thanks for the video and the recipe! The beer tastes really good.. Unfortunately I could not get the "Bootleg Biology" yeast so I took the "Lutra Kveik" from Omega, and it turns really awesome! Probably a bit more "lagery" style than your recipe... Honestly have you never thought about writing a book with all your recipes ? That would be really cool !

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

That will work just fine Jimmy. Many have suggested a recipe book but then it becomes something that costs money which I would rather avoid.

[@matswilliams1058]

Thnx for another super vid!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Many thanks Mats :)

[@jasonstuart7058]

Another great video? I actually want to know about your chiller. Where did you get it? How is it set up? And where did you find the connections that allow a thermometer in the flow? Thanks

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

This is a converted Grainfather chiller, it is sold with the G30. The thermometer part is an official upgrade.

[@TheFirstStater]

Pilsner malt and Saaz hops with Bohemian lager yeast. A most challenging beer to brew.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Wonderful when you get it right!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

For sure :)

[@Zumaray]

Challenge accepted. Ta.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

🍻🍻🍻

[@jamesgoacher1606]

Great video.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Many thanks James, much appreciated :)

[@jamesgoacher1606]

@@DavidHeathHomebrew I was thinking after the video that I (almost) make SMASH brews. That is Mostly Pale with a few effectively colouring Mallt and simple Hops. I know Goldings and Fuggles are not identical but I do not have any Fuggles in stock so Goldings will do. BTW I have the (Hop) ingredients for an Imperial IPA which uses Citra Hops. I have an aversion to Orange juice in my beer being a Derbyshire lad and brought up on Burton type ales (Kimberly, Home, Shipstones and indeed beautiful BASS, you may not know the other three), but I have the stuff and wonder if (in your opinion, no pressure :-)) the Hops sealed in their original Kevlar bags will be worth the Malt investment. I am inclined yes, have you a firm no-no? You recently implied that the Citrus was --- dispersable :-).

[@DaveRetter]

Hi David, thank you for your channel and its informative, helpful videos. I have very much enjoyed the Easy Pale Ale and just brewed a second batch with Galaxy/Citra over the weekend. I have really appreciated the time savings from a 30 minute boil. Noting this video is a couple of years old, would you still keep to this hop schedule, or would you shift to something closer to the Easy Pale Ale with a 15 minute addition and the rest added into the whirlpool? Thanks so much. Dave

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Hi Dave, great to hear, this is part of my channels aims. In respect of older recipes with longer boils I have a guide here for conversion:- kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHqXiYmqfMmVpZY

[@thaifoodtakeaway]

Great video again, although at 8:40 it doesn't look like wort what's going into the fermenter :-D

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Thank you :) It was wort though...I promise! :)

[@hallerproductions]

Trying your Brew Father Citra Smash recipe this weekend! Could not find the Oslo Kveik but found Voss. Seems like it will work well? Looking forward to trying!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Yes, Voss will work just fine 🍻🍻🍻

[@hallerproductions]

Question. The recipe in Brew Father notes to use .25 of a package. The Voss I have a dry yeast in an 11g package. So, presuming I would weigh out 2.75g and use that? Thanks

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

I tend to over pitch for smaller volumes.

[@hallerproductions]

Sorry, one more question. In your brew father recipe, I do not see any conditioning noted. I am seven days into fermentation. Should I leave in fermenter for another week or bottle now (as seems to be indicated in the recipe)? Once bottled, should it condition in-bottle for a week or so, prior to refrigeration? Thanks.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

@hallerproductions No problem. You will want to make sure that the fermentation is over by checking with a hydrometer. Once ready and bottled with carbonation sugar you will need to leave them to carbonate for about a week at room temperatures. Check out this series of videos:- kzbin.info/aero/PLeY07JqsrXM_biHp7Y3xIB7TnAY6Ru7pE&si=ty7p8-NoX9KiZ9N8

[@superslyko123]

The first time I saw the acronym SMASH beer, I thought WTF? Now it's a staple in my brewhouse.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

They sure are great beers 🍻🍻🍻

[@jaskats1]

Great video!!! What is the metal side arm on the Grainfather wort chiller at 8:27 mins? BTW, great idea with the thermometer hooked to the Wortometer! Thanks again!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Thank you :) That is the lifting arm for the grain basket. I used it to raise the CFC up to avoid the cold water pipe getting too compressed underneth the CFC on the bucket :)

[@rG-sp9ix]

David thanks again for this very nice Video ! I am currently doing SMASH and in a few days dry hopping should happen. My main goal is to differenciate in a panel of several beers - made of 3 different yeasts and 3 different hops - the unique flavours to know better how to build beers. Would you recommend for that a dry hopping (of what? 3 days? max 5?) or a hop tea? (I'll add a bit of bitterness then right?) Thanks a lot !

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Awesome, this is a great way to go for sure. When dry hopping 3 days contact time is enough.

[@dovydast]

Doing my saga of Davids recopies. Time for this one. Question about Kveik yeast. Recipy calls for 28C for 7 days. Will it work with 23C? Will it add more time ar affect it in any other way?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

It will work, it just might be slower.

[@barbarian_1016]

Love the concept! I assume it is recommended to do this with a half batch? I would like to try this will all the malts and all the hops. I believe it should give you a extremely good idea of what everything does. Just don't think it is practical to make all the malts and all the hops...

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Usually with smash it will be a small batch for testing or a large batch with something you have done before and just want more of :)

[@rossometallo]

You're a godsend indeed :DD Have a quick question. Does bittering (kettle) hop has any effect on aroma or flavor? If not can we choose always the cheapest one, like Brewer's Gold?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Thanks :) Bittering hops do not contribute aroma but they do have different types of bittering. The cheapest way is to use the hops with the highest alpha acid %. Warrior is usually around 16% and works well.

[@michaelarmstrong5405]

Hi David, I brewed this beer yesterday as a learning aid using Marris Otter and Citra. All seemed well until the 15min hop addition. I used a hop spider for the bittering and emptied it prior to adding the 15min addition. I haven't used the spider for 2 years but did based on the idea of limiting vegetal matter going into the fermenter. I used a recirculation pump and even without any hops in the wort I found the spider was collecting a lot of the hot break,, is this correct? So at 15min I added the hop addition and the brew bright and then waited to flameout. At flameout I added the 1min addition and proceeded to cool to 80*C and then at 80*C I added the 0min addition. I have BIAB and a counter flow chiller. I waited 15min removed the hops and used the paddle and drill to start the whirlpool. The wort went extremely frothy and after 30min the wort didn't settle out?? So I transferred to the fermenter. I didn't find the usual cone in the bottom of the kettle, but what went into the fermenter had a very noticeable coagulated hot break. I was going to run this through a filter but decided not to because I am at a loss as to what I should have done. I do struggle with the whirlpool and now realise why you use the immersion chiller for this purpose. The idea for the whirlpool as I understand it is to minimise the hot break going into the fermented, But how far can you take this idea? The flavours come from the wort and not the trub left on the bottom of the fermenter? Cheers and thanks once again Michael

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Yes, hop spiders are not something I use for hops. When I do use them its for things like sugar additions.

[@kontiii]

Just discovered your channel , its fantastic. i'll be brewing this for my first AG brew however we cant get that yeast here in Australia. what other yeast would you recommend. thanks

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Great, thank you. Both Kegland and Brewcrafter sell kveik yeast in Australia but really you can use any yeast with such a recipe. All part of the fun and discovery part of smash. Fermentis US05 is a very easy regular yeast that you could also use. Hope this helps :)

[@kontiii]

@@DavidHeathHomebrew thanks for the respon kegland sell kviek however not oslo. Will any kviek do ? Sorry for the noob question but i really wanted to do your smash for my first ag brew. Cheers

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Sure, no problem. These Smash beers are all about being versatile. There is no wrong yeast for this but more neutral types will allow the hops to shine. if you can get Voss Kveik then great but others will still work :)

[@kenfowler5407]

I like doing SMASH it’s good to experiment!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Thanks Ken, yes totally :)

[@rimmersbryggeri]

Did you ever try the weihenstephan mashing method? I thought it might be suitable for the brut ipa style I saw your video on the other day maybe in conjuction with a yeast like Mangrove Jacks CY-17, Red Star Côte des Blancs, Lalvin EC-1118 and hops like nelson sauvin and galaxy. What do you think?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Sure, though decoction mashing is not quite so relevant these days with the highly modified malt we have. When you have time it is certainly something worth experimenting with.

[@rimmersbryggeri]

@@DavidHeathHomebrew Not quite decoction mashing what I was talking about. I totally agree that decotion and turbid mashing are means to circumvent different obstacles that were more relevant in the past. For some reason I can't find the article I am referring to right now but my line of thought was that this half and half ype of mash would eliminate the need for corn and rice in that specific beer style since the lower temperature seckond mash step achives naturallyu what those additions achive "artificially". I wouldnt exactly call it decoction mashing in the traditional sense but maybe it falls under that definition. This might not be the right forum to discuss it furher tthough.

[@klas80n]

Thanks for the video and recipe! The recipe calls for 0,25 pkt of yeast. Is that really enough?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

It will depend on the volume you brew.

[@klas80n]

@@DavidHeathHomebrew Of course. :) I was asking in regards to the volumes in your recipe, i.e.20L batch - 0.25pkt jeast.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Hi Klas, you will need to scale it with volume.

[@NadenBandRepertoire]

@@DavidHeathHomebrew This’ll just be my second batch that I’m working on and the other wasn’t with dry yeast. Do you have to rehydrate before pitching or did you just pitch the dry yeast into the fermenter?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Just pitch. Rehydrating yeast is old advice.

[@waynerob1946]

are you not concerned about wild yeast infection rather than say a closed o2 infusion _ I always thought that hot side was much more vunerable

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

No, not at all to be honest. After fast approaching almost 40 years of brewing I can count on one hand the amount of brews that I suspect have had wild yeast join the party. This is not an infection or a contamination for that matter, it is simply something different. Each time it has not ruined the beer, just given it a different twist.

[@waynerob1946]

@@DavidHeathHomebrew thanks for that David - love your channel

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Cheers Wayne :)

[@zzing]

I rather like the idea of that counterflow chiller and the temperature monitor. Got any links to these products?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

The CFC is from Grainfather but the are many other types, including from Kegland. The temp addition is one of these:- shop.grainfather.com/wortometer.html I have a seperate video about the wortometer also.

[@itsazza7440]

Did you dry hop this David? If so how much? Cheers and thanks for the video

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Hi! No, I did not but you can :) The recipe is in the description :) It would work with a dry hop also.

[@Sam-fg6bt]

Would golden promise pale ale malt be good/ok for a smash beer as I have plenty of Citra mosaic and simcoe to use up and a 25kg bag of golden promise

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Yes, Golden promise would be a great choice :)

[@aknighttoremember]

Any reason why Golden Promise couldn’t be used?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

No problem at all. It is essentially Scottish Maris Otter.

[@paskrell]

Idea: what about brewing a SMa base of 20liters in the vessel of your choice, separating it in parts of 5 liters and then smashing 1 hop kind in each for separate boils and fermentation’s? For most home breweries we would not have enough vessels but you could do and show us??

[@paskrell]

Do you think one could let the 20 liters cool down and do one boil after the other in one pot rather than in the vessel? That would make it easier to do. Just thinking loud here.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Yes splitting a batch like this is easy. You could also use different yeast in each. I showed this a long time ago:- kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpy2k2CVbtyikM0

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Yes, no problem

[@paskrell]

Thx! Very useful

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Great :)

[@rockspider692]

Can one dry hop a smash or will it leave a "gap" in the tasting profile?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Sure you can 🍻🍻🍻

[@user-mr9tw6dj6h]

Hi David, after 2 batches of messing around and get beer at the end, I am ready to explore recipe writing to match end beer results in tested recipe. As the country I am in do not have extensive selection of ingredients, I will need to substitute here and there. Can you please advice, to start this recipe writing, which software will you recommend? I would like emulate the recipe that you have here, but my citra is having AA of about 14%? Thanks in advance

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Great to hear Chris. Yes subbing is quite normal really. I strongly recommend Brewfather. You can start off with trying it for free. I have a guide for use here:- kzbin.info/www/bejne/a4aTeZSjlpeBra8

[@user-mr9tw6dj6h]

@@DavidHeathHomebrew Thanks David. Even if I have the exact ingredient that is stated in the recipe, I will still need to adjust the hops to get the BU:GU correct to the recipe. I remember in some of your videos, grains and yeast can be tabulated by ratio of batch size, but not the hops. Not sure if I understand that correctly.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Yes, exactly:)

[@user-mr9tw6dj6h]

@@DavidHeathHomebrew Thanvk you for the reply. I know I can count on you

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

No problem, anytime :)

[@LordMcMPA]

0:49 "as a rather well known man once said" Dude, he was AMAZING in 'Django Unchained' and 'Inception', wasn't he? ;D

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Haha, yes :)

[@maureydion1150]

Hi is regular kveik dry ale yeast ok for this recipe?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Sure, that will work 🍻🍻🍻

[@lmixour]

Are there any special measures you are taking to expect a 93% attenuation ? Your mash temp doesn't seem to be that low and bootleg biology talks about 76 - 86% attenuation ... Thank you for your awesome videos, I am an avid follower and have learned a lot from you.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Thanks. This was really a test to see if it would attenuate that far, Brewfather had a higher rate on it. Right now my tilt says it came down to 1,007. I am yet to take a sample to check on this.

[@TheHavoci]

Smashing

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Many thanks Scott :)

[@ijwhiting2296]

Hi, how would this go with no chill? Would you recommend any alterations?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Hi, No chill can be used with any recipe, no need for further changes :)

[@ijwhiting2296]

@@DavidHeathHomebrew thanks David, I was worried about it being too bitter due to the temp staying high for a longer period of time.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

No worries there :)

[@maureydion1150]

Hi David. When I chilled for my hopstand I overshot by about 15 degrees Fahrenheit and then slowly brought it back up to 185. Do you think this might be an issue?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Did you pitch your yeast at the right temperature?

[@maureydion1150]

I pitched at about 82 farenheit.

[@maureydion1150]

It bubbled like a mad man within 3 hours.

[@maureydion1150]

Well maybe 4 hours.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Ok, great :) Should be fine then 🍻

[@paulocosta7373]

I tried a BIAB Smash and came out hazy. Did you filter your beer or normal laggering?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Normal methods personally. I never filter beer.

[@journeyfortwo5211]

How about a Munich Marzen SMaSH?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

100% munich malt works nicely. Add the appropriate yeast and hops and this would be simple yet good I should think.

[@kingzor100]

How come you only use 24g of hops for a 20l batch? I just started and the ipa recipes ive found all use around 100g or more per 20l batch

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

kingzor100 These are Cryo hops. They have an AA % of 23.5 :) I have a section in the video that talks about this :)

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

He is brewing an APA and they are crying hops

[@kingzor100]

@@DavidHeathHomebrew ok thanks im still very new to all this. I thing i screwed up my 2nd batch i just did a pilsner and didnt know that pitching yeast meant rehydration and only poured in the dry yeast as is o bottled it yesterday and pre bottling it sorta tastes like sugary water

[@djsomers100]

@@kingzor100 if you added yeast to unfermented wort as you bottled it, you have just made a whole bunch of ticking time bombs. If fermentation happens in the bottle to unfermented wort, the bottles will explode. Hope you meant you just put the wort in the fermenter, not bottles.

[@kingzor100]

@@djsomers100 no i didntpitch the yeast priperly so i think it died cause the last 2 weeks of fermentation absolutely nothing happend

[@joshbarr6390]

How do you figure a partial package of yeast?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

What do you mean Josh?

[@joshbarr6390]

@David Heath Homebrew your recipe calls for 3/4 teaspoon of the yeast. In the brewfather app at says 0.25 package of the oslo from bootleg. Just curious how you know how you determine that?

[@joshbarr6390]

@David Heath Homebrew I'm planning on trying this recipe since I have plenty of citra at the moment. Going to sub for a different 2 row pale malt and probably use Voss kviek. But I've only ever used a full yeast pack before. Just making sure I understand the recipe.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Oh I see. I had forgotten about that. Yes, I just took out the amount and figured how much it was. In this case one quarter of the yeast in the pack.

[@TheGavranatar]

Has anyone made a smash beer yet with Bavarian Mandarina hops and Munich malt... and called it Bayern Munich?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

:)

It is pronounced YAK-i-ma. No long e sound. Trust me, I have been there several times.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Thanks for the information