You NEED to Brew SMaSH Beers

[@SCROWMD]

Good video, Thanks.! Biggest game changer for me was finally getting to understand water chemistry. Day and night difference in my final products now. The reason for "mash out" is to get the last bit of sugars out and hit your anticipated O.G. (as you said, small difference for a home brewer. I am usually within 0.002 units either way) Oxygen reduced beer transfer to a keg is another great addition for the home brewer.Especially for the IPA's

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

Great to hear!

[@Tobytiesdell]

Perfect timing this video, thank you. I'm wating for a wort chiller to arrive and this Saturday I will be reviewing my brewing process. I brew 1 gallon batches but I'm not sure what my boil off rates are with the 12l pot, so I will follow your recipe for the exercise. I'm going to use spring water as I get the 5l containers for future brews. I heat my strike water to 78C and then mash at 70C for one hour, i can fit my pot in the oven and keep the temp regulated. I remove and heat to 75C and mash out for 7 minutes. I remove the grain bag and allow to drain before checking the gravity, and id all is well I start the boil. This is what I need to test so I can create my recipes correctly for a 1 hour boil. I have a visit to the brew shop tomorrow too. The place is going to smell great this weekend.

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

Awesome, good luck Toby! All you need to do is just get 1% better every time you brew and in no time you'll be making incredible beers! Hope it goes well on Saturday

[@Tobytiesdell]

@@Kveiksmithdaryl All good plans etc. I went to the brew shop today to get some malts/yeasts etc and they did have the 30l kettle their web page said was sold out. So to answer your original question, I have been playing with a simple recipe on brewing calculators and will try a 16l batch of a simple ale with honey. I have everything ready and will see how far the theory v actual works. Fingers crossed, and thank you for your kind words and videos.

[@Tobytiesdell]

So far the brew is following the recipe and BIAB calculator. I will be bottling this weekend after two weeks fermenting, the brew was dry hopped after seven days.

[@kacperzielinski9870]

Hello - nice video. My biggest improvement was crushing grains at home just before mashing. I don't know what exactly change but actually efficiency improved and beer is much more flavory. Can you share link to BIAB bag and possibly this nice strainer? I'm on keg with false bottom with fly sparge - but BIAB looks tempting. Wise thing (but I'm not doing this ;) is to repeat one recipe and alter this until you get this perfect. For sure I will try Kveik - thanks to your videos.

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

Thank you so much for watching. The bag was from eBay, the exact one isn’t available anymore unfortunately. The strainer is from IKEA!

[@BrewabitRick]

I have just got a ph meter today, I do a generic water profile for all brews. Sometimes check the ph with those strip’s that are not very precise but not now I’m also dialling it in cheers 👍🍻

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

Awesome! I tried strips for a while and they never worked out for me, found them useless! Good luck on your first brew using it!

[@ElementaryBrewingCo]

Sounds like a great beer! I’d say the biggest game changer for me was moving from bottling to kegging my beer.

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

Ahhhhh I keep seeing this, I know I need to make the jump. Starting research now!

[@jayworthington6831]

For me it's Pressure Fermenting. Here in Perth Western Australia it gets quite hot in summer and helps with Lagers & Pilsners!

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

Great shout, I can't wait to eventually try out pressure fermenting!

[@mdspider]

My latest game changer is the overnight mash. It really changed my brew day. We will see if it makes a better beer though.

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

I must give that a try! I'm going to try a raw ale soon which I'm hoping could have the same kind of game changing feel!

[@Javaman92]

My brew I am drinking right now, in describing it to a friend on the phone, that's just what I told him, it looks and tastes like a professional beer. What's different between you and me is, it's my very first brew! :-D

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

Ha ha, perhaps I'm more critical!

[@Javaman92]

@@Kveiksmithdaryl I'm sure so! I keep smelling and tasting for all these things you guys say you smell and taste. I just taste good beer. lol

[@smntsn]

Thanks for the video. You can try gelatine. It really helps about clearing more and fast(4 days).

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

A great shout but the problem for me is that I'm a vegetarian and don't really want to use animal products in my brews. However I have heard of some vegan gelatine products that can work

[@wrayzor97]

Nice Simcoe smash brew. Temp control is my biggest game changer.

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

Really feel like proper temp control could massively change the game for me too! Feels like it will result in more consistency

[@jsfourdirections]

Looks like a lovely brew mate!

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

Cheers!

[@stevenplass3139]

How did you carbonate this? Bottle carb? In keg under pressure and time...? Confused because you poured from bottle. If bottle carb did you add priming sugar or carbonating drops or...?

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

Hi Steve, I bottle carb using priming sugar, I've never tried out carbonating drops but I'd be interested to give them a go some time

[@CascadesHomebrew]

Did you add acid to the mash initially? If not, it is probably worth playing around with software to help you predict mash pH and the needed adjustments. I will say, after 3 years of adjusting my water chemistry, I still struggle a bit with pH. Software prediction models seem to vary a bit and I am not sure how much confidence I have in my inexpensive pH meter. I feel like the road from "bad homebrew" to brewing quality beers is a series of improvements. Things on my list would be things like moving to all-grain, kegging, yeast starters, fermentation temp control, water chemistry, avoiding cold side oxidation, etc. I am sure I will add a few more improvements over the next few years.

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

That's really interesting, I had not considered altering the PH right at the start. I suppose if I was to brew this beer or similar again I would be able to confidently do the same acid alterations to get the right PH earlier. You're so right about incremental improvements. "If you get one percent better each day for one year, you'll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you're done" - James Clear

[@martyandjamie]

good video cheers

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

Thanks for watching!

[@jonathang.5092]

Interesting stuff! I'm actually halfway through my second all-grain brew day whilst watching this. I'm agonising over my mash temp being too low. Discrepancy between thermometers. I've never checked pH ever. Should I?? First AG brew (a porter) was beautiful.

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

If you're still very new to the hobby I'd say checking your pH isn't the most important thing you need to be considering at the moment, just the main brewing process. However you can get cheap paper pH strips which you could try out, if you notice that your water has a super high or low pH then you'll want to start considering altering it. A Controlled mash temperature results in more consistency but it will not result in a bad beer if it's a little too low or high so don't stress!

[@jonathang.5092]

@@Kveiksmithdaryl Yeah I'm just getting my tap water analysed. Will go from there re. water chemistry. I think it's the next step for me.

[@FermentationAdventures]

The biggest game changer for me was temp control for fermentation. It was huge.

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

I'm in the process of trying to work out how I can do this in the tiny space I currently have available for brewing. I know temp control is the most important next step for me!

[@Eileen_J97]

I think the descriptor you were looking for is "commercial beer" flavor.

[@AndrewLynch9]

Biggest changes over time have been kegging, moving to stainless fermenter with pressure control, community involvement as well

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

I'd like to move to kegging in the next year! Totally agree about community insolvent, I've only just recently started speaking to other home brewers (Mostly thanks to getting involved with KZbin!)

[@6120pavel]

Hello. I have an automatic brewer. I would love to see complex recipes with multi-temperature pauses

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

I'd love to have an automatic brewer but at the moment I've got to keep it old school!

[@neostroll9992]

Pilsner malt = lager style beer, go 50/50 Maris Otter + Pilsner, not a SMaSH but does that really matter ?

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

Totally does not matter! I've never done 50/50 with them, but I'm now pretty keen to make a similar beer with that malt bill!

[@michaeljames3509]

Neo Stroll.. Maris Otter is high modified, to over modified, malt, why would you use it for producing ale and lager? There are two types of malt on the market, malt that makes ale and lager, and malt that doesn't. Malthouses produce high modified, high protein, malt and higher quality, under modified, low protein, malt, and both types of malt are in bags stamped Brewers Malt, and ale and lager malt can be either type of malt. Malthouses provide a malt spec sheet with every bag of malt, they are online, to let a moonshiner that uses high modified, high protein, malt, and an ale and lager brewer that uses higher quality, under modified, low protein, malt, know which malt is which, in a bag. The chemical acronym and numbers listed on a malt spec sheet are used for determining the quality of malt, before purchasing malt. Maris Otter is great malt to use for producing moonshiners beer with single temperature infusion because that what the malt is made for.

[@neostroll9992]

@@michaeljames3509 No idea what you're on about really, Maris Otter has been used for making ales for centuries and is still used around the world for making anything from a good old traditional British bitter to the newer style of hoppy beers like NEIPAs. It's brilliant by itself but equally good if used with other malts.

[@paul.b1730]

Great to see that a SMASH can be a smash!

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

They can often 'smash' expectations

[@ogjbot]

RO water probably biggest positive change I made, but it’s so wasteful I really wish it wasn’t !!

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

Ooooooo, I'll put it on my list for the far future!

[@michaeljames3509]

The absolute best way for you to improve your skills in producing ale and lager is to scrap the home brew method that you were taught and learn how to produce ale and lager, instead of producing the moonshiners beer that you believe is ale and lager because the recipe said so. Whoever invented the recipe has absolutely no idea how to produce ale or lager. You are using the same brewing method and the same temperature that moonshiners use for producing moonshiners beer meant for distillation. Who told you that ale and lager can be produced with the brewing method, the local home brew guru, an inexpensive book on how to make homemade beer, or from a video similar to your video? At this point in time you have no idea how ale and lager are produced and anyone that follows your instructions and recipe will be in the same boat. At 65, 66, Beta rapidly denatures. Beta is responsible for conversion at 60. During conversion Beta turns simple sugar, glucose, into fermentable, complex sugars, maltose and maltotriose, which aren't needed for making moonshine and because of that moonshiners purposely denature Beta. Maltose and maltotriose are the sugars that produce ale and lager, glucose, only makes alcohol, and at 65, 66, Alpha releases the highest volume of glucose within one hour and that's why moonshiners use the temperatures. So, you improved your brewing process and managed to wipe out important enzymes that produce ale and lager but ensured that mash pH was appropriate for the moonshiners beer that you produced? The cart is in front of the horse, kinda. Brewing ale and lager is method driven, recipes that recommend single temperature infusion for producing ale and lager are worthless, besides, you won't need recipes after you learn how to produce ale and lager. It takes two steps to produce malt liquor and only one step for making moonshiners beer. Since, you are interested in making moonshiners beer that is meant to be distilled, which is a step below malt liquor quality, and use the brewing method and temperature that produce moonshiners beer, you skipped the steps that are used for producing ale and lager. The moonshiners method skips conversion, dextrinization and gelatinization because the steps aren't needed for making moonshine and they get in the way. Strike and target temperature are useless for producing ale and lager, and just so you know, amylase works quite well at 37 and works pretty good at 10 to 13. Mash out is used sometimes in the decoction method, where low temperatures are used to preserve enzymes, and where starch carry over is less of a concern. Mash out is unnecessary in the infusion method and causes issues. After baking Alpha for an hour at 65, 66, and with the high temperature strike water, Alpha was pretty much wiped out after 60 minutes. The high temperature used during mash out ruptures heat resistant, complex starch, called amylopectin, when Alpha denatures, which causes starch carry over. You threw away the rest of the amylopectin with the spent mash, which is the starch that contains the ingredients that forms body and mouthfeel in ale and lager. The rest temperature wasn't high enough to burst amylopectin and the richest, starch in malt that you paid for, you turned into compost, whereas a moonshiner sells the starch and maltodextrin is made from it. To make up for the starch that home brewers turn into compost recipes recommend ingredients that loads extract with sludge, which also reduces the quality and shelf life of beer. Then, home brewers use a brewing method that does nothing to clean the extract or that produces sugar and chemically balanced extract, that the same recipes recommend they should use. Yes, use Kwak yeast and dump in nutrient. It's what a moonshiner does. Ale and lager brewers wouldn't use the yeast because it is spastic and adding yeast nutrient to make the yeast work is a red flag. If your interest is in producing beer that goes from boiler to belly in a couple of weeks, you may need to re-evaluate why you are making beer, more so, what you are drinking. Mash pH is adjusted before enzymatic action begins, not during the high temperature mashing process. Mash is rested at a low temperature to allow the inherent pH of malt to reduce mash pH before enzymes activate. After mash pH stabilizes pH adjustments are made and mash temperature is increased to activate enzymes. Malt pH is usually listed on a malt spec sheet and with brewing water at pH 7 to 7.2 mash pH should reduce to 5.7 to 5.8, lower if crystal and black malt are added. So, if mash pH was 6, what chemicals did you dump in or was the pH of the brewing water high? I'm going to tell you right now, you don't know how to use chemicals and to believe stories/computer generated recipes that recommend a certain amount of drywall, laxative, road salt, pickling salt, etc. makes better beer you need to understand that the guy that recommended the chemicals sells chemicals, which is easy when their customers have no idea how to produce ale and lager. You have absolutely no idea what needs to be done when chemicals are added and on top of that you use a brewing method that does nothing with the chemicals. You are a long way from being Pierre Curie and Louie Pasteur. Until you learn how to produce ale and lager you will waste time chasing rabbits down holes trying to fix issues that the brewing method and recipes that you use, cause. The beer is very lagerey? Now, that is hilarious, especially, when you wiped out enzymes that produce ale and lager and used a brewing method that chemically and enzymatically cannot produce the beer without a magic wand. The beer that you made is rough and imbalanced and you are afflicted with UBS, Ugly Baby Syndrome. Crisp Euro Pils is very good malt but to soak the malt in hot water at one temperature for an hour is a waste of good malt. When Crisp Euro Pils came on the market, I was asked to try it. I used two bags of the malt because I produce net 150 liters of beer per batch and during the brewing process the mash jelled up and to break the jell I had to add 6 row malt. The beer was very similar to Harp, but I use the brewing method that Harp Brewery uses, which is the decoction method. If I use the malt again, I'll change up the brewing process so that I won't need 6 row malt. I wasn't familiar with the malt and worked with it the same way that I work with Weyermann, under modified, malt, which is easier to work with. Enzymatically, Weyermann is stronger malt.

[@Kveiksmithdaryl]

Lots of interesting points to take from this. Will look into your suggestions.

[@8000cheese]

@@Kveiksmithdaryl take a drink every time he says “ale and lager” or “moonshine” and suddenly the doctoral thesis he left you starts to mellow out.

[@AnalogueInTheUK]

Boring.