The Smoke Monster

Beer of the Month Program

December 2018  – The Smoke Monster

One of the best parts about making beer (aside from drinking it) is the social aspect. Brewers love to swap recipes, discuss what well or horribly wrong in their brews. We thought it would be a fun idea to start a beer conversation here. We’re going to make a beer every month here and encourage other brewers to make it as well. In the end, we’re hoping we can share our opinions and experiences with the recipe and crowd-source some improvements. The recipes will be easy to make and we will gladly assist new home brewers in the production of these beers. They will all be 5.5 gallons in size. We find that after fermenting and racking a 5.5 gallon batch turns into a standard 5 gallon batch pretty quickly.

At the start of every month we will post the recipe in store, as well as on our website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We will also have a set price for the recipe that will include a discount of up to 25%!

The Smoke Monster

Smoked Amber Ale – 5.5 Gal – OG 1.054 – FG 1.014 – ABV 5.3% – IBU 37 – SRM 14

In the days before streaming, we would all sit by the TV and watch a 42 minute program spread out over an hour. One of the final shows to be extremely popular during this format was ‘Lost’. If you haven’t watched, go check it out! Seasons 1-3 were utterly fantastic. A common foe of the characters in the show was the Smoke Monster. It would swell up out of nowhere and devour some poor ship wrecked survivor.

Enough of the preamble though, let’s talk about the beer! It is full bodied, with brash hints of smokiness that is balanced by the big malt profile. The 37 IBUs of hops keeps all those flavours in check resulting in a very well balanced beer.

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Ingredients 

Grains

• 2 Row x 6.5lbs
• Beech Smoked Malt x 3.0lbs
• Special B x 0.3lbs
• Coffee Malt x 0.25lbs
• Crystal Medium x 1lb

Hops

• Columbus (13% A.A.) – 1oz @ 35min
• Fuggle (6%) – 1oz @ 5min

Yeast

• S-04 British Ale Yeast (or you can use Escarpment Lab’s Scottish Ale Yeast)

Extras

• Irish Moss (1 tsp for last 15 minutes of boil)
• Dry Malt Extract (150-170g for priming at bottling)

Important Tips on Brewing

• Be extra cautious when it comes to cleaning! Once you have stopped boiling your wort everything that gets in contact with the beer MUST be sanitary.
• The temperature of your mash is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL. Not being in the 150-155f range can drastically affect your beer. Make sure you correct the temperature ASAP once all of the grain has been added to the mash.
• Always let your beer ferment for 10 days! Do not disturb it, do not open the lid. It is absolutely natural for the airlock to stop bubbling after a few days, it is still fermenting though.
• Oxidization: Airspace is always something to consider. When undergoing primary fermentation airspace is needed so that the beer can bubble up and ferment vigoursley without leaking out of the container. The fermentation creates a layer of CO2 that remains in the pail due to the airlock. Once primary fermentation is over and the lid has been opened, the layer of CO2 dissipates and oxygen replaces it. At this point airspace can ruin your beer. When racking into carboys make sure they are filled to the top, or you blast CO2 inside to prevent oxidization. Ask us for details on this!
• Before bottling, make sure you use a priming calculator (many can be found online) to verify the amount of sugar that needs to be added.

Instructions

Mashing -> converting the grain into a fermentable liquid.

• Bring 6 gallons of water in your brew pot to 160°F. This is our strike temperature. Turn off the heat to the pot.
• Wrap the muslin/nylon bag around the brew pot and slowly pour all the milled grains into the bag. Stir them in while adding to prevent clumps. The addition of grain should drop the temperature down to 150-155°F.
• We want to mash the grain at 154°F for 60 minutes. It is very important to hold the temperature at 154°F. If the temperature rises above 155°F it hurts the fermentation, or if it dips below 150°F it can lead to a very thin tasting beer.
  1. The first 15-30 minutes are essential for the success of your brew. The temperature HAS TO BE IN THE RANGE OF 150-155°F. Sometimes adding the grain to the strike water does not lower the temperature enough, in this case add a little bit of cold water to bring the temperature down. Cover the pot with your lid and let it sit.
  2. Most brew pots will be able to maintain 154°F without adding heat for 20 minutes, we recommend checking the temperature every 15 minutes, and if it drops add more heat to bring it up.
• After 60 minutes, bring the temperature of the mashing grain up to 170°F and hold for 10 minutes. This is our mash out.
• Time to remove the grain. Lift the bag full of grain out of the brew pot. Let the liquid in the bag dribble into your wort. Once that is done, put the bag inside of a brewing pail, or another empty pot. There will be about 4 gallons of wort in the brewpot, we need to get it to 6 gallons before we can begin the next stage.
• Run warm water through the grains in the bag, aim for 170°f – let it run through the grains and add to the brewpot. Add until you reach 6 gallons.
  1. PSA: It is natural to think that the grains need to be squeezed to get all of the liquid out of them, DO NOT DO THIS. Aggressively squeezing the grains will lead to tannin extraction and a doughy taste in your beer. Lightly pressing the bag is fine, but do not try to squeeze every last drop out.

Boiling -> Hop addition time

• Bring 6 gallons of your wort to a rolling boil, and let it boil for 5 minutes, this is called the hot break.
• Set a timer for 60 minutes, continue to keep the wort boiling (212°f) and uncovered.
• With 30 minutes left in the 60 minutes, add 1oz of Columbus
• With 15 minutes left in the 60 minute add the Irish Moss and if you’re using a wort chiller add that too.
• With 5 minutes left, add 1oz of Fuggle. When the timer goes off take the beer of off heat.
• Now it’s time to cool the beer down to 75°f (20-25°c) as quickly as possible.
  1. We love using a wort chiller for this, it can get the beer down to temperature in 20-30 minutes. Otherwise, you can immerse the brew pot in an ice bath, or wait it out. The longer it takes, the greater the risk of infection

Fermentation -> Turning the wort into beer

• After the boil is done it is time to be extra careful in regards to sanitation. We recommend using a no-rinse sanitizer called Starsan. Mix ¼ tsp of it with water in a 500ml spray bottle. Before we touch any part of the beer we spray it with Starsan.
• Transfer the cooled wort into your fermenting pail or carboy. Run it though a strainer to catch any hop or grain residue.
  1. It is also an important time to take a hydrometer reading. It should be around 1.053 give or take a few points.
• Your choice of fermentation vessel is important. During primary fermentation, it will bubble up quite a bit, you want to be sure there is airspace for it to work away. Otherwise the pressure of it will push out the airlock.
• Make sure the wort has been cooled to at least 25c!!! Adding yeast at a higher temperature will likely kill it.
• Once the beer is in the fermenter, pour in the entire package of S-04 yeast.
• Put the bung and airlock in the hole (make sure there is water filled up to the line in the airlock). If using a pail, make sure the lid is sealed tight. Put the pail in a room that is in the range of 18-21°c.
• After 10 days have passed, take a hydrometer reading. It should be somewhere between 1.010-1.015.
• Rack the beer into a sterilized 5-gallon carboy. It is important to fill the carboy to the top; airspace can lead to oxidization within 2 days.
  1. If you want to avoid secondary, let the beer sit in the fermenter for two weeks instead of 10 days and then proceed directly to bottling. This will slightly impact the clarity of the beer, but it will also limit potential issues with oxidization.
• If possible, let the beer sit somewhere nice and cold for 1-2 weeks. This will help with clarity and will give the beer a bit more crispness.

Bottling -> We’re getting close to Beer Time now.

• It’s now been a couple of weeks since we first starting brewing. Rack the now fermented and clarified beer into your bucket.
• At the same time, mix the priming sugar with 300ml of boiling water and add to the beer. Stir it in VERY gently.
• Rack the beer into your bottles or growlers. Then, let them sit for 2 weeks at room temperature. Chill and enjoy!