Author: Phil Rusher

Since its inception, beer has evolved due in large part to available resources and technology, which has ultimately led to the emergence of distinct regional beer styles. One example of this is in the way certain cultures handled the malting process, and in particular, the process in which the malted grain was dried. Before modern kilns were widely available, maltsters relied on more direct methods of drying malt including placing it over an open flame where wood was the primary heat source. This wasn’t a gimmick, but rather a reliance on what was available to accomplish a task, and the resultant beers just so happened to have a smoky character that many drinkers eventually took a liking to.

Situated in Bamburg, Germany, Schlenkerla Brewery has held to the tradition of drying their grain over a fire fed by beechwood logs to produce their well known Rauchbier. Likely inspired by this historic brewery, larger maltsters offer brewers around the world malt smoked with beechwood. However, similar to the way particular varieties of wood can be used to impart varying flavors to smoked meat, modern maltsters are also smoking their malt with different types of wood including that which comes from cherry trees. Whereas beechwood smoked malt is said to impart notes of smoky vanilla and honey, malt smoked with cherrywood purportedly adds a sweet and subtly fruity character to beer.

I’m a fan of most things smoky, from meat and peaty Scotch to classic German Rauchbier. Having consumed my fair share of Schlenkerla, I began to wonder about the impact malts smoked with different types of wood might have on beer. I hadn’t brewed a smoked beer of my own and had heard good things about cherrywood smoked malt, so I jumped at the chance to put this one to the test!

| PURPOSE |

To evaluate the differences between smoked beers made with either beechwood smoked malt or cherrywood smoked malt.

| METHODS |

Using the BJCP style guidelines as my starting point, I designed what seemed to be a suitable Rauchbier recipe, each one receiving identical amounts of either cherrywood or beechwood smoked malt.

Raucher

Recipe Details Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV 5.5 gal 60 min 29.5 IBUs 15.4 SRM 1.053 1.014 5.1 % Actuals 1.053 1.015 5.0 % Fermentables Name Amount % BEST Munich (BESTMALZ) 8 lbs 74.85 Cherrywood or Beechwood Smoked Malt 2.5 lbs 23.39 BEST Black Malt (BESTMALZ) 3 oz 1.75 Hops Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha % Hallertau Magnum 13 g 60 min Boil Pellet 13.2 Perle, U.S. 15 g 25 min Boil Pellet 8.3 Yeast Name Lab Attenuation Temperature Harvest (L17) Imperial Yeast 72% 50°F - 60°F Notes Water Profile: Ca 43 | Mg 0 | Na 34 | SO4 75 | Cl 64 Download Download this recipe's BeerXML file

I began collecting the RO water for two 5 gallon batches a couple days before brewing.

I also made a large starter of Imperial Yeast L17 Harvest that would be split between the batches.

I started the brew day by setting the controllers to heat the strike water before moving on to weighing out and milling the grain.

To avoid cross-contamination, I took the time to adequately clean the rollers between milling each batch of grain.

Once strike temperature was reached on each batch, the grains were incorporated and the controllers were set to hold each at 152°F/67°C.

At this point, I weighed out the small kettle hop additions.

After each 60 minute mash rest, the grains were removed and sparged, after which the worts were brought to a boil with hops being added as laid out in the recipe.

At the end of each 60 minute boil, the wort was quickly chilled during transfers to sanitized fermentation vessels.

Refractometer readings revealed a curious difference in OG between the batches.

After placing the filled fermentors next to each other in my chamber, I pitched the yeast and set my controller to maintain a fermentation temperature of 64°F/18°C.

With fermentation activity absent after 2 weeks, I took hydrometer measurements showing a very slight difference FG, which remained in measurements taken 5 days later.

The beers were then racked to sanitized CO2 purged kegs.

The filled kegs were placed in my keezer and burst carbonated before the gas was reduced to serving pressure. After an additional 10 days of conditioning, the beers were ready to serve to tasters.

| RESULTS |

A total of 36 people of varying levels of experience participated in this xBmt. Each participant was served 2 samples of the beer made with cherrywood smoked malt and 1 sample of the beer made with beechwood smoked malt in different colored opaque cups then asked to identify the unique sample. A total of 18 tasters (p<0.05) would have had to accurately identify the unique sample in order to reach statistical significance, which is exactly how many did (p=0.028), indicating participants in this xBmt were able to reliably distinguish a Rauchbier made with cherrywood smoked malt from one made with an equal amount of beechwood smoked malt.

The 18 participants who made the accurate selection on the triangle test were instructed to complete a brief preference survey comparing only the beers that were different. A total of 9 tasters reported preferring the cherrywood beer, 4 liked the beechwood beer more, and 5 people had no preference despite perceiving a difference.

My Impressions: Upon initial side-by-side samplings, I felt like the cherrywood beer was a little sweeter and had a more subtle smoke flavor while the beechwood beer was more assertive in its smoke character with an almost peat-like flavor. However, out of the 3 blind triangle tests I attempted, I didn’t identify the unique sample once, indicating the impact bias had on my perception.

| DISCUSSION |

The idea that wood from various trees will produce a smoke that imparts different flavors isn’t terribly difficult to accept– after all, cherries taste different than apples, which taste different than oak leaves. For this reason, it’s not exactly shocking tasters in this xBmt were generally capable of distinguishing a Rauchbier made with beechwood smoked malt from one make with the same portion of cherrywood smoked malt. However, the differences between the beers weren’t vast enough that everyone could tell them apart, in fact I could not reliably identify the odd-beer-out in my own triangle test attempts despite knowing everything about them.

On a more objective level, the beer made with cherrywood smoked malt start with a slightly higher OG than the one made with beechwood smoked malt, which barring the influence of some extraneous variable, suggests the latter may have slightly better conversion potential. While the survey we use doesn’t measure what it is that tasters perceive as being different, I’m hard-pressed to believe it was the slight difference in alcohol, but rather more likely the characteristics imparted by each type of smoked malt.

Rauchbier may not be the next flavor of the month, but it’s certainly a unique style of beer that many find quite enjoyable, myself included, and it wouldn’t be possible without smoked malt. With the results from this xBmt indicating the type of wood used to smoke malt may have a perceptible impact, experimenting with different types of smoked malt may not be a bad idea for those who enjoy such styles. As for me, I was pleased with these beers and definitely will be brewing more in the future using different types of smoked malt.

If you have any thoughts about this xBmt, please do not hesitate to share in the comments section below!

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