If you’re looking to brew a unique beer with a flavor that isn’t often found in beers available in the US, try smoked beer. Below is an excerpt from The Home Brewer’s Answer Book by Ashton Lewis with tips for smoking your beer.

Smoking Your Beer

There are three common methods to make smoked beer. One is to use peated malt as one of the grains. Peated malt is used to make Scotch whiskey and has a powerful medicinal-phenolic aroma. I don’t like peated malt in beer, but if you do use it, be careful! More than 1 percent peated malt is usually too much.

Another method is to use liquid smoke. This product is intended for cooking. I can’t stand its nasty flavor in food, but I have heard that it can be used successfully in beer.

The most famous smoked beer is the German rauchbier (rauch means smoked). It is principally brewed in Bamberg and is made using a very lightly smoked Munich-style malt. Rauch malt is smoked over beechwood and has a wonderful smoked meat flavor. Because the smoking process is relatively cool, enzymes are not destroyed and rauch malt is used as a high proportion of the malt in the mash. Most rauchbiers contain well above 75 percent rauch malt. Aside from the ingredients, rauchbier is brewed like other lagers.

The key to rauchbier is obtaining the malt. One German maltster, Weyermann, exports rauch malt to the United States. If you want to try this style of beer, buy some Weyermann rauch malt and go for it! You may want to taste a rauchbier before brewing it; Schlenkerla Rauchbier is available in the States.

For a recipe for an American Pale Ale and more about homebrewing, read yesterday’s post

Somewhere between going on my first tour of an American craft brewery to tasting the best beer of my life at a monastery in Prague, I fell in love with well-crafted beers. After I experienced the delicate, perfect balance of hops, malt, yeast, and water in great beer, I couldn’t go back to the watery mass-produced stuff.

It’s easy to get swept away by great beers on tap in your local pub, but the best part about beer is that you can start your own brewery. All you need are a few ingredients and supplies to become the brewmaster of your own kitchen!

I’ve never brewed my very own batch before, but I’ve assisted with homebrew experimentation and it’s a fun process that, with some patience, can yield some very delicious results. To get started homebrewing on your own, check out Dave Miller’s Homebrewing Guide to learn all the basics. If you’re already into homebrew and looking to take your beer to the next level, The Home Brewer’s Answer Book by Ashton Lewis covers everything from specific hops and grains to achieving the perfect pour when your beer is ready to serve.

Here’s a homebrew recipe for one of my personal favorites, Dale’s Pale Ale, from the 365 Bottles of Beer Page-A-Day Calendar.

8 oz. light caramel malt
6 lb. pale malt extract syrup
1½ oz. Northern Brewer hops, 60 minutes from end of boil
1 oz. Cascade hops, 15 minutes from end of boil
1 oz. Cascade hops, 5 minutes from end of boil
American or California ale yeast
1 oz. Cascade hops, dry-hopped in secondary fermenter
¾ cup corn sugar for bottling

Crack or crush grains. Bring three gallons water to 160°F. Steep grains in hot water for 30 minutes using a mesh bag. Remove grains, add dry malt extract and bring to a boil. Boil 60 minutes adding hops as stated. Remove from heat and cool. Siphon into primary fermenter with enough cold water to make five gallons. Add yeast when beer is 70°F and aerate well. Ferment for three to six days at 65-70°F. Transfer to secondary, add dry hops, and condition one to two weeks. When finished, dissolve ¾ cup corn sugar into beer, bottle, and age at room temperature for two weeks.