Rauchbier

Literally, "smoke-beer," rauchbier should have smoky characters that range from detectable to prevalent in the aroma and flavor. Smoke character is not harshly phenolic, but rather very smooth, almost rendering a perception of mild sweetness to this style of beer. The beer is generally toasted malty sweet and full-bodied with low to medium-low hop bitterness. Noble-type hop flavor is low but may be perceptible. The aroma should strike a balance between malt, hop and smoke. Fruity esters, diacetyl and chill haze should not be perceived.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound smoked malt

• 8 ounces German Cara-Munich malt

• 6-2/3 pounds light malt extract syrup

• 4 pounds light DME

• 1 ounce Tettnanger hops

• 3 ounces Hallertau hops

• 1 teaspoon Irish moss

• Wyeast 2206 Bavarian lager yeast

• 3/4 cup corn sugar

Instructions:

1. Place the crushed specialty grains in a nylon hop bag and steep them in 1 gallon of preheated 150º water for 30 minutes.

2. Drain and discard the spent grains.

3. Bring at least 3 gallons of liquor to a boil, remove the brew kettle from the heat source then stir in the extract, the Tettnanger hops and 1 ounce of the Hallertau hops.

4. Return the brew kettle to the heat source and boil for 45 minutes, then add another 1 ounce of the Hallertau hops and the Irish moss.

5. Boil for an additional 12 minutes, then add the remaining Hallertau hops.

6. Boil for an additional 3 minutes, then remove the brew kettle from the heat source, cover it and drop the temperature of the wort as quickly as possible to 77º F.

7. Once the wort has cooled to below 77º F, take an original gravity reading, pour the wort into a primary fermenter through a funnel with a strainer and add enough cool water to create 5 gallons.

8. Once the wort has been transferred to the primary fermenter, pitch the yeast, stir the wort vigorously, seal the fermenter with an airlock and ferment at approximately 42-52º F for 1 week.

9. Rack the beer to a secondary fermenter and allow the beer to finish fermentation.

10. Once fermentation is complete, rack the beer to a bottling bucket, prime with the corn sugar and bottle and condition as usual.