SMASH Brewing and Yeast Cakes

[jrsdws]

My brewing buddy and I are brewing our first SMASH beers tomorrow. Mine will be MO/Citra and his will be MO/Amarillo. We thought we'd split these batches into 2 fermenters each so we could try with different yeast strains.....then use the these yeast cakes for another brew in a month.

I thought we'd each do a split batch (3gal) of Wyeast 1056. This should allow the malt and hops to come through and give a great comparison of the citra and Amarillo. I might try brewing an Irish Red or a Xmas Ale to go on the 1056 yeast cake and my buddy probably more of another APA.

For the other split, I thought about trying something like West Yorkshire 1469 with the Citra smash.....then brewing a Honkers Ale style bitter to go on the cake. I'm not sure what my buddy wants to try for his split.

What other yeast style might be good with MO/Amarillo SMASH that'd be different than an APA? He likes the brown and stouts....maybe something like Denny's Favorite to keep the possibilities open?

 

[Pappers_]

The Scottish strain 1728 is a versatile yeast. I have an APA fermenting now with that yeast and then will be using the saved yeast to pitch into a Wee Heavy.

Or doing a Belgian yeast would certainly give you something to compare to.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Any way your brew it, you're not going to get a stout with only MO. You could go British with an ESB yeast (WLP002) or a little more complex profile with a Burton yeast (WLP023 or Mangrove Jack M79). Not sure how those would be with the Amarillo. Or go crazy and do a Belgian step mash at 122/144/156 for maximum fermentability with an Abbey yeast (WLP530) and maybe add some clear candi sugar to the boil (not strictly a SMASH) to see what a MO Belgian SMASH would be like. In short, play around and have fun. You may invent a new style.

 

[Pappers_]

Any way your brew it, you're not going to get a stout with only MO.

I think he meant using the resulting yeast cake from the SMASH to brew a stout for the next batch.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Oh ... yeah. I need more coffee

 

[jrsdws]

LOL....yeah the SMASH beers will be....well SMASH....simple. It's picking the yeast and what we will brew later to pitch onto these cakes. I have a recipe for I've brewed before for a great ESB that uses 1968 London ESB Ale yeast....I'm just not sure how well that'd play with either the Citra Smash or the Amarillo Smash. The yeast cake would be perfect for the ESB though.