Smokey the Beer (Smoked IPA)

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Smokey the Beer (Smoked IPA)
Extract w/ Specialty Grains
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Batch Size: 5.5 gallons
Boil Size: 4 gallons
OG: 1.049
FG: 1.012
ABV: 4.96%
IBU: 78
SRM: 9.20
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Fermentables:
2 lb Light LME
4 lb Light LME (Late Addition)
1 lb Crystal 60L
1 lb Smoked Malt (German)

Hops:
.5 oz Magnum (60)
.5 oz Magnum (45)
.5 oz Crystal (30)
.5 oz Willamette (30)
.5 oz Crystal (15)
.5 oz Willamette (15)
.5 oz Crystal (5)
.5 oz Willamette (5)
.5 oz Crystal (1)

Yeast: White Labs California Ale Yeast (WLP-001) w/ 1.5L stirplate starter, decanted


Going to make this beer today or tomorrow. I just made a stirplate and tested it with some washed yeast, and now I (obviously) need to do something with this yeast that I have prepared! Just made up the recipe, hop additions are based off a past IPA that used different hops but came out great. I love the smell and taste of Crystal hops in my beers and they have become one of my favorite hops, and have a lot of Willamettes and Crystals in my freezer that need to be used up. I'm hoping the full lb of smoked malt isn't too much, but I think the hoppiness will overwhelm the smoke quite a bit, so it should be noticable but not strong.

Any input/feedback is welcome, I'm looking forward to brewing this.

Also, mods, I accidentally posted this in the Recipe Database and I haven't brewed it yet, please delete? Thanks!

 

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On this note, I know that German smoked malt is smoked using beechwood. Anybody use other woods to smoke grains with? Hickory? Cherry? I've got an electric smoker at home and may try some smoke-your-own variants of the Rauchmalt but am open to any input.

Thanks!

 

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So I brewed this and it's done fermenting, I kegged it last night and tasted today. It's good but I think not quite malty enough to balance the hops and smoke. I like the amount of smoke a lot, I won't change that, but it needs a but more complexity and a stronger malt profile to balance the dryness of it. Any suggestions? Of course, this is still pretty green and I expect it to get better in the next several weeks, but I would like to try to tweak this recipe...

I'm thinking it needs at least one more lb of light LME, and add a small amount of honey malt (.25 lb?) as well as possibly some Caramunich II... Thinking a half pound would give this a much nicer color and some good flavor.

Thoughts?

 

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Also, this finished out at 1.012. Since this is an extract recipe and I can't mash higher to give me a higher FG, what could I do if I wanted it to end up a couple of points higher? Use a slightly less attenuative yeast, right? Something like an English Ale yeast? What would give a nice clean flavor with a little less attenuation?