Smoked grain help?

Cactus Doug

I have a coworker who has a serious home brewing hobby. He has asked me to smoke some barley for him. He says there is a type of beer that requires smoked grain. Has anyone done this before? I am thinking of using a wire basket, to hold the barley, and using a drip pan with ice to keep the temp down. Also thinking about very little lump and wood chunks. Cherry wood maybe? Any ideas out there?

Michael B

Clean the Egg.
Use 3 or 4 natural hardwood briquets in the bottom of the Egg. Once burning, put apple and alder chunks on top of the briquets for smoke.
Spread the barley on a metal screen.
Leave the DFMT off and smoke the barley for about 2 hours.

I used this method to smoke barley and brown sugar for Risotto, and it worked well.

Mainegg

Michale would you share the recipie for the risotto? that really sounds intriguing... Julie

stike

what kinda malt is he trying to replicate?

Cactus Doug

Stike he told me that originally the smoked beer is german called rauch beer. Historically some brewers dried their malt over a fire imparting a smokey flavor. Now people typically smoke 10% or less of the malt to give distinct flavor profiles. He says smoked malt is used in ales and porters most of the time. He told me malts smoked with beech wood and peat moss is commercially available. He asked me to put a sweeter smoke flavor on it. Im thinking cherry.

Michael B

Dean Corbett’s Risotto

Ingredients
2 cup barley
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tbs minced shallots
½ tbs of minced garlic
1 cup of white wine
6 cup warm chicken stock
BBF Bourbon Smoked Pepper
BBF Smoked Sea Salt
2 tbs BBF Kentucky Blueberry Sorghum

Directions
Cold smoke barley and brown sugar for 2 hours. (You must cold smoke or the brown sugar will melt.)
Saute barley, shallots, garlic and olive oil.
Deglaze new mixture with wine.
Add chicken stock one cup at a time. Each time it cooks down, add the next cup.
Salt and pepper to taste
Finish with sorghum.

stike

i was asking because i wasn't sure if he was trying to replicate dark roasted stuff, which isn't smoked at all. but it sounds like he knows what he needs, and that you have it under control. like scotch malt, many malts for beer are dried over smokey fires.

if you have a pizza screen, i'd try it on that. maybe a couple layers one on the grid and another on a raised grid (indirect).

i'd go as low as you can, although if it roasted a bit, you'd get a little extra color.

Cactus Doug

Thanks, I do have a screen. I will let you know how the beer turns out. Right now we have a good thing going I trade him BBQ for 1/2 gallon jugs of beer. Maybe I will post pics of the cook and finished product, beer!

Cory430

Have you seen the recent (as far as I know) setups for smoking cheese with a soldering iron and a can full of chips? That would give you the smoke without much heat.