Brew Day: Citra SMaSH Dark Ale

SMaSH: Single Malt and Single Hop

A SMaSH beer is a beer that’s easy to brew since the brewer works with just one hop and one malt. The malt can be a single type of grain, say Pilsner or Pale Ale, or a single type of extract, either LME or DME.

The hops chosen are usually aromatic, few bittering additions are made but most hop additions are made towards the end of the boil, and even a hop charge at flame out. Sometimes a dry hop is carried out with the same hops.

SMaSH beers are good starting points to get to know different malt and hop profiles and how well they go together or to even try out different malts with the same hops to see how.

Last evening I made a very simple SMaSH using extract and Citra and unlike most other brews I’ve done, I stuck to a 30 minute boil. So, in effect, this was a very, very quick brew. Other than extracting bitterness, I do not see a reason for boiling this wort for 60 minutes and I was aiming for a low IBU on this beer. So for those who brew this recipe and want to extract more bitterness, you can aim for a 60 minute boil.

Citra SMaSH Dark Ale (Tasting notes here)

Specifics

Batch size (litres): 8 litres
Type: Extract

IBU: 15

SRM: 25

OG: 1.060

Grains and Sugars
1.3 kg Malt Extract
 - 600 grams added at the start of boil
 - 700 grams at flame out

Hops
10 grams Citra @ 30 min
2 grams Citra @ 15 min
2 grams Citra @ 5 min
3 grams Citra @ 0 min
10 grams Citra dry hopped for 7 days

Yeast

Fermentis S-04 Ale Yeast

Schedules
Boiled for 30 minutes.