File this one under ‘No Wort Left Behind.’ The recipe is reverse engineered from an improvised brew that turned out very nice, like a malt forward Marzen-style beer with a unique campfire smoke flavor from alderwood smoked malt. In the case of the actual beer, I started with about three gallons of SG 1.035 second runnings from a much higher gravity Samichlaus clone wort consisting of Pilsner, Munich, and Carafa III malts. To add some smoke malt complexity, I heated the wort to 152F and steeped in it 0.75 lb of alderwood smoked malt from Sugar Creek Malt for 30 minutes. I’ve never thought of doing a secondary steep like this, but it worked out very nicely and imparted a more than subtle smoke flavor. To bump the OG of this beer, I used Pilsner Light DME. Once boiling, the wort was dosed with one ounce of whole-leaf Hallertauer Mittelfruh hops and boiled for 30 minutes. [I wrote the recipe below for full 60-minute boil.] Chilled the wort to 62F and pitched Omega Yeast German Lager I DKO. Fermented at 66-68F. See this Chop & Brew tasting notes video for tasting notes and more recipe discussion.

Batch Size: 3 gallons
Boil Size: 3.5 gallons
OG: 1.054
FG: 1.006
ABV: 6.3%
Color: 11
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Fermentables

• 2 lbs Weyermann Barke Pilsner Malt (36%)
• 2 lbs Weyermann Barke Munich Malt (36%)
• 12 oz Sugar Creek Alderwood Smoked Malt (13%)
• 1.1 oz Weyermann Carafa III (1%)
• 12 oz Briess Pilsen Light DME (13%)

Mash grains at 152F for 60 minutes.

Hops

• Hallertauer Mittelfrush (4.00%aa – whole leaf) – 30 minutes

Yeast

• Omega Yeast German Lager I DKO (other German Lager or German Ale yeast would work well)
• Ferment at 66F 

All-Grain Version

Omit Pilsen Light DME. Add 11 more ounces of Barke Pilsner and Barke Munich malts to grist and mash all grains at 152F.