Wednesday, May 1, 2013

SMASH, sort of

I’ve got a crazy idea!  Ok, maybe it’s not that crazy, but I think it’s different.  Several times I have brewed a batch and split it between two yeasts, for example an American IPA split between Cal Ale yeast and Duvel yeast.  A lot of people have done that.  What I want to do is brew a hoppy pale ale and split it between Cal Ale yeast and lager yeast.  My main inspiration for the lager portion is New Belgian’s Shift - a clean, drinkable, citrusy, hoppy beer.  Another wrinkle is that I’ve purchased a bag of Vienna malt and I want to do a pseudo-SMASH with it.  It is pseudo because I’m adding about 3% carapils to help with foam and body and I’m adding ¼ oz. Warrior (to the gobs of Citra) for bittering.  I think I can very easily classify the ale portion as an American Pale Ale, but what do I call the lager?  With 40+ IBU of citrusy hops I can’t really call it a Vienna lager.  Regardless of the style, I think it’ll be tasty.

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