Basic SMaSH Pale Ale Recipe – All Grain / BiaB

July 19, 2023July 18, 2023 Mike

It’s been a long accepted practice for homebrewers to make SMaSH beers to pick out the aroma and flavor of various hops. SMaSH, if you didn’t know, means Single Malt and Single Hop. The same hop is used throughout the boil.

In a pinch, if the target of your hop is low alpha acid, or expensive, you can always pick a different bittering hop to use at the 60m mark, you won’t get any of the flavor or aroma from it in the finished beer, but if you really want to experience the hop, including how you interprit it’s bitterness, you should try to stick to the single hop.

Also, feel free to modify this recipe however you want, it’s really only meant to give you a general idea of what to use, just stick to your modifications for future iterations.

When modifying this recipe for other hops, make sure the end product matches in IBUs and do your best with the late additions.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
2 gal	60 min	39.0 IBUs	3.9508149	1.055	1.012	5.7 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Ale, Finest Maris Otter (Simpsons)	4.07 lbs	100

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Elixir	1 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	5.1
Elixir	0.54 oz	20 min	Boil	Pellet	5.1
Elixir	0.54 oz	20 min	Aroma	Pellet	5.1

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	3.64 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	2.05 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	1.06 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Baking Soda	1.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Chalk	0.52 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent