Breakside Smashbang

Mill the grains and mash at 152°F (67°C). Rest 20 minutes and test for conversion; when converted, raise to 168°F (76°C) and mash out. Recirculate until the runnings are clear, then run off into the kettle atop the first-wort hops.

Sparge and top up as necessary to get about 7 gallons (26.5 liters) of wort, depending on your evaporation rate.

Boil for 90 minutes, adding hops according to the schedule. After the boil, do a whirlpool step: Stir or recirculate to create a vortex, cooling to 185°F (85°C) if possible. Add the whirlpool hops and allow 30 minutes to steep.

Chill to 68°F (20°C), aerate the wort, and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 68°F (20°C); when the gravity has dropped to about 1.026, drop the yeast cone and continue fermenting. When fermentation is complete and gravity has stabilized, drop the yeast again and add the first dry hops, optionally rousing with CO2 if possible. After 3 days, drop the cone and add the second dry hops. After 1 more day, drop the cone again and do a VDK test; if clear, crash and optionally add finings. Cold condition for 3 days and rack; package and carbonate to about 2.7 volumes of CO2.

BREWER’S NOTES
Malt: We typically split the base between a European-style malt and something North American, to balance body and fermentability. On the “white wheat,” check the color—some get as dark as 4°L. And if you hate on caramel malts at all levels, feel free to omit the Carahell—but don’t yuck my yum!

Hops: We make two very close variations of this beer; I encourage folks to try both or hybridize. One hop bill is only Strata and Wakatu; the other uses Cashmere, Citra, and Riwaka. We use roughly the same amount of hops in each beer, making small adjustments for alpha-acid content.

Thiols: We’ve brewed versions of this with thiolized yeasts, and we’ve also tried shifting hops, including Taiheke (NZ Cascade), to the mash. If you want to see how much thiol character you can drive into the beer, these are great levers to pull. Personally, we prefer the expression of clean yeast and free thiols from carefully selected lots of American and New Zealand hops.