Rye Malts - Who's Playing With Them Lately?

[drsmurto]

Brewed a 100% rye for a single malt comparison series with a bunch of brewers. Mash was like glue and despite an almost 1:1 ratio of rye to rice hulls it was a very slow sparge. Resulting beer was viscous, like olive oil and rather than being spicy tasted a lot like canned pears. From memory it only had a 60 min hop addition and was fermented with US05.

In general, i use 20+% rye in beer. Great in low alcohol beers to increase the body and mouthfeel. Love the stuff!

 

[Dementedchook]

Yep, my Grainfather absolutely HATES rye. 10%+ and it scorches, gums up the sparge, etc etc.

Did a 80% pils, 10% munich, and 10% rye on the weekend for my first beer with rye, in the grainfather. I was swearing like a trooper trying to get the burnt crud off the element. And missed my gravity targets. Hope it'll be a good beer though.

 

[Camo6]

I usually add 10-20% in most of my APAs or AIPAs but always ran it through the mill with the rest of the malt. I scored an electric flour mill a while back and found it useful for grinding rye additions to release more ryeness. Works well for small additions of rye but was a bad idea to grind over 20% in a recirculating system. Shoulda called the beer Nile Silt APA.

 

[shacked]

Gonna brew up a Roggenbier next. My draft recipe attached.

Any thoughts, suggestion, comments, additions, etc?

Cheers,

Pete

Maybe consider using some Rye LME from briess. It's 20% rye, 10% crystal 40 and the balance is pale: http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Assets/PDFs/Briess_PISB_CBWRyeLME.pdf

 

[yankinoz]

Rye malt can be heard over the noise from assertive hops. Great for malty balance in IPAs. I'm not crazy about large quantities of it in malt-oriented beers,but I'm not a fan of roggenbiers either.

 

[Gigantorus]

Yeah might have a think about percentages a bit more. I want to use the 2 packets of German Ale yeast, as they are getting on.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

Cheers,

Pete

 

[indica86]

I love rye and also use it in most beers. It works great for BIAB but does **** with the the concealed element in the Crown Urn.

 

[Gigantorus]

Yeah I see so many comments about how rye clogs things up so much. Luckily I'm only do Extract and Partial-Mash brews, which only involves small steeps in a pot.

 

[pajs]

One of the advantages of BIAB is how well it handles rye, I think.

Next brew here is a Dark Ale, hopped with small amounts of Super Pride at 60 & Galaxy at the end, with 30% rye, 30% Golden Promise, 30% Vienna, 6% Carafa II, 4% Carabohemian. Never tried Rye in a Dark like this before.

 

[mofox1]

Drinking a rye ipa now and it is fecking delish. Of course I milled the fucker too fine with this one and ended up with the worst stuck sparge I've ever had. Doesn't detract from the fact this beer is possibly the best* beer ever.

*May or may not be factually accurate. But it is bloody good.

 

[ctagz]

Just tried one, it's still in the fermenter

5kg weyerman pils
1kg Gladfield rye
Cosby farms exp #4 and #6 to 30IBU
M36 liberty bell mangrove jacks

Mash 67c 30min recirc
So used the #6 fwh, 10, 20steep
#4 10, 20steep

Finished with 20L @ 1.055

Shit efficiency I know, didn't have any noticeable issues wih the sparge/lauter

Haven't tried yet but will post back when it's ready. I was expecting the colour to be a bit more darker and red. So this is a good learning example for me.

 

[damoninja]

Brewed a 100% rye for a single malt comparison series with a bunch of brewers. Mash was like glue and despite an almost 1:1 ratio of rye to rice hulls it was a very slow sparge. Resulting beer was viscous, like olive oil and rather than being spicy tasted a lot like canned pears. From memory it only had a 60 min hop addition and was fermented with US05.

In general, i use 20+% rye in beer. Great in low alcohol beers to increase the body and mouthfeel. Love the stuff!

Thinking a rye pale is in order for late summer...

I've only used it in smaller amounts, wanna up it properly... thoughts on amount of rice hulls to use per % rye? Given they weigh stuff all do you go by volume?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Rye + Rice gulls for mashing ( not those cheap Rice Hulls from Hk )

Rye is a bit like Millet

If you want to mill it then close your mill gap up

If your going to go Rye then get get a nice fluffy bed

 

[breakbeer]

Just brewed (& now drinking) a Rye Saison & it's delicious! I used 20% Rye

For the first time EVER I had to clean black burnt crud off my element. I had no idea what caused it, but as the only thing I had done differently was use Rye malt I put it down to that

I want to use it again but not so keen on a burnt element again. Any ideas how to avoid it?

 

[drsmurto]

Thinking a rye pale is in order for late summer...

I've only used it in smaller amounts, wanna up it properly... thoughts on amount of rice hulls to use per % rye? Given they weigh stuff all do you go by volume?

Sorry, missed this. AHB app failed to notify me (le sigh).

I don't use rice hulls unless rye % is above 30%. So for a standard rye GA grist of 55/20/20/5% (ale/munich or vienna/rye/crystal) I wouldn't use rice hulls. No doubt this is setup dependent, i (still) use a 55L willow esky with a beerbelly falsie. How you mill the grains is also important. I run rye through twice to get it quite fine and then run the rest of the grist through as normal ensuring the husks are mostly intact. 78C mashout which helps to make the mash less viscous and aids liquor flow. Batch sparge which allows me to drain quite quickly and prevent the mash setting.

I don't weigh rice hulls when using them, just scoop them in with a 1L jug until the mash looks OK.

 

[damoninja]

Sorry, missed this. AHB app failed to notify me (le sigh).

I don't use rice hulls unless rye % is above 30%. So for a standard rye GA grist of 55/20/20/5% (ale/munich or vienna/rye/crystal) I wouldn't use rice hulls. No doubt this is setup dependent, i (still) use a 55L willow esky with a beerbelly falsie. How you mill the grains is also important. I run rye through twice to get it quite fine and then run the rest of the grist through as normal ensuring the husks are mostly intact. 78C mashout which helps to make the mash less viscous and aids liquor flow. Batch sparge which allows me to drain quite quickly and prevent the mash setting.

I don't weigh rice hulls when using them, just scoop them in with a 1L jug until the mash looks OK.

Cheers this is great advice, I too use an esky with a falsie and batch sparge. I've got a kilo of rice hills so if I do plan to go bonkers on rye sounds like I'm more than covered.

Edit: having said I will probably try something with 30% without to start, see how that goes

 

[Gigantorus]

Sampled a couple of bottles of the new Spicy Grizz (American brown Ale with big doses of Rye) on the weekend (recipe attached). Been in the bottle 2 weeks and is really tasting nice - does have a big chocolate hit, which will mellow in coming weeks.

Having upped the 4th version rye inputs (300g caramel and 500g choc) considerably from my 3rd version (200g Caramel & 100g Choc), the 4th version seems only slightly more spicy than V3. But that is OK with me - it also makes it an easy beer to drink on a hot day. I actually think this 4th version is a keeper and will be my go to American Brown from here on in.

Also bottled the German Rye Ale on the weekend and will wait and see how it develops over the coming weeks. I think I've now gotten rye out of my system and can move onto other wonderful grains and styles.

Next Sunday am mixing up a Russian Imperial Stout (no rye included) with my bro-in-law, which should be an interesting recipe. It's not a style I get much into but have high hopes for this one.

Thanks again for all your comments - always helpful.

Cheers,

Pete

View attachment The-Spicy-Grizz-2016-V4.pdf

 

[Reman]

Rye Bock which I've got some good feedback on (see mid-2016 NSW case swap)

Style: Traditional Bock (5B)
Boil Size: 19.00 l Style Guide: BJCP 2008
Color: 28.0 EBC Equipment: Pot 19L - BIAB to 15L
Bitterness: 30.3 IBUs Boil Time: 60 min
Est OG: 1.069 (16.7° P) Mash Profile: BIAB, Light Body
Est FG: 1.012 SG (3.2° P) Fermentation: Lager, Single Stage
ABV: 7.5% Taste Rating: 30.0
Ingredients
Amount Name Type #
18.93 l Sydney - Potts Point Water 1
4.00 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60 min) Misc 2
5.50 g Calcium Chloride (Mash 60 min) Misc 3
4.00 g Baking Soda (Mash 60 min) Misc 4
1.19 kg Rye Malt (9.3 EBC) Grain 5
2.15 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (3.9 EBC) Grain 6
1.20 kg Munich Malt (17.7 EBC) Grain 7
239.1 g Caramunich Malt (110.3 EBC) Grain 8
48.2 g Carafa II (811.6 EBC) Grain 9
150.0 g Acid Malt (5.9 EBC) Grain 10
14.6 g Magnum [14.0%] - Boil 60 min Hops 11
15.0 g Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.0%] - Boil 10 min Hops 12
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10 min)

 

[Gigantorus]

Thanks for the recipe, Reman.

Re the Acid Malt. I've got 500grams of Abby Malt (got it by mistake) and have never used it. Your advice on how best to use it would be appreciated thanks?

Cheers,
Pete

 

[fungrel]

Happy to share my entry for the Nationals. Beerxml file attached. View attachment AmericanRyeNationals.xml


Title: American Rye (Nationals)

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Roggenbier (German Rye Beer)
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 21 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 25.3 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.039
Efficiency: 62% (brew house)


STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.047
Final Gravity: 1.011
ABV (standard): 4.7%
IBU (tinseth): 20.51
SRM (morey): 8.97

FERMENTABLES:
2 kg - American - Pale Ale (37.5%)
2 kg - American - Wheat (37.5%)
750 g - American - Rye (14.1%)
200 g - Rice Hulls (3.8%)
175 g - German - CaraAmber (3.3%)
175 g - Rye Caramel Malt - (Weyermann) (3.3%)
30 g - Chocolate Rye (0.6%)

HOPS:
14 g - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.5, Use: Aroma for 15 min, IBU: 7.87
8 g - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 5.82
12 g - Amarillo, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.6, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 6.82

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 45 C, Time: 10 min
2) Infusion, Temp: 66 C, Time: 60 min
3) Sparge, Temp: 76 C, Time: 15 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 2.7 L/kg

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.5 each - Whirlfloc , Type: Fining, Use: Boil
0.5 tsp - Yeast nutrient , Type: Water Agt, Use: Boil
0.4 ml - ALDC, Type: Other, Use: Primary
1 ml - Aroma Shot, Type: Other, Use: Boil

YEAST:
Wyeast - American Ale II 1272
Starter: Yes
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 74%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 15.56 - 22.22 C
Fermentation Temp: 19 C
Pitch Rate: 1.25 (M cells / ml / deg P)

PRIMING:
Method: Kegging
CO2 Level: 2.8 Volumes

TARGET WATER PROFILE:
Ca2: 50
Mg2: 7
Na: 50
Cl: 90
SO4: 2
HCO3: 73
Water Notes:
Water built from RO.

All sorts of mishaps happened with this beer, not sure if i could reproduce it if i tried. But the recipe held up to be one of my favourites.

Note that it was designed to be "sweeter and more hoppy" as specified in the AABC guidelines as being acceptable for the style.

I didn't dry hop, but you could always do as you like.