Rye Malts - Who's Playing With Them Lately?

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Gonna attempt a roggenbier this weekend. 51% rye.

I made same beer last year and it scorched my system (a Grainfather, but that was partially down to user error) so badly that the element kept cutting out and I was forced to switch, mid-brew, over to BIAB, where the process left scorch marks on that pot as well.

The beer turned out well though.

Should be fun!
 
looks interesting mate. I might want to check this one out... rye malts sure looks interesting.

They are great additives to standard styles.

I think the one that has stood out the most to me is the Weyermann's Chocolate Rye. Have used this is quite a few different brews like an American Brown Ale, RI Stout, Black Ale etc. It adds great chocolate flavour with a nice spicy bite.
 
Finally cracked the 50% rye beer that I made. Turned out pretty interestingly, I'd say its "sharper" and also has a sort of peppery spiciness to it. Not unpleasant just a bit different. Also I think I inadvertently made a beer that didn't have a thick body to it like rye malt is supposed to give since I did a protein rest.
So overall very interesting, and actually the beer seems a tad bitter than it actually should be, it only has around 20 IBU but I'd say it'd be more than that nearly 30 if I were to use my totally inaccurate guessing.
Will definitely play around with it some more.
 
I cooked up this Rye IPA yesterday, roughly based off a recipe from a guy on the Whirlpool forums, wasn't planning to, I just suddenly found myself in the mood (I'm a relatively new BIAB'er so be gentle)...

Boil Size: 35L – 75 mins
Batch Size (fermenter): 27L
Estimated OG: 1.065
Estimated FG: 1.014
Estimated ABV: 7%
Estimated Color: ~39 EBC (pretty dark for the style I think but came out looking great)
Estimated IBU: ~65 (re-reviewing as I changed up the hop schedule at the last minute)

5.00 kg Golden Promise 57.5%
1.50 kg Munich II 17.2%
2.00 kg Rye Malt 23%
0.20 kg Midnight Wheat 2.3 %
30g Simcoe – FWH
10g Simcoe – Flameout
15g Amarillo – Flameout
15g Citra – Flameout
10g Simcoe – Cube Hop
15g Amarillo – Cube Hop
15g Citra – Cube Hop
70g Amarillo – Dry Hop
70g Citra – Dry Hop
Whirlfloc
Yeast – (Planning to use US-05)

I took a sample from the kettle when I was dumping to the cube, when it cooled and settled out a bit there was a fair bit of gunk in there, I can only assume that affects the OG reading as I got 1.078 - I probably need to take a cleaner sample when I transfer to the fermenter...
 
I cooked up this Rye IPA yesterday, roughly based off a recipe from a guy on the Whirlpool forums, wasn't planning to, I just suddenly found myself in the mood (I'm a relatively new BIAB'er so be gentle)...

Boil Size: 35L – 75 mins
Batch Size (fermenter): 27L
Estimated OG: 1.065
Estimated FG: 1.014
Estimated ABV: 7%
Estimated Color: ~39 EBC (pretty dark for the style I think but came out looking great)
Estimated IBU: ~65 (re-reviewing as I changed up the hop schedule at the last minute)

5.00 kg Golden Promise 57.5%
1.50 kg Munich II 17.2%
2.00 kg Rye Malt 23%
0.20 kg Midnight Wheat 2.3 %
30g Simcoe – FWH
10g Simcoe – Flameout
15g Amarillo – Flameout
15g Citra – Flameout
10g Simcoe – Cube Hop
15g Amarillo – Cube Hop
15g Citra – Cube Hop
70g Amarillo – Dry Hop
70g Citra – Dry Hop
Whirlfloc
Yeast – (Planning to use US-05)

I took a sample from the kettle when I was dumping to the cube, when it cooled and settled out a bit there was a fair bit of gunk in there, I can only assume that affects the OG reading as I got 1.078 - I probably need to take a cleaner sample when I transfer to the fermenter...
Mate - looks like a great recipe. But why no Simcoe dry hop?!

Make sure you pitch enough yeast, with all the late hopping it can end up sickly sweet if under-attenuated. You're well into 2-pack territory, but if the OG *does* turn out to be 1.078 I'd consider dropping a third in as well.
 
Mate - looks like a great recipe. But why no Simcoe dry hop?!
Thanks mate, well, I only had 50g and used all that in the cook, but still have plenty of amarillo and citra, so that's really the only reason. I did find the simcoe to smell a little more earthy than the other two so thought it best left mostly for bittering and mild flavour... I'm still trying to get familiar with all the varieties, it's a steep learning curve!

Make sure you pitch enough yeast
Yes, this is one area I've not had a lot of luck with just yet! I'll definitely go a third packet if it ends as high it currently stands - thanks for making note of it! I hope to do starters and better aeration etc., in the future, the wife is watching me like a hawk though so I have to be careful with the expenditure! ;)
 
Thanks mate, well, I only had 50g and used all that in the cook, but still have plenty of amarillo and citra, so that's really the only reason. I did find the simcoe to smell a little more earthy than the other two so thought it best left mostly for bittering and mild flavour... I'm still trying to get familiar with all the varieties, it's a steep learning curve!


Yes, this is one area I've not had a lot of luck with just yet! I'll definitely go a third packet if it ends as high it currently stands - thanks for making note of it! I hope to do starters and better aeration etc., in the future, the wife is watching me like a hawk though so I have to be careful with the expenditure! ;)

You could even do a non stirred starter in the future, which whilst not providing the same growth (according to yeast starter calculators) will provide something. e.g put it in a container and seal/airlock that up reasonably well and let the yeast go to town on some wort.
 
They are great additives to standard styles.

I think the one that has stood out the most to me is the Weyermann's Chocolate Rye. Have used this is quite a few different brews like an American Brown Ale, RI Stout, Black Ale etc. It adds great chocolate flavour with a nice spicy bite.

How much Choclate rye are you using? Sounds pretty good
 
You could even do a non stirred starter in the future, which whilst not providing the same growth (according to yeast starter calculators) will provide something. e.g put it in a container and seal/airlock that up reasonably well and let the yeast go to town on some wort.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking I will do, I'll have to add yeast to some DME though as I don't want to crack the seal on my cube until I'm ready to pitch. The question then is, roughly how long do I leave it for, a couple days or just until high krausen?
 
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking I will do, I'll have to add yeast to some DME though as I don't want to crack the seal on my cube until I'm ready to pitch. The question then is, roughly how long do I leave it for, a couple days or just until high krausen?

A tip that I do, I actually use some wort from the beer I've brewed diluted, that way I can just pour it straight back in instead of having decant/wait for it to all settle out well in advance.

Now not having done a non-stirred starter, I think you just leave it until high krausen roughly. A day or two.
 
How much Choclate rye are you using? Sounds pretty good

Sorry Bonenose for being tardy. Been away.

Tend to use anything from 200grams to 700grams of choc rye. If I want to impart chocolate flavour then choc rye is my go to grain. Though it does depend on what I'm trying to create.

Recently did my Dark Lord black ale (Extract style) and did a big steep of grains in 7Litres of 67C water, which were:

- 0.5 kg Extra Dark Crystal 120L
- 0.3 kg Chocolate Rye
- 0.125 kg Belgian - Special B
- 0.155 kg Carafa I
- 0.19 kg Roasted Barley
- 0.17 kg CaraAmber

Then added 4.0kg of dark dry malt for the 60min boil (2kg at the start and other 2kg 10mins before end of boil). Added 100grams maltodextrin with 10mins to go and 250grams of Treacle at flameout. Then used 3 packets of Mangrove Jack's Empire Ale Yeasts.

Hop schedule was:

20 g Magnum @ 60 min
40 g Fortnight Blend @ 0 min
40 g Columbus @ 0 min
40 g Mosaic @ 0 min
100 g Enigma @ Dry Hop for 4 days
50 g Mosaic @ Dry Hop for 4 days


The choc rye has come through as a nice light choc flavour with that little rye sharpness & bite, even mixed in with all those other dark grains. It always shines through. Specs of this brew were: 15 IBU, 7.2% ABV and black as the ace of spades.

Cheers,
Pete
 
A tip that I do, I actually use some wort from the beer I've brewed diluted, that way I can just pour it straight back in instead of having decant/wait for it to all settle out well in advance.

Okay, so draw off (X)ml of my wort, dilute with boiled water (half/half?), pitch dry yeast to that and wait for it to get underway (with intermittent shaking) before bulk pitching the lot into the primary? Have I got that right? Sorry, I know I'm asking a lot of probably dumb/beginner questions, I've just made a few mistakes lately with pitching yeast that I want to try and do it better this time!
 
Gonna attempt a roggenbier this weekend. 51% rye.

I made same beer last year and it scorched my system (a Grainfather, but that was partially down to user error) so badly that the element kept cutting out and I was forced to switch, mid-brew, over to BIAB, where the process left scorch marks on that pot as well.

The beer turned out well though.

Should be fun!

So I made this and I'm now drinking it.

I had no major scorching on my system this time around. Everything went smoothly. I just made sure the pump was operating at any time the element was due to be switched on. I also gave the bottom of the vessel a scrape before (and occasionally during) the temperature ramp up to the boil.

And the beer itself is pretty tasty.
 
Okay, so draw off (X)ml of my wort, dilute with boiled water (half/half?), pitch dry yeast to that and wait for it to get underway (with intermittent shaking) before bulk pitching the lot into the primary? Have I got that right? Sorry, I know I'm asking a lot of probably dumb/beginner questions, I've just made a few mistakes lately with pitching yeast that I want to try and do it better this time!
Yeah well to dilute it to the correct strength which is around 1.040, depends on the gravity of the beer.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/dilution-and-boiloff-gravity-calculator/
So if you had a original british bitter which is around 1.043 or something, I'd probably not even bother personally. But if you had a strong barleywine at around 1.080 then you'd need to dilute. In this case if I wanted to make a 2 litre starter for the barleywine I'd use 1 Litre of wort and 1 Litre of boiled de-chlorinated water.
 

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