American Rye session ale

**lowtones84** · 12-07-2011, 05:57 PM

Hello everybody,

I'm looking to brew a good American style session-able ale next weekend. I've never experimented with rye but enjoy the beers that I've had that use it. After looking through the recipes this http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f70/light-rye-ale-82611/ seems close to what I want, but I'm not interested in the wheat or corn because I'm wanting to experiment with the rye, and would prefer a different type of hops.

I've looked at the founder's red rye ipa clone and it uses some crystal, carapils and aromatic malts. I'm not going for a beer that big and aggressive, but does working in a small amount of crystal and carapils sound like a good idea?

I don't -quite- have all grain capacity, but I can do large partial mashes around 7-7.5 lbs. of grain. I'm looking for something fairly well balanced, but as I said I still want the rye to come out a bit and have that spiciness/rye bite.

Initial thoughts...

About 5 lbs. American 2 row
1.5 lbs. US rye malt
8 oz. crystal 60
8 oz. carapils
1 lb. Briess light DME

Mash high. Amarillo hops (not sure on quantities yet) and Safale US-05 or WLP 001 California Ale.

What do you folks think? Thank you in advance!

dcp27 · 12-07-2011, 08:20 PM

I'd get rid of the crystal and the high mash, I think rye stands out better when its drier.

**lowtones84** · 12-07-2011, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcp27

I'd get rid of the crystal and the high mash, I think rye stands out better when its drier.

Thanks for the input. The reason I was considering a higher mash temperature was concern for body/mouthfeel, but highly attenuated/dry makes sense to me. Same reason for getting rid of the crystal?

Thanks again!

SouthBay · 12-07-2011, 09:26 PM

I made a partial mash rye pa a while back that I really liked.

2# munich
2# rye malt
Marris otter for the rest (sub out all but one lb for dme our lme)

I mashed at 152, and used white labs cali yeast.

Hopped with willamette only, with lots of late additions.

I think it needed more rye, so I'm going to put in two more lbs of flaked rye for that spiciness you mentioned. Its not a session beer, but if you dropped the base malt so you hit a lower sg, and don't hop aggresively, it might work out for you

SouthBay · 12-07-2011, 09:27 PM

Also, session beers, like english milds, do well mashed high, imo

PoppinCaps · 12-07-2011, 09:37 PM

I recently did a rye ale, used 3 lbs (25% of the whole bill), mashed high with amarillo hops and it came out great. Thought I might get too much rye, but what's the point if you can't taste it. The spiciness was definitely there, but not over-powering. I say add a pound or two. I also used a bout 5oz of Special B, rounded it out nicely so I don't see the need to drop the crystal.

dcp27 · 12-07-2011, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowtones84

Thanks for the input. The reason I was considering a higher mash temperature was concern for body/mouthfeel, but highly attenuated/dry makes sense to me. Same reason for getting rid of the crystal?

Thanks again!

ya same reason, plus i think higher crystal clashes with rye. a lighter one would prolly go well with it. rye is packed with protein so body isn't much of a worry.

so when I first saw this idea, i envisioned a smaller rye version of gumball head. not sure if thats what you want, but heres one of the various clone recipes out there: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/gumball-head-questions-66939/#post3213244

**terrapinj** · 12-07-2011, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcp27

I'd get rid of the crystal and the high mash, I think rye stands out better when its drier.

i'd be concerned about lack of mouthfeel and feeling thin/watery

IME rye will dry out the beer and mouthfeel

session beers can be hard to get a solid mouthfeel and can feel watery if you don't have many unfermentables or dextrin in there

i use crysal 60 in my Rye Pale ale and Denny's Wrye IPA uses 7.69% crystal 60 as well and his gets rave reviews

**lowtones84** · 12-07-2011, 11:41 PM

Wow, lots of conflicting opinions, but all good ideas nonetheless. I almost feel like making two batches now, one mashed low without the crystal and one mashed high with the crystal. I am definitely not thinking gumballhead, I really don't want wheat in this recipe.

How about around a pound of flaked oats? I've only used them in a stout, but I've heard that it doesn't contribute much flavor while adding to mouthfeel.

Thanks for all the ideas everyone!

**terrapinj** · 12-08-2011, 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowtones84

Wow, lots of conflicting opinions, but all good ideas nonetheless. I almost feel like making two batches now, one mashed low without the crystal and one mashed high with the crystal. I am definitely not thinking gumballhead, I really don't want wheat in this recipe.

How about around a pound of flaked oats? I've only used them in a stout, but I've heard that it doesn't contribute much flavor while adding to mouthfeel.

Thanks for all the ideas everyone!

i think if you add the crystal that you would want to mash on the lower side or mash higher if you don't add it

i like rye in my PA/IPA beers because it gives a great crisp/dry mouthfeel - i've never tried it in a session ale though

but it really depends on what your target beer is though - like most things HB related there isn't a wrong way, just a different way