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Matt Up North · 01-05-2009, 06:54 PM

So I was talking with a friend who says that for good head retention he adds some wheat to every beer he makes.

Then for a little bit of sweetness left over I thought heck...let's add some Crystal 60, but not too much.

I started thinking about the last rye I made and figured that a little smokyish bitter in the background might be nice, without color, and added an ounce of black patent.

And man oh man do I love a nice and creamy beer, let's add some rolled oats!

For hops, I have found that over a month my beers are starting to turn a little less interesting (for example my pumpkin porter is pretty bland and it has been two months in the keg), which meant that I added about 40 IBUs using Willamette Hops.

Matt's Crazy Creamy Rye Amber Ale

5.5 gal batch

33.7% 3.13lbs Maris Otter
38.7% 3.59lbs Rye Malt
10.8% 1lb Red Wheat Malt
0.7% 1oz Black Patent
5.4% 8 oz Crystal 60
10.8% 1lb Rolled Oats

1.5oz Willamette 4.7%AA (45min)
.8 oz Willamette 4.7%AA (20min)

The beginning of the boil I had 9% sugar on the refrac, or 1.035 and at the end of the boil had gotten to 1.043. Fermenting with US-05.

The next time that I decide to use Rye Malt I will be using rice hulls and a coarser grind. There was a lot of sticking and stirring and filtering and irish mossing. I think I will just pick up a pound of rice hulls to have on hand. What started as a one hour mash, turned into a two hour mash after all was said and done. A four hour brew day turned into a seven hour brew day.

**BierMuncher** · 01-05-2009, 07:02 PM

Anytime you're running over 15% Rye, rice hulls are your best friend. Especially when you also have 10% flaked oats.

Teacher · 01-05-2009, 07:29 PM

WOW that's a lot of rye. If you need someone to serve as a taste tester, I'd be happy to volunteer!

**DeathBrewer** · 01-05-2009, 07:33 PM

yeah, rice hulls can be a real biatch. that recipe doesn't look too out of control, looks rather tasty to me.

Matt Up North · 01-05-2009, 07:38 PM

Previously I had made an Amber Reddish Rye where I used a pound of Flaked Rye. It came out good, but I couldn't tell where the rye was. I thought, eh, let's just go with malted rye at 50% of the base and see where it goes from there. Should be spicy, creamy, sweet and hoppy. All I can smell so far is the hops so I can't tell if the rest is coming out. Time will tell

jds · 01-05-2009, 07:59 PM

The more I brew with rye, the more I like it, although I've only gone up to about 25% rye so far. Now that I have a bigger cooler, I can see if beta and protein rests help with sparging and clearing.

And yes, rice hulls are a must for sparging with lots of rye.

Matt Up North · 01-07-2009, 07:18 PM

As chances go I just talked to another fellow who brews like me and we both recently made a rye beer. He went the Dunkelweiss Rogenbier way, while I went the make it up as I went way and the two are very close in recipes aside from yeast and me using the flaked oats and he didn't. That said, I thought that his was a bit softer than I am looking for and I might just have to go with Rye malt and flaked next time in order to get the flavor that I am looking for. Scratch the flaked oats for flaked rye (keeping the creamy I am looking for). Any thoughts on that?

By the way, his was malty, banana, estery, not very pronounced rye flavor, dark amber brown color, short finish, slightly overcarbed for my liking and had a lack of head. That banana threw me for a loop as it was the first time I had experienced it