RyePA Recipe - Help - Critique

Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 10 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 11 gallons
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)
Source: Aaron Bach
Original Gravity: 1.055 Final Gravity: 1.014 ABV (alternate): 5.6% IBU (tinseth): 64.51 SRM (morey): 7.93
Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
12 lb Pale 2-Row 37 1.8 58.5%
5 lb Rye 38 3.5 24.4%
1.5 lb CaraMunich II 34 46 7.3%
1.5 lb Vienna 35 4 7.3%
0.5 lb Rice Hulls 0 0 2.4%
20.5 lb Total
Hops
Amount Variety Time AA Type Use
2 oz Nugget 60 min 11 Pellet Boil
2 oz Mount Hood 20 min 4.8 Leaf/Whole Boil
1 oz Mount Hood 10 min 4.8 Leaf/Whole Boil
1 oz Simcoe 10 min 12.7 Leaf/Whole Boil
1 oz Simcoe 2 min 12.7 Leaf/Whole Boil
1 oz Simcoe 0 min 12.7 Leaf/Whole Aroma
4 oz Simcoe 7 days 12.7 Leaf/Whole Dry Hop
Mash Steps
Amount Description Type Temp Time
-- -- 151 F 60 min
Other Ingredients
Amount Name Time Type Use
2 tsp gypsum 60 min Water Agt Boil


Here's my Rye IPA recipe. I'm looking for something with a strong rye flavor, crisp, hopefully some spicy hop flavor and a piney aroma. How does this look? I'm suspecting I need to cut back a lil on the hop bill, but maybe not. Any thoughts?

Thanks

I'd toss some Chinook in there to spice it up a bit.

It looks great! I don't think you need the caramunich- you're going to get a ton of body from the 25% rye. I would just drop it out or just use a light munich malt. Also, it's hopped more like an IPA than an APA, but that's all up to you! Just my $0.02!

I mis-titled the thread. It is meant to be more like an IPA than an APA.

I just want to make sure my hops aren't going to overpower the rye.

Also, shouldn't the rye and mt. hood hops be enough spicyness?

If I drop the caramunich won't the beer lose some complexity in the malt? I like IPAs, but I definitely want a malt backbone. Too much hops seems like it could distract from the rest.

25% is on the high side for rye so you'll be getting a LOT of flavor from it. personally i aim for the 15-20% range, but maybe with simcoe you'll need that much. this is certainly going to be a strong-tasting beer... don't expect your BMC-drinking friends to like it!

Here's a revisit to the previous recipe. What do you think? I tried to simplify the hop schedule. Will I get enough hop flavor with this schedule?

3.25 gallons
OG 1.063
IBU: 65

Fermentables
2.5 lb 2 row 34.5%
2.5 lb Maris Otter Pale 34.5%
1.5 lb Rye 38 3.5 20.7%
0.5 lb Munich Light 37 6 6.9%
0.25 lb Carapils 35 1.3 3.4%

Hops
0.6 oz Columbus 60 min
0.5 oz Mount Hood 20 min
1 oz Chinook 2 min
1 oz Chinook 7 days Dry Hop
0.5 oz Columbus 7 days Dry Hop

2 tsp gypsum 60 min Water Agt Boil
Yeast - American Ale 1056

I just brewed a Rye IPA with all Cascade hops. Rye was 20 percent of the bill. 2-row was 65 percent of the bill. I'm loving it. It's probably my best brew to date.

I think 20 percent Rye will give you what you're looking for, in terms of it coming out dry and crisp. However, I'm not so sure of splitting up the 2-row and the Marris Otter. I'd stick with one or the other. That way, the Rye stands out more. 2-row, MO and Rye might muddle the malt flavor too much. Just 2-row and Rye will likely give you a boost in the Rye taste.

I like the idea of bittering with Columbus and dry hopping with it, too. If you have more Chinook, I'd just dump the Mt. Hood and replace it with Chinook. That way you have two hop flavors coming through instead of three. Like the grain bill, sometimes keeping it simple will let certain ingredients shine. A half ounce of Mt. Hood is likely to get lost in the mix, in my opinion.

As far as dry hopping goes, I did my Rye IPA for just three days. It was my first brew with a dry hop of just three days and I really love the aroma I got from it. I don't think I'll ever go back to 7-10 days of dry hop.

RCBIV said:

As far as dry hopping goes, I did my Rye IPA for just three days. It was my first brew with a dry hop of just three days and I really love the aroma I got from it. I don't think I'll ever go back to 7-10 days of dry hop.

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Was your aroma not as strong as it would've been had you dry-hopped for 7 days? Why do you prefer a 3 day?

some claim that hop aroma peaks after 48-72 hours, anything more and you're losing more aroma than you're adding.

personally i dry hop for 3-5 days, never more than 5.

BrotherBock said:

Was your aroma not as strong as it would've been had you dry-hopped for 7 days? Why do you prefer a 3 day?

Click to expand...

I just got a great aroma from 72 hours. So if I can get that aroma from three days, which is just as good or better, in my opinion, than seven days, I'll do it because then I'm drinking my IPA that much fresher.

Experiment. Try different dry hop times. You'll find something that suits you. That's a big part of why this is fun.