How are people hopping their rye pale ales?

Thinking about a rye pale ale. Not looking to do an IPA and bury the rye under tons of hops, thinking of a recipe that's dry and crisp and shows off the rye but still has a balance bitterness and some complementary hops on the finish. I've yet to brew with rye; I'm thinking probably 25% - 30% of the grist, alongside some base malt and maybe just a little light crystal (half/three-quarters of a pound).

But on the hops - what do people like? What kinds of hops are people using that complement the rye spiciness? Are people going domestic? Pine-ey, like Chinook? Noble varieties? What's worked well for people?

Right now, I'm drinking a "kitchen sink" pale ale so the grainbill is a little weird. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/kitchen-sink-rye-pale-ale-345619/ This is a 10+ gallon batch.

But this combo of willamette/cascade (with one ounce of fuggles, 'cuz that's what I had) works well.

I first used willamette/cascade together in a Bell's Amber clone. It's not overly citrusy as a result, but still "American hops" tasting, if that makes sense.

It works extremely well in this rye. I used nearly 20% rye, and it's present but not overly so. The cascade/willamette combo blends nicely with the spice and even Bob (who doesn't really like rye beers much) is enjoying it.

I'm wondering about the "pine" route - maybe a little Simcoe, or even a little Chinook (which I haven't used in ages). Maybe split those two for the late additions (which wouldn't be too high). Probably shooting for traditional "pale ale" gravity, 1.050- 1.055, and 35-40 IBUs.

I have a Red Rye that I've been playing around with. The first time I used some centennial before that turned out nice. Some Sterling that was ok. And I just brewed it up again to go with a bit of Cascade and Citra just for fun

In my latest rye ale, which is the beer to date that I am most happy with, I used Mt. Hood as my flavoring hop. I used only 1.5 ounces or so. Total IBUs were 30-35.

Mine was not super dry as I had a fair bit of crystal in there along with Munich and Wheat. The Rye was 2 lbs in 11 lbs total grist (5 gal. batch), but came through well. If I was going up the aroma/flavoring hop additions I would definitely up the rye quotient.

I can definitely see Willamette and Chinook working well with the Rye. Will have to try that.

i personally don't get any spicyness from rye - maybe some tang but i mostly notice the dry finish/mouthfeel when using rye

i think it works well with citrusy hops

my favorite has been ~ 20% rye with nelson, citra and simcoe

I forgot about this at first but Denny's Rye Smile IPA is a terrific beer and it appears it's hopped with Mt. Hood and Columbus. Man, I might need to make that one again now that I'm thinking of it.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/allgrain/AG-DennysRyePA.pdf

I second the Columbus. I used all Columbus for my RyePA and it came out fantastic.

I just bottled this ten days ago and it smelled and tasted really goood

Naughty Kitty Calico Pale Rye Ale
American Pale Ale
Type: All Grain Date: 8/7/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal Brewer: Glynn Brown
Boil Size: 7.00 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Pot and Cooler (8gal/12gal)
End of Boil Volume 5.90 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 5.50 gal Est Mash Efficiency 81.8 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes: Smells great
Ingredients


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8.0 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 1 4.2 %
8 lbs Pale Malt - 2 Row (Cargill) (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 66.7 %
2 lbs Rye Malt (Briess) (3.7 SRM) Grain 3 16.7 %
1 lbs Caramel Malt - 60L (Cargill) (60.0 SRM) Grain 4 8.3 %
8.0 oz Carapils (Briess) (1.5 SRM) Grain 5 4.2 %
0.75 oz Mt. Hood [7.50 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 6 19.0 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 7 -
1.25 oz Mt. Hood [7.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 8 14.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Mt. Hood [7.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 9 8.4 IBUs
0.50 oz Mt. Hood [7.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 10 2.3 IBUs
0.25 oz Centennial [10.80 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 11 1.5 IBUs
1.0 pkg Dennys Favorite 50 (1450) (wyeast #1450) Yeast 12 -
2.00 oz Cascade [8.90 %] - Dry Hop 14.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [13.90 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.054 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.053 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.9 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.6 %
Bitterness: 45.5 IBUs Calories: 175.5 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 8.9 SRM
Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs
Sparge Water: 4.69 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F Tun Temperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE Mash PH: 5.20

Mash Steps
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 3.75 gal of water at 172.2 F 156.0 F 45 min

Sparge Step: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun, , 4.69gal) of 168.0 F water

BrewinME said:

I second the Columbus. I used all Columbus for my RyePA and it came out fantastic.

Click to expand...

columbus and amarillo works great for my rye pale

I'm intrigued by the Mt. Hood, because that would be a brand-new hop for me. I could certainly do worse than use Denny's recipe as a starting point, even if I de-IPA'ed it a little bit (bring the gravity and bitterness down maybe 20% - 30%).

We made this Rye Ale last March and it was fantastic. It took a good month to mature - but it was well worth the time. Poohba hooked me up with the hopping additions and it turned out great. We'll be making this again in a couple of brews but we'll up the % of rye to 18-20.
Good luck.

10 gallon batch
PAM 7.5K = 73%
Rye 1.25K = 12%
Wheat 1K = 10%
CaraHell 500 grams - 5%

We'll try out the FWH
Hop Schedule
Chinook 2oz FWM
Amarillo 1 oz FWM
Chinook 2oz @ 60
Chinook 3oz @ 5
Amarillo 2oz @ 5
Dry Hop - 2oz Chinook
Dry Hop - 2oz Amarillo

05 yeast

IBUs -FWH = 50.65

Estimated OG = 1.065
Estimated FG = 1.015

the_bird said:

I'm intrigued by the Mt. Hood, because that would be a brand-new hop for me. I could certainly do worse than use Denny's recipe as a starting point, even if I de-IPA'ed it a little bit (bring the gravity and bitterness down maybe 20% - 30%).

Click to expand...

That's what i basically did