Rye IPA recipe

Looking to brew a rye ipa this weekend. Would like someone to take a look at my recipe. 90 min boil.

3 lbs rye flaked grain
2 lbs pale malt 2 row grain
2 lbs wheat dry extract
3 lbs light dry extract
1 oz Amarillo 90 min
1 oz Amarillo 70 min
1 oz centennial 50 min
1 oz Amarillo 30 min
1 oz simcoe 10 min
WLP041 Pacific ale yeast.

Man, I love rye toast.

I'm surprised I haven't tried a rye beer yet.

First post, long boil, lotta hops....

How many gallons are you targetting?

What mash/sparge/steep temperature are you considering?

What do you have for a fermentor?

It does sound interesting.

I would suggest finding a brewing program like Brewmate also. There are a few free ones available.

Replied below

Dynachrome said:

Man, I love rye toast.

I'm surprised I haven't tried a rye beer yet.
Sierra Nevada ruthless rye is a good one to start with if you've never had it.

First post, long boil, lotta hops....
I've considered cutting down the boil to 60 min. I like a really strong hop aroma and I know that would help.

How many gallons are you targetting? 5 gal

What mash/sparge/steep temperature are you considering? 165 F

What do you have for a fermentor?
I use the bucket for the primary and a glass carboy for the secondary. I'm thinking I'm going to invest in another glass carboy for the primary or go all out and get the conical this time around.

It does sound interesting.

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The program I use is beer smith. It works well. It said I will be a little over the ibu for an American ipa but I may shorten the time to help that. Plus I like it a little more bitter.

Dynachrome said:

I would suggest finding a brewing program like Brewmate also. There are a few free ones available.

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I'd cut out the 70 min amarillo addition. It's going to be bitter and it's kind of a waste of amarillo. I'd also consider adding some Chinook for the spiciness.

165° F is too hot to mash at. Why are you mashing so high?

Your right. I could use a little spice. I think i will try that.

I have always done my grains at 165. Defalco's in Houston has that on all their recipes so I have always stuck with 165. What would you recommend and why?

I'm not sure it would even work at 165. According to John Palmer's "How to Brew," alpha-amylase enzyme ceases all starch conversion above 162° F, with beta-amylase tapping out even earlier. Which is to say, if you're mashing at 165° F, you're getting virtually no fermentables at all, and would end up with an overly sweet beer with a very high finishing gravity and very low alcohol content.

That's unacceptable even for malty styles, but IPAs are supposed to be particularly dry, so to remain true to style, you should be mashing at the low end of the traditional 148° - 158° F window. That is, I'd recommend mashing at 148° F to end up with a more faithful representation of an IPA.

EDIT: I see your recipe gets about half its fermentables from extracts - that explains why it wouldn't be totally sweet, but even still, at such a high mash temperature, you're getting no fermentables at all from your grains, and you're going to end up with a very high finishing gravity, an overly sweet beer, and uncharacteristically low alcohol content (as it's all coming only from the extracts, and none from the grains).

luckybucks said:

I have always done my grains at 165. Defalco's in Houston has that on all their recipes so I have always stuck with 165. What would you recommend and why?

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Are you mashing the grains or steeping them?

Nevver used rye much, but id think you could do away with the wheat extract and use more two row or dme. Mash around 150 and shift most of those hops from the 30 minute mark on. I like the idea of some chinook which would complime t the spiciness of the rye

These are grains that need to be mashed, so I assume you're mashing them. In that case, 165 is WAY too high of a temp. Not sure how much residual sweetness you want in this, but the range of acceptable mash temps is mid/high 140s to mid/high 150s (lower temp generally makes a drier beer).

Also, you mention that you do a long boil because you want a lot of hop aroma. This is actually counter-productive. A longer boil actually boils away all of the hop aromatics and extracts the bitterness. For more hop aroma/flavor, boil hops 20 minutes or less. Also, boiling longer than 60 minutes is pretty unnecessary (IMO) since after 60 minutes, you get pretty diminishing returns on bitterness extractions.

That's my 2 cents anyway!

meevoo said:

Are you mashing the grains or steeping them?

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Should have read that more closely. I'm steeping.

The-Baron-of-Charnwood said:

These are grains that need to be mashed, so I assume you're mashing them. In that case, 165 is WAY too high of a temp. Not sure how much residual sweetness you want in this, but the range of acceptable mash temps is mid/high 140s to mid/high 150s (lower temp generally makes a drier beer).

Also, you mention that you do a long boil because you want a lot of hop aroma. This is actually counter-productive. A longer boil actually boils away all of the hop aromatics and extracts the bitterness. For more hop aroma/flavor, boil hops 20 minutes or less. Also, boiling longer than 60 minutes is pretty unnecessary (IMO) since after 60 minutes, you get pretty diminishing returns on bitterness extractions.

That's my 2 cents anyway!

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Looks like its time to break out the books and read into what is the difference between mashing and steeping. A quick Google search basically told me but I like to check my books just to make sure.

Yeah I have read less time = more aromatic thats why I'm considering going to 60 min.

Bamsdealer said:

Nevver used rye much, but id think you could do away with the wheat extract and use more two row or dme. Mash around 150 and shift most of those hops from the 30 minute mark on. I like the idea of some chinook which would complime t the spiciness of the rye

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Most recipes I've read online have a little wheat but I think you may be right. I may have to much. I will look into taking it down a bit.

luckybucks said:

Looks like its time to break out the books and read into what is the difference between mashing and steeping. A quick Google search basically told me but I like to check my books just to make sure.

Yeah I have read less time = more aromatic thats why I'm considering going to 60 min.

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If you've never done a mash before, look into "Brewing in a Bag" or BIAB. That's the easiest and cheapest way to transition to partial mashing, which is required by the recipe you wrote.

Boiling hops for 60 minutes still drives off any aromatics.

The-Baron-of-Charnwood said:

If you've never done a mash before, look into "Brewing in a Bag" or BIAB. That's the easiest and cheapest way to transition to partial mashing, which is required by the recipe you wrote.

Boiling hops for 60 minutes still drives any aromatics.

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Looks like what I've been doing except at the wrong temp and maybe not as long. This does help me understand why my gravities haven't been right. Guess I've been mixing things up all since I went to partial grains. Thanks to everyone for the help.

+1 on mash low end of range


I think this is really important for partial mash anytime you expect OG over about 1.050. Same reason high gravity extract kits almost always include sugar in the recipe.

Another thing.... dry hop! Even if its only an ounce. Ive made ipas without, and even a beer with a top of late addition hops really misses the mark without at least a bit of dry hopping. Dry hops add so much in the way of aroma, percieved bitterness and taste that I can't imagine brewing another ipa without them.

Cut your late addition hops down to .75 oz and save whats lleft for when your airlock stops bubbling.... or just buy a couple extra ounces.

Bamsdealer said:

Mash around 150 and shift most of those hops from the 30 minute mark on.

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+1. I think you've got way too many early hop additions and not enough late. I'd do a single bittering addition at 60 then everything else 20 min or less plus dry hop.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/angry-dwarf-ale-little-red-recipe-progress-177479/

I did that one at 160F.