Rye IPA Advice - Mash Schedule, Hop Bill and boil length.

I'm planning on brewing an all grain IPA, average grain bill with a 20% mix of rye malt and flaked rye. OG is 1.059, I'm using US-05 for yeast.

I was planning on doing a single infusion at 153 but I've read multiple recipes that either call for a 3 step infusion or ramping up the mash temp from 142 to 153 or so. Is there any benefit to do a more complicated mash schedule, or will mashing in at 153 do the job?


The second question is with the hop schedule. The hops that I'm choosing between for this beer are:
Chinook - Pellet (11%)
Simcoe - Leaf (13.6%) or Pellet (13%)
Amarillo - Leaf(10.5%) or pellet (8.5%)

It seems like Chinook would work well with the spicy rye so I bought 3 ounces of the Chinook, and my plan was something like this:
FWH - .5 Chinook
60m - .25 Chinook
30m - .5 Chinook
10m - .5 Chinook
flameout - 1.25 Chinook
dryhop - 1.5-2 ounces of amarillo

The thing is that I've never really worked with rye before, and I'm not sure which hops would work best at what point. I'd like the beer to be Chinook heavy but I'd also like to use the Amarillo, and maybe even a little Simcoe for the 60 minute addition or something. How and where would you use these hops, keeping in mind I want to go heavy on the Chinook (if that makes sense) and I want to do a fwh addition.


Lastly, I'm considering doing a 90 minute boil. Any pros or cons to doing this as opposed to a standard 60 minute boil.

I'm brewing this tomorrow so any and all advice will be greatly appreciated, thanks

You may know that I have a pretty highly regarded rye ipa recipe. It's single infusion at 153. I can't imagine why you'd need a more complicated mash schedule. It uses Mt. Hood and Columbus hops and a 60 min. boil.

http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/DCRyeIPA

Denny - Thanks for that quick reply, I just checked out your recipe, sounds stellar and has overwhelmingly positive reviews. I'll definitely stick with single infusion and a 60 minute boil. BTW I'm using your namesake yeast on a cream ale right now and it's tasting/smelling great just 1 week in primary.

So that settles up the mash procedure and boil time. What about the hop schedule? I'm set on just sticking with the Chinook, Simcoe and Amarillo hops that I have, and I want to keep this Chinook heavy. Which hop variety would work best at what time, based on the alpha acid contents and the general profile of each hop? Should I just stick with Chinook and Amarillo, or is there room for some Simcoe?

Bump for replies. Any help with those hop additions would go a long way, I'm going to start brewing at noon tomorrow. Thanks!

Nothing wrong with your hop schedule - give it a shot and see what you think. I have a modified version of Denny's Rye recipe and I love it.

Highly recommend you make sure to include rice hulls - Rye is very sticky!

Good luck and have fun.

I like your hop schedule, too. And while some people seem to have problems with rye, in all the batches I've made using rye (a lot!) I've never had a stuck, or even slow, runoff.