Random Thoughts: High Gravity Rye Beer

I'm familiar with barley and wheat wines, but not rye wines. Is there a reason for this other than the fact that so much rye would be expensive and a nightmare to lauter? I love roggenbier and rye (India) pale ales, but does anyone know if it changes character in a high-gravity "roggenwein"?

I was thinking something along the lines of:

10# Rye
6# 6-row
3# Munich
1# Caramunich
0.5-1# Rice hulls

Rests at 110 (beta-glucan), 130 (protein), 150 (saccharification). OG near 1.110. Add ~60 IBUs of a neutral high-alpha hop and 1-2 oz in late additions of Hallertauer or Saaz. Pitch a flavor-neutral yeast with the balls to get the job done, start cool, and ramp up the temperature.

I'd do a beta- and alpha-amylase rest, maybe at 146 and 156, but other than that it looks good.

Go for it!

Yeah, it does look good. Let us know how it turns out. I would do at least 30 minutes for a protein rest. You could also bump up the IBU's to 80 or so, if you like. The additional alcohol will mask the bitterness.

Well... I can't come up with a reason not to brew this beer. I've altered the grain bill a bit to increase gravity and lighten the color. I hope to make a roggenbier from later runnings (maybe steep them in a bit of chocolate malt to darken).

Roggenwein

Info
Volume: 6 gal
OG: ~1.110
IBU: 74
FG: <1.030
Color: 11 (SRM)
(assuming ~70% efficiency and ~75% attenuation)

Fermentables
15 lb rye
6 lb 6-row
4 lb Vienna
1 lb CaraVienna
1 lb Flaked Rye *

Hops
3 oz Magnum (13.1%) @ 90
1 oz Saaz (2.8%) @ 20, 10, and 0

Mash Schedule
Add 1 lb rice hulls and 5.2 stabilizer. Mash-in with 1.125 qt/gal.
Rests: 90 min @ 100 (acid, beta glucan), 30 min @ 130 (protein), 1 hr @ 146 (beta amylase), 1 hr @ 156 (alpha amylase).
A single decoction (rest 30 min @ 153, 30 min boil) will be pulled and added to the mash in two parts to raise the temperature from 100F to 130F and 130F to 146F. An infusion will be used to reach the alpha amylase rest.
* Add 0.5 lb flaked rye to mash during dough-in, 0.5 lb after protein rest (with the intent of not losing head retention from the long protein rest).

Yeast
Pacman @ 60F for first week, then allow temperature to rise to room temp.

Notes
Boil 120 min. 5 tsp Fermax, 1 tsp Irish moss @ 20 min. Oxygenate with O2 for 5 min prior to pitching.

Not that I'm planning to brew it, but I'll add this to my mental log of great ideas gotten from the web & this site!

I've made 3 brews with rye, a pale ale which turned out great, a rye blonde inspired by Redhook Sun Rye which turned out way too viscous as I didn't do a protein rest & the grist was about 22% rye. 3 weeks ago I brewed a IIPA with 30% rye in the grain bill... did a protein rest this time though! I too love rye brews, Hop Rod Rye is one of my favorites.

Schlante,
Phillip