Dangers of brewing with Rye Malt?

I just brewed up a clone of Terrapin Rye Pale Ale from Athens, Georgia. In talking about the recipe with my friend, he told me that he thought he had read somewhere that rye is the only grain that if mishandled or brewed wrong could cause physical harm. The buzzword that he used which is running through my mind is that it could potentially make you go "blind". While I do love beer, I don't think I'm ready to sacrifice my eyesight for its enjoyment. If anyone has any info on this, it would be greatly appreciated.

First off, welcome to HBT!

I've never heard any mention of this anywhere with regards to malted rye so I'm a little skeptical myself. I've been making a rye beer for a while now and I still seem to be able to see. A quick google doesn't return anything either.

Maybe someone with some actual knowledge will post; I shall stand ready to dump all my rye ales down the sink if need be, but I think we'll be ok.

Good to be here, thanks for the welcome. I thought it was a little strange myself, but thought I'd post for clarification. This beer has a big hop bouquet and hop flavor with a pretty good amount of bitterness. When I racked it into the keg, it was smelling damn good and I hopefully won't have to ditch it.

there's no danger at all. drink away!

DeathBrewer said:

there's no danger at all. drink away!

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Ha Ha posted by DeathBrewer the murderous member, careful now

Doesn't sorghum contain cyanide in the acrospire?

I read up on Brewing with Rye before making my first Roggen. It really helped with the process.

Wild

My mind can now be at ease. thanks to all that posted and I'll let you know how it tastes when I tap it (granted I am not blind and can see the screen).

I thought there was a certain bacteria present on the grain that was not on others. Perhaps the danger exists when milling the grain; inhaling dust may increase risk of infection?

Maybe the got that idea from Ergot infection?

Exaaaaaactly.....couldn't remember what it was called.

WARNING!!!!!! Drinking large amounts of ANY homebrew will cause blurring of vision and may lead to passing out, and since your eyes will be closed, you will not be able to see!!!!!! (at least it goes away by the next morning)

may lead to spending the night with big, hairy women and then confronting your friends the next morning.

"oh, c'mon! i knew the whole time!"

Rye happens to be the preferred grain host for the Ergot fungus. Ergot produces a bunch of LSD-like compounds. Now before people go, hey, folks make marijuana beer............ Historically chronic exposure to egort in contaminated grain, led to tingling sensations in the limbs and eventual swelling, then gangrene would set in and this would lead to the loss of limb. The tingling purportedly felt like your limbs were on fire, and as St. Anthony was the parton saint of fire, this condition is the origin of the term St. Anthony's fire.

I has also been suggested that the whole Salem witch trial may have been the result of a wet fall and a subsequent outbreak of ergot. Many of the reported witchings, may have actually been to symptoms of ergot poisoning.

Sorry, I just 5 minutes ago, got a new version of the textbook for the course I teach.

Rye is carefully screened for ergot, and rye for malting, likely even moreso. I wouldn't worrry at all. I love rye in all kinds of food.

If you have a good Terripin recipe I would love to get it. The Rye pale is one of my favorites.

AGBrewer said:

Ha Ha posted by DeathBrewer the murderous member, careful now

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ha! just saw this. you should try my rye stout...it's to die for

nfrayer said:

If you have a good Terripin recipe I would love to get it. The Rye pale is one of my favorites.

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Here's the recipe I used:
Extract Version:
3.3 # Light LME
2.33 # light DME
1# rye malt
1# Munich malt (10L)
.5# Victory (30L)
6 oz. Gambrinus Honey Malt

14 AAU Magnum (60)
3.75 AAU Fuggle (30)
2.38 AAU East Kent Golding (20)
2.38 AAU East Kent Golding (10)
6.8 AAU Cascade (3)
16.4 Amarillo (dry hop)

WLP051
Wyeast 1332

All Grain Version:
Replace the malt extracts with 9# 2 row pale malt. Mash at 155 deg F for 60 min. Boil for 90 mins, ferment at 68-70 deg F.

bradsul said:

>>>>>>>>>> I shall stand ready to dump all my rye ales down the sink if need be, but I think we'll be ok.

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LMAO........:cross:

Tell your friend to put down the crack pipe.

Wait, ergot is a BAD thing?

wstanfor said:

...he thought he had read somewhere that rye is the only grain that if mishandled or brewed wrong could cause physical harm......could potentially make you go "blind". ...

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There's something else that my Mom told me would make me go blind...

35 years later and I'm still tempting fate weekly...(okay...daily)

I recently made a mini-mash roggen, that turned out ok-ish. Not lethal, that's for certain.

The worst to be said about it is that the rye threw a ton of nonfermentables into the brew, and the end result is pea-soup hazy, and a little heavy on the tongue.

Some fungal species can produce a carcinogenic toxin called "aflatoxin". This could happen if the rye was stored improperly before you purchased it, but this is just as likely to occur with any other grain as it is with rye. But who wants to worry about that. I say relax, dont worry, have a homebrew. Actually Papazian said that.