Rye IPA Mystery Problem

Ok, so I am thoroughly confused. I tried my hand at my first rye IPA, using a partial mash recipe of my own making. Here's the recipe, btw:

3# Rye LME (70% 2 row, 20% rye, 10% C40)
3# 2row
2.5# Rye
0.5# Caramel 60
0.5# Corn Sugar
3 big handfulls of rice hulls
Mash at 148 for 90 min

1 oz Columbus (70)
1 oz Nugget (70)
0.5 oz Columbus (10)
0.75 oz Nugget (5)
0.75 Citra (5)
Expected OG: 1.057, observed unknown, because of the gelatinous quality of the wort, but somewhere between 1.04 and 1.06


Ideally, I was looking for a super dry, super hoppy rye IPA. I mashed with a brew in a bag method. I finish everything, boil included, and I notice that:

A) The wort is insanely cloudy - opaque, and it separates into a clear layer and an opaque layer with definite large particulate
B) The texture of the wort is gelatinous
C) The wort tastes insanely sweet, no hop presence at all

I pitched anyway and am hoping for the best, but can anyone tell me what the hell happened?

What do you mean "observed unknown"...did you take a gravity reading after you finished your brew day before pitching? What was the OG?

You can't determine whether or not your beer will be "dry" until you get a final gravity reading and compare it to the OG.

Flaked Rye has always given me a sticky "gelatinous" effect (even had one stuck sparge cause of that sticky nonsense)...I wouldn't worry about the consistency too much..

I actually used rye malt, and by unknown I mean that it first read 1.06, the dropped visibly as the sediment settled to 1.05ish. Currently the top half of the fermenter is now clear, and the bottom half practically a paste. I pitched at the beginning of this thread.

What was your beginning Boil & end Batch size?

It's insanely sweet because the LME has 10% crystal 40 then you added another 1/2 lb. crystal 60. Too much early & not enough late hops. What brand of Rye malt extract & yeast?

Boiled about 4.5 gal, lost a gallon to boil off, topped off to 5. As for the caramel the total percentage is still around 10% of the total bill, and hops were calculate to 118 IBU. Nearly 4 oz of hops with a minimum AA of 13% seems like plenty to me

Oh and the extract was northern brewer brand rye lme

Yes, that's called overdoing it on the bittering hops and underdoing it on the late additions. What you have here is a Sweet Rye APA in the 5% abv range with 118 IBUs and low aroma. Further dilution of 1.5 gallons of plain top off water didn't add to the aroma either.

What was your yeast?

Yeast was white labs California 001, no starter - did not have time. No activity yet, but it's only been an hour or so

Add about 2.0-2.5 oz dryhops after about 18 days.

You'll be fine without a starter for this beer. It tastes sweet now because all the sugar is still there. But once the yeast turn it into alcohol, you'll have a hugely bitter beer on your hands. A huge earthy rye and caramel presence will still be quite noticeable however.

I'm mainly worried because of all of the issues together. Also, I've dine a number of hoppy beers in the last, and this is the first time there is not even a hint of bitterness in the wort. Mostly though I am worried it won't ferment right

Maybe you can show us a picture of active fermentation tomorrow?

Here's the difference of what it is now:

http://hopville.com/recipe/1382278/imperial-ipa-recipes/jtc2811s-rye-apa (with Imperial bitterness)

...And what it could have been:

http://hopville.com/recipe/1382316/american-ipa-recipes/jtc2811s-revised-rye-ipa

Do you see how different, yet similar these are? The second recipe would have given you a better beer.

Check out this Rye PM recipe as well...

http://hopville.com/recipe/556991/imperial-ipa-recipes/hop-mod-rye

I've never done a post boil hop addition before. Is there much of a difference between that and a flameout addition or drug hopping?

post boil is flameout

dry hopping, you mean?

Autocorrect is an odd thing occasionally. Frequently I do flameout, but skipped it this time in favor if more aggressive dry hopping

I always do a lot of late additions, i.e. 15, 10 and/or 5, plus flameout, plus dryhop. All additions are substantial and I'm always 150% satisfied with my aroma. 95-100% of my additions come from these time frames and I'll reserve 0-5% for the traditional bittering addition.

No activity in the fermenter yet. I gave it a stir, and will wait another day or so.