Alternative Grain Beer Light Rye Ale

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It was more the addition of FWH & a 90 min boil. Had I waited until 60 min left in boil, then it wouldn't have been so bad I'm sure. I did a lot of firsts w this beer, and learned a lot...i'd need to use less hops as FWH if I'm going to do that, and longer mash=better attenuation.
 
It was more the addition of FWH & a 90 min boil. Had I waited until 60 min left in boil, then it wouldn't have been so bad I'm sure. I did a lot of firsts w this beer, and learned a lot...i'd need to use less hops as FWH if I'm going to do that, and longer mash=better attenuation.

How much did you FWH and what was the AA%? I haven't had any issues with FWHs. In fact, I think its smoother and less harsh. The difference between 60 & FWH isn't that much IBU wise. Not saying you are wrong, just curious for more info.
 
6# 2- row
1.5# rye
1.5# flaked corn

0.5oz cascade fwh
0.5oz centennial @ 60min
0.5oz cascade @ 10min
0.5oz centenial dry hop x7days

I used the above recipe. I think thecascade were 5.4% and the centennial were 9.1%. I think part of it is that there's no residual sweetness to the beer...it fermented down to 1.004! I also boiled for 90 minutes, so that's about an additional 40% utilization from the fwh. Oh, and I use RO water for my brewing, so it's as close to pure water as possible.
 
picked up the ingredients today for this
I am going to use cascade and willamette for the hops
 
I took this to my homebrew meeting tonight, and it went over great...I guess I'm too critical of my own beer. It has settled a little bit now, and I like it a lot more then the 1-week-in {eg samples. All-in-all a good beer!
 
well made this last night all went well but I overshot the OG by ten points
I have allways had 65% eff but for some reason I got a 75% eff oh well it will be beer
 
Re-brewed 10g of this on Saturday. Used Chico yeast from Flying Fish Brewery. 60 min mash @150, 60 min boil. Looks like it's about done fermenting already! Gotta love pitching active yeast from a brewery's tank!
 
So the first 5 gal keg of this turned out FANTASTIC! I'll be brewing this often as my house light beer!
 
Made this last night. What a comedy of errors!
I took gravity samples, but they melted my hydrometer tube. I got a gravity reading in the pot, but it was so low I freaked out. I figured I got terrible efficiency. The color was so pale that I figured I was boiling next to nothing but water. I ran around the house and threw in about 1/3 pound of DME (it was all I had) at flameout.
The OG ended up being 1.064! I guess I got the efficiency, but now I'm guessing I'm going to have a hop issue with the gravity being too high. Solutions? Should I dry hop? Will it just be great as is? RDWHAHB?
 
Although that beer has been in the rearview for a long time, it came out great. I served it at a party in August and it was gone within a few hours. It did take second fiddle to Da Yooper Pale Ale. I will brew this again in the spring, I think with a bit less alcohol content it'll be a great lawnmower beer.
 
I did this recipe with the same grain bill (slightly different hops) and it came out AMAZING. The rye is so interesting and addictive, and not usually available in commercial beers.

Even though I had bad efficiency (around 60%) and had to top of with about 1 gallon of tap water and some clover honey...it was in the primary for 3 weeks and bottled for 3 weeks. Seriously good beer! I used SF 05 instead of notty.

Will be making this again for sure
 
This sounds incredibly tasty! I'm going to have to put this as my "on deck" brew.

Here's what I plan on doing based on what ingredients I already have:

5# US 2-row
3# Rye Malt (or flaked... whatever)
1# Flaked corn

0.25oz Cascade (6.9%) FWH
0.50oz Cascade (6.9%) 60min
0.25oz Cascade (6.9%) 10min
0.50oz Cascade (6.9%) Dry-hop 7 days

American Ale II (Wyeast 1272)



Question to OP and anybody else who has brewed this: how well would this work as Real Ale (i.e. casked)? Because I have a serious urge to cask soon and I'm thinking between this or my "Slightly SMaSHed Ordinary Bitter" that is a SMaSH with 0.5# flaked oats (technically still a SMaSH since I am only using one malt ;))
 
Here's what I plan on doing based on what ingredients I already have:

5# US 2-row
3# Rye Malt (or flaked... whatever)
1# Flaked corn

You must use the Rye Malt - that is what contributes rye flavor and some extra gravity points. Crush and mash it with the 2-row

The 1# of flaked rye is for mouth feel and possibly some aroma...definitely great for the recipe. Use it in addition to the rye malt
 
You must use the Rye Malt - that is what contributes rye flavor and some extra gravity points. Crush and mash it with the 2-row

The 1# of flaked rye is for mouth feel and possibly some aroma...definitely great for the recipe. Use it in addition to the rye malt

Flaked rye is fine as long as I have the proper amount of diastatic power for the malt... 5# of 2-row should be just fine if LHBS doesn't have rye malt.
 
Flaked rye is fine as long as I have the proper amount of diastatic power for the malt... 5# of 2-row should be just fine if LHBS doesn't have rye malt.

True

I think what I'm getting at...there's a difference if you decided to use only 3# of rye malt or only 3# of flaked rye. They're not interchangeable ingredients in the same way that 2Row pale malt is (normally) interchangeable with 6Row pale malt.
 
True

I think what I'm getting at...there's a difference if you decided to use only 3# of rye malt or only 3# of flaked rye. They're not interchangeable ingredients in the same way that 2Row pale malt is (normally) interchangeable with 6Row pale malt.

Ah I see what you're trying to say. My bad... I guess if I can find malt I'll do 3# and if there is only flaked I'll do 2# and add a pound of 2-row
 
Yeah - that sounds like a good plan. My LHBS doesn't always have rye malt, so when I see it there, I stock up. For some reason, they always have flaked rye.
 
I have brewed this a few times and it's great! Once I had a gravity of 1.065 that finished at 1.020 and I used some simcoe for the finishing hops. The simcoe and the rye really went well together and it was actually really good. Maybe I measured the fg wrong.
I have a batch half lagered half wlp090'ed finishing up in bottles. The samples were not very good tasting, but I don't think the samples tasted good those last few times and BAM! Turned out awesome after all! I'm gonna do another batch half 1099(s04) and half s05 with an oz of simcoe 5minutes. This one's really worth working on, people dig it!
 
Yesterday a little fairy landed on my shoulder and told me to brew something with rye. I have only had one rye beer (two brothers cane and ebel) and it was wonderful. I decided to go with the modified recipe on page 4, bought the ingredients today and will brew tomorrow. Results in 5 or 6 weeks!
 
Yesterday a little fairy landed on my shoulder and told me to brew something with rye. I have only had one rye beer (two brothers cane and ebel) and it was wonderful. I decided to go with the modified recipe on page 4, bought the ingredients today and will brew tomorrow. Results in 5 or 6 weeks!

This beer is really good. Pretty much exactly what I hoped it would be - a great, light, crisp noon on sunday lawnmower beer.

I am going to brew again tomorrow or wednesday and a a half pound of crystal 10. I may also split the batch and try an amarillo dryhop in one batch.
 
So I was thinking I'd do the following (6gal) recipe:

7# Two Row Malt
3# Rye Malt
1# Flaked Corn
1# Canadian Wheat
1oz Centennial @ 60
Safesale US-05

Now the interesting part I'm contemplating was splitting the batch and risking 1/2 by trying to make a rye and ginger beer. From reading 1.5oz of shredded ginger in a bit of vodka for a couple of days direct into the fermenter should do the trick, maybe with some lemon juice. Boiling in some water may work just as well I suppose. I'd probably err on the side of caution and not go too strong.

Thoughts?
 
I brewed the above on Sunday and it is absolutely going crazy, here is a video. Once primary fermentation is pretty much done I'll wrack some onto the ginger. I was hoping that would be Sunday, but we'll see how it looks then.
 
10 weeks ago I brewed the modified recipe on page 4 plus a half pound of crystal 10. Really good. REALLY good. This has been the only beer I have brewed more than once and I plan on brewing it for a third time in the next week or so. Next time I am going to up the crystal to a half pound or pound of 40 (probably half) and it should be the perfect lawnmower beer. The rye kick is strong but it is very flavorful for a 5% beer. Thanks to OP and to Aubie Stout for modifing OP's recipe. Give this one a shot.
 
Yeah I loved the result of this beer, and am going to brew my second revision of it here soon. I had really poor head retention so I'm going to add 5% carafoam to the grain bill. I'm also going to bump up the hops and brew it with a citra, centennial, sorachi ace combo to give it a complex lemony kick.

The Rye and Ginger beer above turned out great as well. If anyone wants to try it in the future I would suggest .75oz of crushed ginger and .4 'lemons' worth of lemon concentrate per gallon of wort.
 
I just had a reprise from 4 hands brewing. Its a rye ale with all centennial hops and biscuit malt. Taste a little similar to the Aubie Stout recipe on page 4 that I love but the biscuit malt stands out and I love it. Im going to go all centennial hops and add half pound of biscuit malt to the page 4 version that I have brewed twice. Recipe to follow.
 
I am brewing attempt #3 tomorrow morning. I have brewed the first recipe on page 4 twice (once as posted, once with half pound crystal 10) and modified it a little this time. Dropped the rye and corn half pound each (rye was a little too strong and I didnt want to buy two pounds of corn) so I added a pound of 2 row to make up for the lost gravity. Today I picked up:

7# 2 row
1# flaked corn
1# rye malt
.5 crystal 20
.5 biscuit malt

.5 centennial @ FWH
.5 centennial @ 60
.5 centennial @ 10
.5 centennial dry hop (I shoot for 5 days but anywhere from 3-10 depending on when I can bottle)

US-05 @ 65ish


Wish me luck! Results in a month or so.
 
I am brewing attempt #3 tomorrow morning. I have brewed the first recipe on page 4 twice (once as posted, once with half pound crystal 10) and modified it a little this time. Dropped the rye and corn half pound each (rye was a little too strong and I didnt want to buy two pounds of corn) so I added a pound of 2 row to make up for the lost gravity. Today I picked up:

7# 2 row
1# flaked corn
1# rye malt
.5 crystal 20
.5 biscuit malt

.5 centennial @ FWH
.5 centennial @ 60
.5 centennial @ 10
.5 centennial dry hop (I shoot for 5 days but anywhere from 3-10 depending on when I can bottle)

US-05 @ 65ish


Wish me luck! Results in a month or so.

2 month mark, where's your results?!
 
I havent had one in a week or so. They were gettting really good but still a little green. I will throw one in the fridge now and try to post results tomorrow.
 
So im three weeks late on the results but I had one yesterday and they really are awesome. Highly recommend it.
 
I have brewed this 4 times as follows:

60% 6-Row
20% Malted Rye
10% Flaked corn/Grits
10% Malted Wheat

With 12 IBU from Magnum at 60'
10 IBU from Cascade at 10'
An ounce of Cascade at 1'

OG 1.048
FG 1.006

Mash at 148* and ferment in low 60's with WLP001


I initially found this recipe to use up some rye I had kicking around but it's become one of my favorites. I keep it around as much as I can now. My wife doesn't usually like BMC (light) type beer, but she likes this one.
 
I need to keep better records. I thought I was going to brew a Belgian Pale, only to discover I have no Caramunich. But plenty of Rye Malt, well 2.5# anyway. So perhaps I'll brew one of these.
 
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