Feedback on my Honey Rye Pale Ale Please

[JeremyJed]

Hey all,

I've been brewing this for awhile now as an Amber but want to change it up to be more of a pale ale feel to be more dry and hop forward. Let me know if you think this will fit that bill.

Batch Size 5.5 Gal

Water profile target:
Ca 50
Mg 15
Na 15
CL 50
SO4 110
HCO 45

Distilled Water with:
3g Calcium Chloride
3.5g Epsom Salt
3.5g Gypsum
1.75g Baking Soda

6lb Pale 2-Row
2.5lb American Rye
1.5lb Honey Malt
10oz Flaked Barley

Mash @ 152 until conversion is complete
Sparge @ 170

.4oz Magnum 60min
.5oz Simcoe 20min
.5oz Cascade flame-out

US-05 at a constant 68F

I'm calculating an OG of 1.049 with a FG of 1.009. IBU of 30.5 and a Mash pH of 5.6

 

[AlexKay]

Looks good! If it were me I’d add maybe a pound more rye, either substituting for the 2-row, or using flaked rye in place of the flaked barley. But I like lots of rye in my rye. Ryyyeeeeee!

Only other thought is not to add carbonates if you don’t need to. Or add less. 5.6 is on the high side, and there’s no reason to do that to yourself.

 

[JeremyJed]

Thanks, I swapped out the Barley for Rye and removed the baking soda.

Unfortunately, I realized I was measuring my hops in grams instead of ounces with only 15 min left in the boil, so I just dumped in the rest of the Magnum and Simcoe. BrewersFriend has my IBU back to where it should be, but will be interesting to taste what the difference will be with adding the majority of the hops so late.

 

[Coastalbrew]

@JeremyJed How does the honey malt work with the rye? I've been working on a rye pale ale recipe myself and never thought about adding honey malt to the recipe. Sounds interesting.

 

[JeremyJed]

@Coastalbrew I think it just adds a nice sweetness that cuts through the spice of the rye. I love it. Like I said in my first post I typically make this into an Amber, but I wanted to see what it would taste like being more dry and hoppy.

I'll let you know. Although I'm not sure what I'm going to end up with now because of the grams v ounce SNAFU.

 

[Coastalbrew]

@Coastalbrew I think it just adds a nice sweetness that cuts through the spice of the rye. I love it. Like I said in my first post I typically make this into an Amber, but I wanted to see what it would taste like being more dry and hoppy.

I'll let you know. Although I'm not sure what I'm going to end up with now because of the grams v ounce SNAFU.

Sounds good. You'll be fine on the hops, I think. I've used Magnum late in the boil a few times and the beers came out good. Probably will have a little more flavor and aroma.

Cheers!

 

[Kickass]

Do you find 1.5 pounds of honey malt to be overwhelming? The common remark is go easy on honey malt. I’ve never used more than .5 pounds in a 5 gallon batch.

 

[JeremyJed]

@Kickass When I first created this recipe that's what I read, don't use a lot of honey malt because it will over power everything else....

But I never got that. I've used up to 2lb before. I like the sweetness it imparts on the beer. 2lb is on the high side though. I feel like heavy on the honey malt is fine for an Amber, I probably should have cut back a little more with it for a pale ale, but we'll see.