RedRye Recipe advice needed

[WillieP]

Posted in All Grain Forum with no replies, thought I would try over here:

My local Home Brew store closed and our Homebrew Club ended up with the left over grains and hops that resulted from the closing. We did a grab bag kind of thing to distribute the bounty. We agreed to brew something with the ingredients from our grab bag. (Grab bag did not include base malts.)
Below is a recipe that I would like your input on:

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: RedRye
Brewer: Willie P
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Amber Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.98 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.73 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 14.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8.0 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 1 4.3 %
4 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 34.8 %
4 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 3 34.8 %
1 lbs Carared (Weyermann) (24.0 SRM) Grain 4 8.7 %
1 lbs Cararye (65.0 SRM) Grain 5 8.7 %
8.0 oz Amber Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 6 4.3 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 7 4.3 %
0.50 oz Magnum [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 23.3 IBUs
0.50 oz Golding, U.S. [5.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 9 4.8 IBUs
0.50 oz Golding, U.S. [5.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool Hop 10 1.8 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) [124 Yeast 11 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs 8.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 14.38 qt of water at 165.7 F 150.0 F 75 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 5.77 gal water at 168.0 F


I can post a list of the grains and hops that I ended up with if that would be helpful.

Thanks in Advance!!
Willie P.

 

[mongoose33]

Personally, I'd add some more Rye, but that's a taste thing. I brew a Rye beer that has 3# of Rye malt and 4 oz of flaked rye. I would think the above recipe would tend to hide the rye, so I'd add more rye malt or flaked rye.

I include 6 oz of chocolate wheat in mine to give it a dark color, but that's all the wheat I include.

 

[WillieP]

Mongoose, thanks for your input.
I reached out to a local brewer and he voiced a concern that the base to specialty malt ratio was a bit off. I'm considering reducing the carared and cararye to .75 lbs and the amber and 80L to 6 oz, and adding 1 oz of black barley to bump the color back up.

Any feedback on that??

 

[Rocksville]

Is there a reason you're using so much wheat? Seems like more of a red wheat beer than a red rye.

I'd do something like 8 lbs pale, 2 lbs rye malt, 1# c-red, .75 c-rye, and maybe 2-3 oz of something in the 300-400* range for color (or mo-betta, use 4 oz of chocolate rye).

I find the c-rye more toasty/biscuity than sweet like a crystal malt personally, so that with the amber on top seems a bit much. You've already got a lb of crystal (c-red), so the 80 also seems excessive and I don't think you'd need it for the color.

That's a lot of changes however, and I'm sure you're recipe will be fine. It just won't taste of rye since there is really not much rye to it.

 

[kh54s10]

I too think this looks more like a wheat beer with a bare hint of rye. The lowest amount I have used was 1.75 Lb and the rye was barely there. I haven't used Cararye, just plain Rye Malt. I don't know the difference but I would lower the wheat and go with 2.5 to 3 pounds of rye. But then again I like rye and have been increasing the amount I use.

 

[ProblemChild]

My choices are to go over 15% rye. Needs to be that much to get the rye character started.

Try:
70% base malt (can work wheat into this)
20 % rye (15% rye, 5% cararye or flaked)
7% crystal
3% "character" malt like melanoidin, voctory or something.

 

[WillieP]

Rocksville, kh54s10 and problemchild, I agree the rye is to low. I'm reading that 15-20 % is the level that you can really taste it.
The thing is, I am suppose to use the grains out of the grab bag. (see original post) But there's nothing to say that I can't buy additional specialty grain and add them to the recipe.
I will post a list of the grab bag grains that I have to work with and maybe someone will concocted the perfect grist bill!

 

[WillieP]

Grab bag Grains

2 x 5# Avangard Wheat
2 x 5 # White Wheat

2 x 1# Beechwood Smoked
2 x 1# CaraRed

1# Amber Malt
1# Bohemian Dark Malt
1# Carafa I
1# CaraBelge
1# CaraBohemian
1# CaraBrown
1# CaraRye
1# Carmel 80L
1# Crisp Brown Malt
1# Crisp Crystal 77L
1# Crisp Pale Chocolate
1# De-Husked Carafa I
1# Flaked Barley
1# Flaked Oats
1# Golden Naked Oats

 

[WillieP]

I have to buy the 2 row anyway, I can buy some rye malt. I just want to nail down the recipe before I order, as there is no local homebrew store anymore. Mail order for me...

 

[WillieP]

I made a couple of changes to the original recipe. Let's hope this turns out well!

Recipe: RedRye
Brewer: Willie P
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Amber Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.98 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.73 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.055 SG
Estimated Color: 14.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8.0 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 1 4.1 %
4 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 33.2 %
4 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 3 33.2 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 4 12.4 %
12.0 oz Carared (Weyermann) (24.0 SRM) Grain 5 6.2 %
12.0 oz Cararye (65.0 SRM) Grain 6 6.2 %
4.0 oz Amber Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 7 2.1 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 8 2.1 %
1.0 oz Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM) Grain 9 0.5 %
0.50 oz Magnum [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 10 23.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Golding, U.S. [5.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 11 4.8 IBUs
0.50 oz Golding, U.S. [5.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool Hop 12 1.7 IBUs
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast 13 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs 1.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 15.08 qt of water at 165.7 F 150.0 F 75 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 5.66 gal water at 168.0 F
Notes:
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