Rye Help

[boogaloo]

I’ve never brewed with rye before and want to get a good idea what it bring to the table. The commercial rye beers I’ve tried have been IPAs, and the hops prevent me from picking up any of the nuisances of the rye.

Here’s what I am thinking about brewing this weekend to get an idea:

Target OG 1.054
Target IBU 25-30

2 Row 75%
Rye 25%

Bittering Hops: Magnum
Flavor/Aroma: Mt Hood

Yeast US -05


Any suggestions? I was thinking about using a small portion of lighter crystal malt (~5% of the bill) to add some body, but I think I might be fine if I mash a@154. Would the small amount of crystal get in the way?

 

[slym2none]

5% of Crystal 10 or 20 sounds fine.

 

[d3track]

Rice hulls. You're welcome.

 

[smithmd4]

Rice hulls. You're welcome.

When you think you have enough rice hulls, add more. I use more in my rye beers than my wheat beers. Also, don't worry about body with rye. You will have plenty. So whatever grains you add, use it for flavor or color, but don't worry about the body.

As for flavor, I get an earthy taste that I love. People say they get spice but I feel that often comes from the spicy or piney hops used with it. I make a brown ale I like with Willamette.

 

[boogaloo]

I mash in a 5 gallon cooler that has uses a stainless water heater connector as a filter. If I'm mashing 3 lbs of Rye how much rice hulls should i use? A would a pound suffice?

 

[Hello]

When you have 25% rye, rice hulls for sure. I had 5% rye and didn't bother with hulls, but you're going to want them.

I'd use a pound at least. Instincts tell me even 2 wouldn't hurt. Rye can stick. It doesn't crack open like 2-row.

 

[m00ps]

3 lbs of rye in a 5gallon batch? You may not need hulls at all. But 1/2 lb would be safe

 

[sburnt]

Just made a Roggenbier with 7 pounds of rye malt and used almost a pound of rice hulls... and should have used more! I use a round cooler with a false bottom, and I've never had a stuck sparge before, but I had considerable difficulty lautering and sparging. So I second, third, and fourth the recommendations above.

 

[smithmd4]

Oh, another thing: Do a mash out or sparge with the hottest water you can get away with. I NEVER do one, but after the beer I made with 50% rye, keeping it hot is a must. As it cools the proteins "lock up" making it even harder to sparge. As my mash dropped from 150 to 140 over a 2.5 hr sparge, it was like cement.

I'm making it sound like working with rye is a nightmare, but in reality its probably my favorite grain. I think my next rye overload will be much easier with the lesson of more rice hulls and a keeping it hot for lautering.

 

[boogaloo]

So I scaled back the rye a little and added some wheat to the mix. Here’s what I’ll be brewing tomorrow:

6.375 lbs 2-row
2.625 lbs Rye @ 153
1.5 lbs Wheat
.5 lbs Rice Hulls


Mount Hood pellets, 6.1% aa

.75 oz @ 60
.5 oz @ 15
.75 oz @ knockout

US-05

Target OG 1.054, IBU 25

Thanks for all the input. I’ll let you all know how it goes!

 

[smithmd4]

Do not fear the rye. Respect the rye. Drink the rye. Love the rye.

I use about 20% rye in a few beers except for the one I did with 50% rye. The only one I had major issues with was the 50% rye beer and I'd wager another factor was an 85% full mash tun. Don't be afraid of 25%. Just respect it, use rice hulls, and keep it warm while sparging and 25% shouldn't be too much trouble if you want to use that much.

As time, money, and liver allow I'm going to continue playing with rye as much as possible.

 

[Off2Race]

The two best things you can do when brewing with rye are to use rice hulls in the mash and do a beta-glucan rest at 90-110° F for 15-30 minutes before reaching your saccrification rest. Do a quick Google search for the technical specifics but you'll be glad you did. I've brewed very good Roggenbiers with 60+% rye using this technique and had zero issues.

 

[smithmd4]

The two best things you can do when brewing with rye are to use rice hulls in the mash and do a beta-glucan rest at 90-110° F for 15-30 minutes before reaching your saccrification rest. Do a quick Google search for the technical specifics but you'll be glad you did. I've brewed very good Roggenbiers with 60+% rye using this technique and had zero issues.

This is the whole reason I built a RIMS system.

 

[chessking]

+1 on the rye adding body. I make a 60% rye beer, and it pours like cough syrup. Very tasty though.

If you back off the rye in the recipe, you will lose some of that rye character you were looking for. I'd keep it at 25% or even higher, but prepare for a difficult lauder, as mentioned above.

I have substituted flaked rye in place of the rye malt, and not run it through the grain mill, and it seems to lauder better, perhaps because the larger flakes gave a filter bed the milled rye didn't. But this could be because of the beer goggles I was wearing. It certainly didn't effect the thick proteins in the wort.