Alternative Grain Beer Black Rice Pale Ale

[fourstring]

Recipe Type

All Grain

Yeast

S-05

Batch Size (Gallons)

2

Original Gravity

1.050

Final Gravity

1.011

Boiling Time (Minutes)

60

IBU

40

Color

Purple

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

7

Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

7

Tasting Notes

Lawnmower beer with a purple

For this recipe I use Chinese Black Rice that can be found in your local hippy grocery store. I cook it for 45 minutes before adding it to the initial mash. (Edit: I do a cereal mash by running the grains through the food processor before cooking.)

Grain bill:
1 lb Black Rice, cooked for 45 minutes
2lb 8oz Pilsner
4oz Carapils (can add another 4oz if you like more head)

Mash 1 hour at 142-145

.25oz Pacific Jade 60 minutes
.25tsp Irish Moss 10 minutes
.25oz Pacific Jade 5 minutes

I also add .25oz of fresh grated ginger at 15 minutes, but it's optional if you don't like ginger. You can also substitute ginger by doubling the first hop addition.

 

[fourstring]

Since I'm drinking one right now:

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1434660665.866223.jpg

 

[fsr_racer]

Looks interesting. How does it taste?

 

[Hobanon]

That's a heck of a lot of rice, though I love the color you've got going on there. Interested to hear how it tastes as well.

 

[phyllobeddo]

I'm interested as well....

 

[fourstring]

This would be way too much rice % if it was white rice, but the black rice is a little nuttier so it stands up better. It's not quite as complex as a wild rice so the result is still lawnmower, hot day beer. It's like drinking slightly more complex Miller with extra hops.

That said, there's really not a lot of malt backbone, which is why I use the Pacific Jade and ginger to give it a little more spicy profile. If you use the ginger, it really needs a month or two to settle. If you just use the hops, this can go from grain to glass in three weeks. This also lagers OK, but I generally lack fridge space and patience.


Edit: I also forgot to mention on the initial post that I cereal mash the rice by putting it in the food processor. Will amend...

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1435194048.851510.jpg

 

[DonQuixote]

Hi Fourstring,
For months I've been thinking about brewing a beer with black rice to get the purple color. When I saw your post I was happy to see that my idea would have worked. Did you use black gluttonous rice or forbidden rice? Forbidden rice has a very slight grape flavor. The pigments in the rice are the same flavanoid that makes red wine good for you. Does that come across in the beer?

 

[fourstring]

Hi Don,

I use forbidden rice, and yes, there's a little extra complexity from the rice that's hard to pin down. It's halfway between the blandness of white rice and the nutty flavor of wild rice, which helps get away with that much adjunct.

A few months ago I amended this recipe to a black rice saison that I personally like much better than the original. The nuttiness and lightness from the adjuncts is offset by a little more low-alpha hops and the saison tang.

Here's a 2 gallon batch, BIAB method. It's also listed in Beersmith as "Black Rice 2.0" if you want to scale it to your equipment.

OG - 1.064
FG - 1.016
SRM - 25.8
ABV - 6.32%
IBU - 31.2

3.8 lbs Pilsner Malt 73.7%
4.0 oz Carapils 5.3%
1 lb Black Rice, milled and cooked for half an hour, then infused into the mash 21.1%

Mash at 148-150 for an hour

.5 oz Tettnang 60 minutes
.3 oz Tettnang 30 minutes
.1 oz Saaz 0 minutes/flameout

Belle Saison yeast, no starter

 

[fourstring]

Pic of how the saison comes out. Still bright purple:

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1448996515.712822.jpg

 

[DonQuixote]

Thanks Fourstring,

I'm brewing beermunchers Cream of 3 crop tomorrow. Maybe I'll put a little black rice in it to give it a little color. If you haven't made that beer yet it's a winner. It's great for the Lite Beer drinkers of the world but still comes in at 5% ABV.

 

[SanPancho]

subscribed. gotta see what this one's all about when i get a chance.

 

[Dynachrome]

.....
Grain bill:
1 lb Black Rice, cooked for 45 minutes

Full boil 212 deg F?

Tx,
Bill

 

[fourstring]

Yep. Full boil.