Feedback please, on my rye APA recipe

[Coastalbrew]

This is my first ground up recipe creation, so I'm a little unsure of what to expect from it, and would appreciate the hive mind's input please. I really enjoy rye beers and wanted to create a nice rye PA that was flavorful but not too complex, with a good balance between the malt and hops.

Batch size: 5.5 G
OG: 1.059
FG: 1.015
SRM: 9
IBU: 46.5
Abv: 5.8%
Eff: 76%
Mash @ 154* for 60 min

8.75# 2 row 75%
1.75# rye malt 15%
.5# Cara 60 4%
.375# wheat malt 3%
.25# Cara 80 2%

.25 oz Simcoe first wort
.5 oz Chinook @ 60
.5 oz Simcoe @ 30
.5 oz Chinook @ 5
1.25 oz Simcoe @ flame out

Ferment w/ Nottingham

Thanks for the feedback

 

[micraftbeer]

Looks pretty solid to me, I just can't comment on the yeast, as I've never used it. When I make my occasional rye beer, I tend towards very neutral yeasts, so as not to battle with the rye flavors. That said, the right yeast could really boost and support that rye flavor. So if you've got that specific flavor in mind to go with the rye flavor you like, carry on!

 

[rhys333]

The grain bill looks balanced overall. 15 to 20% rye is about right, without getting too heavy. If it were me I'd drop the 3% wheat, as you won't notice it and the rye will aid in head retention anyway. I'd also pick one crystal malt instead of the 60/80 blend, unless you're needing to combine what you have on hand. Of the two options, I'd pick the lighter C60 because the C80 could dominate the rye.

As for the hop list, I don't often brew IPA so others may have better feedback. That said and FWIW I'd probably go 60 min, 10 and FO with a total of about 3 to 5 ounces.

 

[magno]

Seems on the right track to me too... I haven't used Chinook and Simcoe together before.

Nottingham is a reasonable choice... it finishes pretty dry in my experience, and is pretty neutral. It should complement the rye.

 

[Coastalbrew]

Thanks for the replies!
My thoughts on the wheat malt were to really get a nice thick creamy head. I know the rye does this as well, but I thought the two together might really do it up. I am torn on the caramel malt choices. I added the cara 80 to add a little more color and malt complexity, but if you think I could accomplish the same effect with more C60 I'm open to that. I thought the C60 alone might be a little bland.

I've never used the Chinook Simcoe hops either, that's one area that is giving me the most apprehension. I chose those two based on their descriptions and from looking at other similar recipes. They seemed like they would compliment the rye flavor and give a good hop presence without getting overpowering. I'm open to other suggestions as well, if anyone has any.

I've used the Nottingham yeast a few times in a rye brown ale that I love. It works well in that beer, but that beer is pretty different from this one. It's about 23% rye with some Cara 60, biscuit and light chocolate malt in the mix as well. My other thought for yeast was to go with wlp001. That might be a better choice at first until I get the grain bill dialed in.

 

[rhys333]

Thanks for the replies!
My thoughts on the wheat malt were to really get a nice thick creamy head. I know the rye does this as well, but I thought the two together might really do it up. I am torn on the caramel malt choices. I added the cara 80 to add a little more color and malt complexity, but if you think I could accomplish the same effect with more C60 I'm open to that. I thought the C60 alone might be a little bland.

I've never used the Chinook Simcoe hops either, that's one area that is giving me the most apprehension. I chose those two based on their descriptions and from looking at other similar recipes. They seemed like they would compliment the rye flavor and give a good hop presence without getting overpowering. I'm open to other suggestions as well, if anyone has any.

I've used the Nottingham yeast a few times in a rye brown ale that I love. It works well in that beer, but that beer is pretty different from this one. It's about 23% rye with some Cara 60, biscuit and light chocolate malt in the mix as well. My other thought for yeast was to go with wlp001. That might be a better choice at first until I get the grain bill dialed in.

I like you're idea of adding colour. I do the same when I brew rye beers to differentiate them from standard wheat beers. It seems right to me... maybe because rye bread is darker than wheat bread. A trick I play is to add 1% black malt. It's imperceptible in terms of flavor, but darkens it just a tad.

 

[micraftbeer]

I've never used the Chinook Simcoe hops either, that's one area that is giving me the most apprehension. I chose those two based on their descriptions and from looking at other similar recipes. They seemed like they would compliment the rye flavor and give a good hop presence without getting overpowering. I'm open to other suggestions as well, if anyone has any.

I think the hops are great. I use both of these in hoppy beers, and I think they will work well with the rye. For me, rye gives a certain "slickness" in mouthfeel. I think these two are good hops to give it a slight bite to cut that but not overpower the rye flavor, and thus play well together.

 

[rhorwitz]

This is my first ground up recipe creation, so I'm a little unsure of what to expect from it, and would appreciate the hive mind's input please. I really enjoy rye beers and wanted to create a nice rye PA that was flavorful but not too complex, with a good balance between the malt and hops.

Batch size: 5.5 G
OG: 1.059
FG: 1.015
SRM: 9
IBU: 46.5
Abv: 5.8%
Eff: 76%
Mash @ 154* for 60 min

8.75# 2 row 75%
1.75# rye malt 15%
.5# Cara 60 4%
.375# wheat malt 3%
.25# Cara 80 2%

.25 oz Simcoe first wort
.5 oz Chinook @ 60
.5 oz Simcoe @ 30
.5 oz Chinook @ 5
1.25 oz Simcoe @ flame out

Ferment w/ Nottingham

Thanks for the feedback

I just made my own Rye Pale Ale last weekend. My rye was 27% of my grain bill. Although I added rice husk, I still had a stuck mash. The good news was that the stuck mash ended up with great BH efficiency of 80%. BTW- I used Summit for bitter hops and Citra as my flavor hops along with grapefruit peels at the end of the boil.

 

[Coastalbrew]

I just made my own Rye Pale Ale last weekend. My rye was 27% of my grain bill. Although I added rice husk, I still had a stuck mash. The good news was that the stuck mash ended up with great BH efficiency of 80%. BTW- I used Summit for bitter hops and Citra as my flavor hops along with grapefruit peels at the end of the boil.

That sounds good! I thought about citra as well but wanted a real balance between the hops and malt and thought the citra might steal the show. I like the grapefruit addition. I had thought about adding orange peel to future batches, once I get the grain bill and hops dialed in. One of my favorite breakfasts is rye toast with orange marmalade.

 

[Coastalbrew]

Did a little tweaking on the grain bill and yeast as follows:
Batch size: 5.5 G
OG: 1.059
FG: 1.014
SRM: 8.7
IBU: 46.5
Abv: 6.0%
Eff: 76%
Mash @ 154* for 60 min

8.75# 2 row 69%
1.75# rye malt 14%
1# Rice Hulls 8%
.625# Cara 60 5%
.375# wheat malt 3%
.125# Cara 80 1%

.25 oz Simcoe first wort
.5 oz Chinook @ 60
.5 oz Simcoe @ 30
.5 oz Chinook @ 5
1.25 oz Simcoe @ flame out

Ferment w/ WLP001

Reduced the percentage of C 80 and increased the C 60 as suggested b @rhys333. Decided to keep a little of the C 80 for the color and flavor characteristics. Decided to go with the WLP001 at east at first to get a real clean neutral yeast presence until I get the grain bill and hops settled.

 

[micraftbeer]

One other thing that caught my eye was mash temperature. With rye, I like to mash at 148f to get a lower FG and drier finish. To me, it helps make the rye characteristic show up in flavor but not be overly sweet.

 

[JAReeves]

I am drinking my Rye IPA now. Spicy and lemony from the hops and the rye playing together. As an experiment, I used raw Rye, no cereal mash. It added a lot of cloudiness until the beer aged for about two solid weeks. The flavor is amazing, though. To add to the experiment, I have already cereal mashed the next batch of raw Rye, it's in the freezer waiting for its turn at the mash tun. I just want to see the difference between flavor, color, clarity, and head retention.

For the IPA, I did:
10# Maris Otter
1/4# each of C40, Victory, Amber, and Carapils
1/2# Raw Rye

50/50 Tahoma and Comet hops for about 80 IBU's

I do a Red Rye as well, popular enough for people to request I brew it regularly:
7# Maris Otter
1# Munich 20
1/2# C120
1/4# each CaraMunich, Special B
1# Flaked Rye (or Raw Rye cereal mash)
1# Rye Malt
1/2# CaraRye

100% Chinook hops for about 75IBU's

 

[Coastalbrew]

I am drinking my Rye IPA now. Spicy and lemony from the hops and the rye playing together. As an experiment, I used raw Rye, no cereal mash. It added a lot of cloudiness until the beer aged for about two solid weeks. The flavor is amazing, though. To add to the experiment, I have already cereal mashed the next batch of raw Rye, it's in the freezer waiting for its turn at the mash tun. I just want to see the difference between flavor, color, clarity, and head retention.

For the IPA, I did:
10# Maris Otter
1/4# each of C40, Victory, Amber, and Carapils
1/2# Raw Rye

50/50 Tahoma and Comet hops for about 80 IBU's

I do a Red Rye as well, popular enough for people to request I brew it regularly:
7# Maris Otter
1# Munich 20
1/2# C120
1/4# each CaraMunich, Special B
1# Flaked Rye (or Raw Rye cereal mash)
1# Rye Malt
1/2# CaraRye

100% Chinook hops for about 75IBU's

What do you think of the Cara rye? I toyed with the idea of using that or chocolate rye in place of the C80 in my recipe to add color and flavor dimension. Curious to hear your experiences with them.

 

[JAReeves]

I think it adds another dimension to the Red Rye, as well as color. I didn't want the roast of chocolate rye in this beer, so cararye was a natural alternate.

The other thing I have experimented with is toasting the flaked grains in the oven until they darken in color and flavor. That works especially well with oats, I am sure it would work with rye.

 

[Coastalbrew]

I think it adds another dimension to the Red Rye, as well as color. I didn't want the roast of chocolate rye in this beer, so cararye was a natural alternate.

The other thing I have experimented with is toasting the flaked grains in the oven until they darken in color and flavor. That works especially well with oats, I am sure it would work with rye.

@JAReeves Would you be willing to share your red eye recipe?

 

[JAReeves]

@JAReeves Would you be willing to share your red eye recipe?

Hope you and yours enjoy it as much as my friends and family!

Peace,

Reevesie

 

[Coastalbrew]

Hope you and yours enjoy it as much as my friends and family!

Peace,

Reevesie

Thanks! That looks good, I'll definitely add it to the brew queue.

Cheers!

 

[rhorwitz]

My Citra Rye Pale Ale has been sitting for a bit and my taste notes as follows:

• The ABV was a bit more than expected, 6% should be 5.4% This was caused by unexpected increase in mash efficiency
• Bittering hops are weak. I used a 200m mesh hops spider and it did not allow the wort to flow freely through it. Not using this gadget again.
• Flavor hops and adjuncts were good, I will reduce the amount of grapefruit and orange peel. was 1 oz of each for 12 gallon batch
• mouthfeel is very good if not too heavy
• flavor hops are forward with mild bitterness on the back, not enough for a full flavor transfer
• Overall I would give it an honest 6/10. I wonder if I got sufficient bittering hops that I would not have to tweak orange peel or reduce mouthfeel.

 

[Coastalbrew]

My Citra Rye Pale Ale has been sitting for a bit and my taste notes as follows:

• The ABV was a bit more than expected, 6% should be 5.4% This was caused by unexpected increase in mash efficiency
• Bittering hops are weak. I used a 200m mesh hops spider and it did not allow the wort to flow freely through it. Not using this gadget again.
• Flavor hops and adjuncts were good, I will reduce the amount of grapefruit and orange peel. was 1 oz of each for 12 gallon batch
• mouthfeel is very good if not too heavy
• flavor hops are forward with mild bitterness on the back, not enough for a full flavor transfer
• Overall I would give it an honest 6/10. I wonder if I got sufficient bittering hops that I would not have to tweak orange peel or reduce mouthfeel.

What hops did you use for bittering and what percentage of rye did you use in your recipe?

 

[rhorwitz]

What hops did you use for bittering and what percentage of rye did you use in your recipe?

Rye Pale Ale

1.00 oz​	Summit [17.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min​	Hop​	5​	25.1 IBUs​
1.50 oz​	Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min​	Hop​	6​	12.8 IBUs​
2.01 Items​	Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 12.0 mins)​	Fining​	7​	-​
1.50 oz​	Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min​	Hop​	8​	1.1 IBUs​
2.00 oz​	Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 1.0 mins)​	Spice​	9​	-​

Rye Pale Ale

14 lbs​	Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)​	Grain​	1​	58.3 %​
7 lbs​	Rye Malt (4.7 SRM)​	Grain​	2​	29.2 %​
2 lbs​	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)​	Grain​	3​	8.3 %​
1 lbs​	Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)​	Grain​	4​	4.2 %​

 

[Coastalbrew]

Looks pretty good. I wonder if you dump the hops straight into the boil, if you'd get more the results you wanted?

 

[rhorwitz]

Looks pretty good. I wonder if you dump the hops straight into the boil, if you'd get more the results you wanted?

Yes I would. This is a tried and true recipe, I had made it several times before. My equipment has changed. Instead of using an emersion chiller coil I am using a 60 plate wort chiller and a pump. As such it doesn't like getting hops caught up in the chiller plates. Oh yeah, I also have a bazooka and only thing that does is clog when hops come in contact. I'm going back to using 400m hob bags. Sadly that hops spider I purchased was one of the highest rated. I can't blame the spider 100%, as the hops I had were 1-1/2years old. However, they were in the freezer most of that time.

 

[JAReeves]

Try this instead of the bazooka:

https://shop.theelectricbrewery.com/collections/hop-stopper
I made a British IPA with 11 ounces British hops in the boil and it didn't clog, which both the bazooka screen and the hop spider did on previous brews with less hops.

Disclaimer: I have no vested interest whatsoever in promoting this product, though I wouldn't say no, .

Reevesie