How Much Rye Is 2 Much Rye??

[hbhudy]

What should I expect if I used about 40% of my grain bill as Rye Malt? Would this impart more sediment in the beer due to the amount of proteins in the Rye Malt?

 

[Lennie]

For one thing it'll run like molasses due to the high level of glucans, so have patience during that step. It won't be any worse than a wheat beer from a protein perspective. 40% will give a very nice spicy character.

 

[passedpawn]

I'd sub some sugar to lighted it up. Big mouthfeel with a lot of rye (if that's what you want, great; if you are making an IPA, you'll want to make it more drinkable).

 

[hbhudy]

For one thing it'll run like molasses due to the high level of glucans, so have patience during that step. It won't be any worse than a wheat beer from a protein perspective. 40% will give a very nice spicy character.

OK.. So I am taking it that I should expect the same level of "cloudiness" that I would see with a regular heffe?

 

[Lennie]

No I haven't noticed much cloudiness. A lot of the cloudiness of a wheat is from the powdery yeast strain more than the protein in the wheat. What I meant was, you might have to rake the top of the grain bed to keep it lautering.

 

[BryceL]

I did a very successful Imperial Rye IPA where my grain bill was about 35% Rye. It turned out great with a strong rye character. I used WLP001 and it ended up dropping out well, leaving it quite clear. As mentioned, the wort will be very sticky with all that rye in there.

 

[kingwood-kid]

40% is just about right if you like the flavor rye gives. To help with the stickiness of the mash, I'd recommend either throwing in some rice hulls or using 6-row as your other base malt.

 

[chetduggan]

+1 6-row

 

[pm5k00]

flavor wise it depends on the individual, grist wise up to 100% is fine with rice hulls. There is a SMaSH rye/cascade/us-04 recipe on here, that has inspired me to make a rye SMaSH soon.

 

[pjj2ba]

I made a "simple" lager with 40% rye. Crystal clear - too much rye for this style. It needed something to balance the rye out. I brewed it to ingrain in my head the unadulterated flavor of rye. It was fun as I could picture in my head what I could add to it to balance it out (citrusy hops would be good) - next time