Imperial Rye Brown

[EMH5]

I'm planning to brew an imperial rye brown and have it age over some wood and rye whiskey... but I've never used rye before. I like browns but they are sweet so I thought I could temper the sweetness by adding rye. The recipe is based on a pretty successful brown I brewed before:

7# MO
7# 2-row
1# Oat Malt
.7# Chocolate
.25# Chocolate Rye
.7# C60
1# flaked rye
1# rice hulls

5.25 Gal batch
7 Gal boil
60 min boil

looking to hit an ABV around 8.2-8.5%

thoughts?

 

[magno]

By my calculation, and assuming 70% mash efficiency, you are looking at an OG around 1.084, which will be approaching 9% ABV, assuming around 80% attenuation.

I'd consider going all Marris Otter for your base malt, and cutting some of the chocolate malt out (or all of the chocolate malt, and adding a bit to the chocolate rye).

I'm not familiar with Oat Malt... In my oatmeal stouts I use the quick oats you can get at the grocery store - is this the same?

 

[EMH5]

By my calculation, and assuming 70% mash efficiency, you are looking at an OG around 1.084, which will be approaching 9% ABV, assuming around 80% attenuation.

I'd consider going all Marris Otter for your base malt, and cutting some of the chocolate malt out (or all of the chocolate malt, and adding a bit to the chocolate rye).

I'm not familiar with Oat Malt... In my oatmeal stouts I use the quick oats you can get at the grocery store - is this the same?

-I'm usually around 65-68% effeciency... attenuation is around 80+% (I harvest). My aim is 8.5% or so.
-I always do a 50/50 split with my malt because I feel it adds a nice flavor balance to my beers...
-I used Oat malt in a brown ale and I thought it added a nice mouth feel and flavor. I upped it from a 1/2 lb to a full but I think that in a big beer like this one it could add a nice background to it. I love adding oats to my beer.
-do you think 10% rye in the grain bill will work (8.2% flaked, 2.5% choc rye)?

 

[magno]

I don't see a problem with 10% rye... The Honey-Rye in my sig right now is about 13%.

Is the oat malt different from quick oats from a grocery store (which as I understand are the same, or similar enough to flaked oats from a LHBS)? It seems that they don't carry this at my LHBS, and I haven't heard of it in 12+ years of brewing.

 

[EMH5]

Well, I brewed this. I think overall I'm happy but I think I need to invest in Beersmith because my efficiency has been off my last few brews. I think it is because my water numbers are off. I use Brewers Friend and a mash calculater 365Brew but my water amount always surpasses the estimated amount lowering my eff... Anyway, here is my recipe

Imperial Rye Brown
5.75 Gal batch (was aiming for 5.5 and I boiled an extra 30 min to lower the batch amt and up the ABV)
90 min boil
OG - 1.080
FG~ 1.019
ABV~ 8%
yeast - 1318 harvested slurry w/ starter

7# 2-row
7# MO
.75# C60
.4# chocolate
.4# chocolate rye
.75# flaked barley
2# flaked rye
1# brown sugar added 15 min left in boil

hop schedule
@60 - Chinook (1)
@15 - brown sugar (1#)
@5 - Chinook (1)
@FO - Chinook (1)
- Columbus (1)
- Centennial (1)
Immediate Dry Hop (I like to add hops when i add the yeast too - Imparts a lot of hop aroma)
-Chinook (2)
-Centennial (1)

It may seem like a lot of hops but the dank, pine and spice will go well with the rye bite and the overall sweetness of the brown ale.