Roggenbier-esque Rye Ale

[BGHSmt7]

I'm working on a recipe for a rye ale that includes caraway seeds and rye malt along with some other odd ingredients. After looking at the BJCP for 15D Roggenbier, I've decided that it would be more along the lines of an English Roggenbier. I'm thinking of using the following:

MASH:

8.0 oz Shiitake Mushrooms
2.0 Slices Homemade Rye Bread
0.5 lb Rice Hulls
6.0 lbs Pale Rye Malt 50.6%
4.5 lbs Simpsons Golden Promise 38.0%
1.0 lbs Simpsons Double Roasted Crystal 8.4%
4.0 oz Carafa Special II 2.1%
1.6 oz Caramunich II 0.8%​

BOIL:

0.50 oz Fuggles 4.5%AA 60 minutes 7.6 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles 4.5%AA 30 minutes 5.9 IBU
0.50 tsp Caraway Seeds (ground) 0 minutes​

Yeast:

Windsor (x2 11.5g Sachets)​

According to BeerSmith, the numbers are as follows:

OG: 1.056
IBU: 13.5
COLOR: 20.9
ABV: 4.5%​

What I'm hoping to get from this is a nice spicy rye flavor with some savory/earthy notes from the mushrooms. The bread is something that my dad makes that I love and I'm hoping will add some goodness and nuances to the final product.

I don't have a fermentation chamber at this time so I'd be fermenting in the basement which is around 65*F

I'm looking for suggestions and feedback whether I should pursue this brew or what I can do to improve it. Thanks in advance!

***Edited for Windsor yeast attenuation correction and increase in Base Malt***

 

[Pappers_]

I think it looks really interesting. I don't particularly enjoy the German Weisen yeast flavors (cloves, banana, etc.) so going with the English yeast appeals to me ; )

I wonder for the caraway seed if you want to add it earlier in the boil? And make sure its crushed, with a mortar and pestle or ground up with spice grinder. I think mashing the bread will be an interesting experiment, am looking forward to seeing if you can notice anything from it when you mash out. The mushrooms, I'm not sure I see what mashign them will do, but hey, you're experimenting.

Let us know hgow it comes out!

 

[Murphys_Law]

FWIW, I made a beer using caraway, rye and dark German pumpernickel and it was pretty tasty.

53.3% MO
26.7% Rye
6.7% flaked rye
6.7% crystal rye
6.7% roasted barley

28 IBU Willamette @ 60
14 IBU Willamette @ 15

WLP007 English Dry Yeast

1 TSP roasted caraway seeds at flame out.
4 slices of toasted pumpernickel, cut into pieces, in mash.

 

[BGHSmt7]

1 TSP roasted caraway seeds at flame out.

I didn't even think about toasting them.. That sounds like a good idea! Thanks!

...I wonder for the caraway seed if you want to add it earlier in the boil? And make sure its crushed, with a mortar and pestle...

I will be using a mortar and pestle. Do you think I should increase the amount and put 1/2 in around 15-20 minutes?

 

[lari]

i love whole-grain sourdough rye bread. i make 2-3 loves a week. would be awesome to bring that bread flavour into beer.
i did make roggenbier once. 60% pale 40% flaked rye, 15 ibu, 5g caraway per gallon @ 1min. english ale yeast. it was nice, very thick mouthfeel but it didn’t have the bread taste i like.

 

[thenugsmoustache]

With 58% rye make sure you got some rice hulls on hand in case of a stuck sparge. Maybe consider a beta-glucanase rest in your mash schedule.

 

[dmtaylor]

The recipe sounds great to me. I agree that you'll need 1 lb rice hulls as rye is super sticky. Also, with Windsor ale yeast only attenuating to about 62% on average, you'll get a final gravity close to 1.018-1.019 and less than 4% alcohol. If you really want 5% then you'll need to use more malt to kick that up to 5%.

 

[thenugsmoustache]

I agree with dmtaylor except you may not need that much rice hulls. I did a Ryne that was 75% rye (15 lbs) and only needed about a half pound. I would get a pound or two and add them a handful at a time if you run into sparging issues. Plus they aren't a bad thing to have around if you need them.

 

[BGHSmt7]

Thank you all for the rice hulls idea. I do have some on hand so I'll add some to the mash.

The recipe sounds great to me. I agree that you'll need 1 lb rice hulls as rye is super sticky. Also, with Windsor ale yeast only attenuating to about 62% on average, you'll get a final gravity close to 1.018-1.019 and less than 4% alcohol. If you really want 5% then you'll need to use more malt to kick that up to 5%.

Beersmith has a default attentuation of 73-77% for Windsor. Should I change that to the 62% that you are experiencing? I'll prolly do a step-infusion mash with a protein rest at 110*F (30 minutes), then a beta at 145*F (30 minutes) and an alpha at 154*F (40 minutes).

 

[dmtaylor]

BeerSmith is wrong. You'll definitely only get around 60-64% attenuation, absolute maximum. The reason is that Windsor ale yeast is incapable of fermenting maltotriose, which most other ale yeasts have no problems with.

 

[BGHSmt7]

So, I went to my LHBS to get some of the grains for this brew and I was tasting a bit of the others for comparison. I'm thinking about keeping the amounts of the current grains the same, but adding some Chateau Abbey & biscuit malt to increase the "breadiness" of the brew. Anyone brew much with these grains?

I was also at the grocery store and saw packaged Portobello Mushroom caps that looked delicious. Maybe I'll use those instead of the shiitakes.