Rye and Hops

[Tony]

...And as far as hops, Tomahawk is just a trade name for Columbus that someone owns...

I have always been using Columbus for my Hop Rod Rye, and this time actually got a hold of some Tomahawk for my last batch. I can definately taste a "slight" difference, but its basically the same. Tomahawk seems to have a slightly sharper taste than the Columbus. That could be from how fresh they were, or something on that line, but I definately tasted a difference. Who knows...it was definately not a controlled test

I had previously inquired with hops dealers about the differences in Tomahawk, Columbus and Zeus hops. Zeus is provably different because it comes from purer root stock and yeilds higher. But Columbus and Tomahawk has been tested with gas chromatography and tested identical. And like Janx said, its an ownership issue, as the guy that patented Tomahawk, was one of the 3 people who came up with Columbus.

I buy my rye malt and flaked rye from Midwest all the time, as they always have both in stock. I usually use 2 pounds of malted rye, and 1 pound of flaked. the flaked is indeed pre-gelatinized and falls apart quickly in the mash. Ive actually tossed it in while crushing my grains before, just to see it there was a difference in run off or taste etc...but, it didnt. Oh well.

Either way, I use both for a fuller rye flavor.

 

[Janx]

I've wondered too. So far each time I've used rye, the result had been terrific. (Knock on wood)

Biggest risk with rye is a stuck mash as far as I know. I had an 8 hour sparge once and swore the stuff off forever. Of course, now it' s a house standard. No problems yet sparging the Humboldt Hop Rod/Hop Rod Rye Clone recipes yet.

Cheers

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

How does mashing rye compare with mashing wheat in terms of stuck sparges? I've used up to 50% wheat with 1/2# of rice hulls with no issues. One thing that seems to help is opening the drain valve ssslllooowwwllllyy...kind of sneaking up on the mash. I eventually get it wide open (as I batch sparge), and it seems to work okay.

 

[Tony]

My last wheat was composed of:
6 lbs Wheat Malt
5 lbs Pilsner
1 lb Flaked Wheat
and had no problem with my run off. So far I have had good success using both wheats and ryes, both flaked and malted.

Im going to try 3 pounds of rye on my next one, as well as using chocolate rye malt to see how it goes. Rye's and Wheat's are two of my favorites to brew.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

doh!

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

I suspect part of it may be lautertun configuration, or more specifically the manifold. In my old tun I had a braided hose which worked 75% of the time, but the other 25% would stick with almost any grain bill. Usually blowing through the hose would unstick it, but once I had to dump the mash into a bucket and then back in. With my new tun (rectangular cooler) I built the venerable slotted copper pipe manifold which so far hasn't come close to sticking on 3 batches...the next one could be my 25%, though!