Rye in a barleywine?

[cinderbike]

Anyone have experience with rye in a barley wine? I'm looking to do that and the recipe I have is 16% US Rye Malt. I know that a higher amount leads to stuck mashes, but I do BIAB so I don't think that will be an issue.

 

[lumpher]

watch the amount you use. it'll get bitter in a hurry in barleywine

 

[cinderbike]

So then do you think 16% is too high? And why would it be bitter?

 

[lumpher]

16% is ok for a barleywine. i just wouldn't use rye in it. that's what i think would get bitter

 

[whatsleftofyou]

A guy in our club made a rye barleywine that used about that amount and it was wonderful. I've never heard of rye being described as 'bitter'. The American Rye style uses up to 50% rye in the grist.

 

[bobbytuck]

I've always found rye to be spicy -- not bitter. Even in my roggenbier -- 45% Breiss Rye -- was quite good. It was thick and spicy -- but not at all bitter.

 

[jgourd]

I made a barleywine with 16% rye at the beginning of December. It's now in the secondary and conditioning for "a while." I snuck a taste when racking. OMG! It reminded me very much of bourbon. Less alcohol warmth but incredibly tasty and delicious already! I did this as the first gyle of a parti-gyle. The second turned out to be a pale ale and is nice but has pretty light body. I did this for the barleywine (color and efficiency are off due to the parti-gyle plus I mashed for 90 mins.):

Low Voltage Barleywine
----------------------
Batch Size: 6.00 gal (9.25 gal preboil)
Estimated OG: 1.105 SG (actual: 1.097 SG)
Estimated FG: 1.025 SG
Estimated IBUs: 110 (Tinseth; actual: 128)
Estimated Color: 18 SRM (actual: 20 SRM)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 57% (actual: 52%)
Boil Time: 90 minutes

Grains:
20.00# Pale Malt (2-Row) US (62.50%)
5.00# Munich Malt 10L (15.63%)
5.00# Rye malt (15.63%)
1.50# Caramel/Crystal 60L (4.69%)
0.50# Caramel/Crystal 75L (1.56%)

Hops:
2.00 oz Magnum (GR) (12.5%) @90 min
2.00 oz Columbus (14.5%) @60 min
2.00 oz Cascade (4.6%) @15 min
2.50 oz Centennial (9.1%) @1 min
1.50 oz Columbus (14.5%) @1 min
1.00 oz Cascade (4.6%) (dry hop)
1.00 oz Centennial (9.1%) (dry hop)
1.00 oz Columbus (14.5%) (dry hop)

Yeast:
White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) (California Ale)

Mash/Sparge Schedule:
Single Infusion, 147F; Batch Sparge
Mash for 60 min at 147F w/ 10.00 gal of water at 162F
Mashout w/ 8.12 gal of water at 210F; hold for 10 min
Batch sparge w/ -4.62 gal of water at 138F; hold for 10 min

 

[KyleWolf]

16% isn't too bad at all for rye malt. Nor would I expect it to gum up the mash. Were you thinking of flaked rye? Cause 16% flaked rye could gum it up.

 

[GuldTuborg]

I've gotten a lot of flavors out of rye, in all manners of products (bread, beer, whiskey, kvass, etc.), but I've never tasted bitter. It has a flavor all its own, and that flavor really shines through in anything it's made with. You have to try it to know.

16% of malted rye will not cause sparging problems. I've used 25% with no rice hulls several times and had no trouble (this is in keeping with others' experiences, too). It will probably be noticeable, though not overpowering, in flavor. A prominent background note, if I had to guess. How much rye character are you looking for?

 

[Hoppocrates]

Everyone always says rye tastes spicy. To my palate, it tastes tangy.