Rye Irish Stout

[jasonh82]

So I was wondering if anyone had ever tried adding some malted rye to their dry Irish Stout grain bill? My hope is that it adds a small amount of spice and eccentuates the chocolate and coffee flavors. Here is what my plan is so if anyone has tried this or done something similar let me know.

5 Gallon of Spring Water
1lb Roasted Barley
1/2lb Flaked Oats or Flaked Barley (for the more traditional Guinness style stout)
1/4lb Rye Malt
6lbs Marris Otter LME
2oz Kent Golding or Fuggle Hops
Safale S-04

1. Heat 1 gallon of water to 145F and steep Rye and flaked oats for 20 minutes then remove grain and sparge with 1/2 Gallon 170F water.

2. Steep 1lb of roasted barley in 1 gallon of 170F water for 20 minutes, remove and drain barley and then combine with barley/oat wort.

3. Add the remaining water and bring to a boil.

4. Add 6lbs of LME and 2oz of EK/Fuggle and boil for 1 hour.

5. Cool wort to 70F and pitch yeast.

OK so still being a newbie to home brewing what do you guys think of the recipe? Should I add more of anything, less of anything?

 

[m00ps]

I wouldnt consider that a "Rye" beer unless you at least quadruple the amount of rye in there. IME, you need at least 15% to even get a hint of rye character. I would try 1.5-2lbs or so and adjust the Maris Otter accordingly

also, Ive never done partial mash, but I think you need to steep the grain warmer than that

 

[hanuswalrus]

Agree w/ @moops. You need more rye for it to be recognized in the final product. You could also add some flaked rye in w/ the flaked barley/oats. Like a 1/4 lb flaked rye and 1/4 flaked oats might be what I would do. I actually like my stouts to have that full mouthfeel so I usually go for a full pound of flaked oats for stouts/porters

It's been a while since I did any grain steeping, but I believe you want to be in the mid 150's for that. Also, I think it's best to add 1/2 the extract at the beginning of the boil, and then the other 1/2 with 15 mins left in the boil. Or 1/4 of the extract at the beginning and the rest at 15 mins.

As for the yeast, S-04 tends to go pretty nuts. I think you'll have much better results if you chill down to 63-65 and then pitch. Try to hold the fermentation temp around 63-65 for the first 4-5 days. I tasted a homebrew yesterday that was fermented at 70 w/ S-04 and it was not pretty.

 

[JKaranka]

I'd replace the flaked barley with rye and keep it subtle.

 

[Calder]

1. Heat 1 gallon of water to 145F and steep Rye and flaked oats for 20 minutes then remove grain and sparge with 1/2 Gallon 170F water.

2. Steep 1lb of roasted barley in 1 gallon of 170F water for 20 minutes, remove and drain barley and then combine with barley/oat wort.

3. Add the remaining water and bring to a boil.

4. Add 6lbs of LME and 2oz of EK/Fuggle and boil for 1 hour.

5. Cool wort to 70F and pitch yeast.

OK so still being a newbie to home brewing what do you guys think of the recipe? Should I add more of anything, less of anything?

First a comment on your method. Oats and Rye should be mashed to convert the starch to sugars and get the most out of the grains. Rye malt has enzymes to do this, but in that proportion would not be enough. Roasted Barley has some sugars that can be obtained by steeping, but also has starches that need to be mashed to convert to sugars.

Oats and rye together will not drain well. they have no husk, and will tend to stick together.

I would recommend getting a pound of 2-row, and adding all the grain together (Oats, Rye, Roast, and 2-row - 2.75 lbs) and mash in 1 gallon of water at 150 F. Then sparge with 1 gallon of water at 170 F. You will get more sugars, more flavor, and less haze in the resulting beer (but who cares about haze in a dark beer). The 2-row and Roast will help with draining the flaked oats and rye.

Like others have said, You will not notice 0.25 lbs of rye in the beer. Increase it to 1 or even 2 lbs and then you should start noticing it.

Again, probably doesn't make too much difference in a dark beer, but if you add most of your extract at flameout, you minimize the potential for scorching the extract and creating Maillard reactions.