Rye Malt Giving a Beer Haze?

[micraftbeer]

I made a Rye IPA recently. Poured the first pints off the keg and it has this "thick" haze glow to it. Taste is fabulous, and I love the look, just the haze took me by surprise. I don't have any wheat or oats, which is typically how I get haze when I want it. And it's just using Wyeast 1056 American Ale. Below is the recipe and brew/ferment process summary. I'd be interested if anyone has any thoughts or experience with might be causing the haze.

- Maris Otter 74%
- Rye 10%
- Caramel 20L 7%
- Red X 4%
- Munich 4%
- Caramel 60L 1%
- Rice Hulls 1%

Hops schedule has some at First Wort, 90 minute boil, 15 minute, 3 minute hop additions.

Fairly heavily dry hopped with 5.5 gallons in fermentor, I had 3 additions (2 oz, 2 oz, and 1 oz), added about 6-8 hours apart from each other. Hops added after gravity had flat-lined on Tilt and airlock bubble activity had heavily dropped off (9 days after yeast pitch).

For water, I used my house water (passed through simple non-RO filters) with known mineral profile from my testing, then Campden tablet added, and CaCl, Gypsum, and Epsom salts added to hit target profile as below. Lactic Acid added to hit pH target of 5.4 in the mash.

 

[micraftbeer]

I forgot to add that after hops had been in fermentor for about 1.5 days, I transferred to a keg with a floating dip tube and set in my 35F keezer to cold crash. After a week, transferred out from that into a regular dip tube keg for carbing/serving. And looking at my notes, this beer is still pretty young, only 3 days in the serving keg after that 1 week cold crashing. So it will not be carbed yet (set it & forget it carbonation takes me about 2 weeks to fully carb).

I guess in my haste to try it, I didn't realize it wasn't really carbed!

 

[day_trippr]

Malted Rye is loaded with protein and along with its flavor and head retention benefits will add "mouthfeel" and cause haze. If you want bright beer you may have to use finings...

Cheers!

 

[rmr9]

I would say the large dry hop charge certainly contributes to the haze

 

[IslandLizard]

Looks fantastic!
With only 10% of the grist, how much rye flavor are you getting?

BTW, what hops did you use?

 

[micraftbeer]

I've found with rye, 8-10% is about my taste tolerance. I've done 17%, 20%, 25%, all were too overpowering to me on the palate. In the 8-10% range, I can still pick up the unique flavor but without it dominating.

Here's my hops:

 

[dmtaylor]

Rye plus hops will give haze, of course. None of the hazy crowd seems to give a crap about rye, focusing only on oats and wheat and chit and whatnot. When I suggest rye they raise eyebrows. Whatever.

I'm not much of a hophead but I do like rye. When I use it, I do tend to notice a blue-gray "sheen" to the beer, not exactly "hazy" but not crystal clear. But I generally don't use dry hops either.

You could try adding finings. Not sure if I have tried, but it might help.

 

[Dland]

I use rye malt in a lot of my brews, usually 10-15% of grist. A couple of Whirlfock tablets at end of boil clears it up quite a bit. There is a slight haze compared to brews with no rye malt, but nothing like Op's picture. Hop schedule is usually moderate, I don't dry hop, and mostly cold crashed for a two-three weeks for ales, at least twice that for lagers.

But it is the taste that matters most, and the taste of rye malt is good, in my opinion.

 

[micraftbeer]

Thanks for the insight, all. I just want to note I'm not trying to make it clear. I love the look of it! I'm just trying to understand it.

 

[hottpeper13]

I make a copper rye lager and I dough in between 97*-104* for a beta glucan rest,then step to 143 for 60 min then to 162 for 30 min.At this point on my system I can't do a mashout,I do fire up the burner as soon as I pull the bag. I used S-189 on the one in primary(ready to keg in 3 days. Looks pretty clear in the Big Mouth.

 

[rmr9]

I make a copper rye lager and I dough in between 97*-104* for a beta glucan rest,then step to 143 for 60 min then to 162 for 30 min.At this point on my system I can't do a mashout,I do fire up the burner as soon as I pull the bag. I used S-189 on the one in primary(ready to keg in 3 days. Looks pretty clear in the Big Mouth.

Sounds interesting and not to highjack the thread but what’s your recipe?

 

[hottpeper13]

I can't just click the recipe on here cause they're hand written and this one is pretty complicated and new so I wouldn't want to put something not tested here. Just testing some theories on this one.

 

[Gary25]

I make a rye pale ale; usually with ~20% flaked rye. To let the rye flavor shine, it gets only bittering hops- no whirlpool or dry hopping. I also use Vienna and a small amount of crystal 40. Safale 05 yeast and 2 whilfloc tablets for the last 15 minutes of the boil (10 gallon batch). The beer is always crystal clear. I’ve used rye malt (vice flaked rye) as well—same flavor and clarity. I’ve never needed to use finings.

At least in my experience, rye has not affected the beer clarity.

 

[OleBrewing]

you must like hops. those amounts would make me 3-4 10gal batches. 6 ounces might have been the most done for 10gal.

 

[micraftbeer]

Based on @Gary25 experience, combined with mine, it seems maybe there's an interaction based on dry hopping in Rye beers. My super-hazy Rye IPA had 6 oz of dry hops in a 5.5 gallon batch, and a "non-hazy" Wyeast 1056 yeast. Gary reported no haze with no dry hops. Maybe that's the connection.

 

[Gary25]

I used to dry hop my rye pale ale, but it ended up tasting like an IPA, so I quit adding steep and dry hops to let the rye flavor come through.

My memory is the hopped rye was still pretty clear. I keg hopped it after fermentation with 2-3 oz per 5 gal keg, so the different approach may have been a factor.

 

[MaxStout]

you must like hops. those amounts would make me 3-4 10gal batches. 6 ounces might have been the most done for 10gal.

Hops can contribute polyphenols, which add haze. That might be a contributing factor in OP's recipe, given the huge amount used.

 

[Gary25]

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here’s a picture of the rye pale ale. I checked the recipe: 18% flaked rye, 10% Vienna, the rest is two row. Appropriately clear; might be some condensation on the glass.

 

[Gary25]

One important piece I left out is that I used two whirlfloc tablets at 15 minutes left in the boil (10 gallon batch). That may well be the key to the clarity difference.

 

[DuncB]

My Rye altbier is crystal clear.
Can't give a picture as on the bus.