So I'm brewing an all-rye beer today...

[sudbuddy]

I'm thinking of calling it "Rye Not?" I wanted to brew something weird, and then it hit me. How about an all rye beer? Hmmm. So I decided to use every rye we have at my shop and a buttload of rice hulls. So, my grain bill was this:

11 lbs Briess Rye
3 Lbs Weyermann CaraRye
.5 lbs Weyermann Chocolate Rye
3 lbs Flaked Rye
Lots and Lots of rice hulls.

I also thought this would be a good one to try decoction mashing on, so I'm doing that too. It's currently doing a beta-glucan rest, then I will pull a decoction and hopefully get it up to 150. I'm new to the whole decoction thing so I'm only doing a single, but if it works out I will move on to triple decoctions. Anywhoo, it's a weird brew so I thought I'd share.

:rockin::rockin::rockin:

 

[smizak]

Wow. Can rye even self convert, let alone another 3 lbs. of flaked?

 

[AnOldUR]

I'd like to hear how this turns out. I love rye, but even with a glucan rest, up around 50% rye, I've gotten some thick, oily beer.

I believe Briess Rye Malt is up around 105 Lintner, so yes, it will convert.

 

[sudbuddy]

I'd like to hear how this turns out. I love rye, but even with a glucan rest, up around 50% rye, I've gotten some thick, oily beer.

I kind of think that is going to happen, but we'll see. Innovation comes from experimentation, and I'm hoping the beer will be great. I'm pretty nervous that I will get a stuck sparge, but hopefully the copious amounts of rice hulls will help prevent that. I guess I'll find out in an hour

 

[LLBeanJ]

I enjoy the taste of rye, but I really don't like the motor oil viscosity it adds. For this reason, 20% rye is my upper limit. This should be interesting.

 

[porterpounder]

Wow. Can rye even self convert, let alone another 3 lbs. of flaked?

Malted rye has more diastatic power than a few pale ale malts.

 

[BlkWater_brewer]

I really question the addition of flaked rye as well, especially 3 lbs. Diastatic power isn't an issue but turning the mash into a solid sticky mass is a distinct possibility, even with the rice hulls.

good luck

 

[Yooper]

Someone gave me a sample of a beer that was 50% rye, I think. I love rye, but I couldn't drink more than one. 100% rye, with that much crystal malt should be quite viscous and spicy. I hope this turns out to be what you're going for, but I know I wouldn't be able to gag it down from my previous experiences.

I know a guy did a 100% rye, and posted the recipe, on this forum and he claims it was great. I'll see if I can dig that one up.

 

[chickens4life]

I have made an all rye beer before, it had about the consistency maple syrup when it was fermented out, and that is after a long glucanase rest. It took maybe a month after fermentation for the yeast to mostly settle out (never did completely). I made a small batch and lautered it through a colander and it was so thick that barely even worked.

I used all breiss rye though, and am interested to see how yours turns out.

 

[sudbuddy]

well, that was a disaster. I dumped the whole mash and am doing a double IPA instead to get my mojo back. Sorry for the letdown

 

[LLBeanJ]

Sorry to hear that, but not surprised, really. My first rye was a Roggenbier that was about 50% rye and even with BIAB it was a lautering nightmare. Pretty much gummed up the whole works.

 

[dkevinb]

Bummer. I just finished the last of my rye beer last night and it was wonderful. But it was 20% malted rye and that flavor was very noticeable. Even if you could have lautered it I suspect the flavor would have been over the top. It was definitely worth a try, though. Now we know the answer.

 

[dirtydingus]

Now you know the answer to your ?......Rye Not!
I just bought some rye for a brew in a couple weeks. It calls for 48% rye, 20%Munich, and 23%Pilsener, plus a couple other crystals. I think I'll back off the rye and make it up with the Munich and Pilsener. And thanx for the lesson before I made "Maple Syrup".

 

[AnOldUR]

There’ve been a lot of 20%'s mentioned here. My number is 25%. Two recent batches were 20% malted rye and 5% flaked rye. Works for me. Plenty of rye character without the overly viscous mouth feel. One thing that helps there is to bump up the carb level to the 3+ volumes level.

 

[solbes]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvOHbxBAEN8[/ame]

And yet I salute you for giving it a go

 

[beersk]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvOHbxBAEN8

And yet I salute you for giving it a go

Haha! That's hilarious. I like the part where he shoves the kid out of his way...

I remember reading somewhere that Denny Conn said it takes around 18% rye to be noticeable in his IPA. I usually figure 15-20% is enough to add a nice spiciness.