Chris' Wry Riposte (RyePA) -- Advice?

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ChrispyBites

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My first RyePA. Having some trouble locking down the hop profile. Going for a mid-level IBU built on spicy hops to compliment (but not take away from) the characteristics of the rye. Also... any suggestions on yeast? (Anything but SafAle 05---gotten super tired of that.)

Grain Bill
10lbs Maris Otter
2 lbs Rye
1.5 lbs Crystal Rye
0.5 lb rice hulls

2-step mash with protein rest for the rye. So, if I'm calculating right, 4.25 gallons to 120-125 degrees and hang for 30 minutes, then up to saccharification at 150-152 for 45 minutes. Mash out at 168 over 10 minutes. I haven't done a step mash since starting all grain, so any tips you guys have would be awesome.

Batch sparge at 168 degrees with another 4-4.25 gallons. Looking for a 5.5 gallon total boil volume.

Hops
1.5 oz. Mosaic (~12.5%) @ 60 minutes
0.5 Cluster (~7%) @ 30 minutes
3x 0.5 Crystal (~3.5%) @ 20, 15, 10

No dry hopping, don't do secondary.

Yeast
I dunno. A Hefe? WLP 1056? WLP 351? Not really sure what to do with this.

Thought about adding some seeds of paradise or some peppercorns in the last ten minutes, just to up the spicy ante.

Thoughts?
 
Another question: are the rye proportions correct? Should I use more, since I'm trying to showcase the rye malt in the beer?
 
Anyone got any advice here, or should I just brew it and tell you all how it went? I don't get to brew very often due to the expense, so I usually approach my recipes really carefully. I really would appreciate any and all advice.
 
ChrispyBites said:
My first RyePA. Having some trouble locking down the hop profile. Going for a mid-level IBU built on spicy hops to compliment (but not take away from) the characteristics of the rye. Also... any suggestions on yeast? (Anything but SafAle 05---gotten super tired of that.)

Grain Bill
10lbs Maris Otter
2 lbs Rye
1.5 lbs Crystal Rye
0.5 lb rice hulls

2-step mash with protein rest for the rye. So, if I'm calculating right, 4.25 gallons to 120-125 degrees and hang for 30 minutes, then up to saccharification at 150-152 for 45 minutes. Mash out at 168 over 10 minutes. I haven't done a step mash since starting all grain, so any tips you guys have would be awesome.

Batch sparge at 168 degrees with another 4-4.25 gallons. Looking for a 5.5 gallon total boil volume.

Hops
1.5 oz. Mosaic (~12.5%) @ 60 minutes
0.5 Cluster (~7%) @ 30 minutes
3x 0.5 Crystal (~3.5%) @ 20, 15, 10

No dry hopping, don't do secondary.

Yeast
I dunno. A Hefe? WLP 1056? WLP 351? Not really sure what to do with this.

Thought about adding some seeds of paradise or some peppercorns in the last ten minutes, just to up the spicy ante.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...



Thoughts

I'm brewing Wookey Jack clone right now, watching slow sparge with only 10% rye, wish I had some rice hulls in there...

Your recipe...20% rye sounds good to feature the flavor
Too much crystal for my taste, I'd cut it in half, maybe even less
I don't do protein rests on mine, interested in how it works out for you

Hop bursting maybe move the cluster to 10 min, add all the crystal at flame out, chill to about 180 fast then let it sit for 20 or 30 min before you continue fast chilling.

I'm a big fan of US05 so I say use the 1056.

Have fun
 
Thanks for the tips! The only reason the crystal rye is there is to add some depth of flavor. I may go with what I've got just to see how it turns out and adjust in a later version.

The hop choice and timing were my main concerns. I'll use your suggestions.

On the yeast... I like US05, don't get me wrong. I just seem to use it a lot and, this time, I want a yeast that's going to add something, flavor wise. I'll take a look at 1056.

Thank you, again, for your help. I'll update when I brew this.
 
If you want more peppery notes try a saison yeast. I'm a big fan of 3711, but mash high because it attenuates better than any other yeast I've seen.
 
I think US05 is the same strain as 1056... So if you don't want US05 I'd go with one of the others.

I think you can have too many things going on in a beer...big malt, big hop, esters from yeast, spicy rye...risks getting muddled.
 
I would probably use mosaic later in the boil. It seems like quite a flavorful hop to use as bittering.
 
eric19312 said:
I think US05 is the same strain as 1056... So if you don't want US05 I'd go with one of the others.

I think you can have too many things going on in a beer...big malt, big hop, esters from yeast, spicy rye...risks getting muddled.
Click to expand...

Ok, that's probably a good point. I definitely don't want to take away from the rye spice. Just, you know, accentuate it a bit.
 
Denny conn's wrye smile rye IPA is awesome if you want to use the recipe for some hop and yeast ideas. His wyeast Denny's fav 50 yeast is really good.
 
Awesome! I think I may have cribbed some of my recipe from that. It sounds familiar anyway. I just friggin love Mosaic.

Oh, big ups to the Tank 7 clone you've got on deck. We just started getting Boulevard brews down here in Columbus GA and we love that stuff. And just about everything else they do.
 
I personally prefer 25-30% rye, but that's more about well you can detect those flavors. I like a bold rye flavor, I don't want it hiding. I also think that an overpowering hop flavor can squelch some its rye goodness. I had a rye lager recently with noble hops, and I think that it worked out great. I think cluster would be the good choice for a spicy, late addition.
 
ChrispyBites said:
Awesome! I think I may have cribbed some of my recipe from that. It sounds familiar anyway. I just friggin love Mosaic.

Oh, big ups to the Tank 7 clone you've got on deck. We just started getting Boulevard brews down here in Columbus GA and we love that stuff. And just about everything else they do.
Click to expand...

Yep I'm in Atlanta and just picked up a 6 of their unfiltered wheat, great beer. On day 9 of the tank 7 in the primary and its still bubbling away. Brought it up to 90 degrees yesterday, using 3724.
 
Alright, so here's the adjusted recipe:

Grain Bill
10lbs Maris Otter
3 lbs Rye
1 lbs Crystal Rye
0.5 lb rice hulls (is this right?)

2-step mash with protein rest for the rye. So, if I'm calculating right, 4.25 gallons to 120-125 degrees and hang for 30 minutes, then up to saccharification at 150-152 for 45 minutes. Mash out at 168 over 10 minutes. I haven't done a step mash since starting all grain, so any tips you guys have would be awesome.

Batch sparge at 168 degrees with another 4-4.25 gallons. Looking for a 5.5 gallon total boil volume.

Hops
1.5 oz. Galena (~12.5%) @ 60 minutes
0.5 oz. Cluster (~7%) @ 30 minutes
1 oz. Chinook (~12%) @ 15 minutes
1.5 Crystal (~3.5%) @ Knockout, 20 minute whirlpool at ~180 degrees

No dry hopping, don't do secondary.

Yeast
S05, to get the yeast out of the way of everything else going on.
 
I have no experience using rice hulls. I've done a 33% rye recipe and I never had any issues with a stuck sparge. I think that recipe looks good. Brew it up!
 
I'm not sure what I did wrong. There appeared to be plenty of volume from the tun, but after boiling, I only had 3 gallons of 1.054 wort. Adding top up obviously just compounded the problem.

Waste of time and money.
 
So, I'm going back through my notes from the brew day and I really have no friggin clue what happened. I hit all my temps---actually, today was notable for being one of the few times I've hit my mash temp right on target, without needing to adjust. Any idea why I might have gotten such a weak wort?
 
ChrispyBites said:
So, I'm going back through my notes from the brew day and I really have no friggin clue what happened. I hit all my temps---actually, today was notable for being one of the few times I've hit my mash temp right on target, without needing to adjust. Any idea why I might have gotten such a weak wort?
Click to expand...

I'm going to guess gummy wet mash that hung on to its wort. I do find rye beers take longer to lauter even with rude hulls. among the numbers you need to hit is pre boil volume and pre boil gravity. Mr hat way you have a pretty good idea about where your OG will end up post boil, while you still have an opportunity for a better adjustment.
 
So, I just checked gravity---1.020---and either my initial read (5 gallons at 1.035) was way off or something else is wrong. I've been fermenting, and kind of hot, too, for almost 72 hours now. Shouldn't it be a lot lower? I have a real healthy braun hefe ring and even a foam on top that looks like I'm still actively fermenting.

This whole thing has been super weird.
 
I'd let it go a week total before I even touched it. Even when the fermentation doesn't look active, the yeast is still doing its thing. Personally, I would wait two weeks from brewing before I did anything to it.
 
Unless it's something that absolutely requires less or more time, I generally don't rack beer unless it's been in the fermenter for 14 days. But I do test things at typical intervals. This was to see how things were going 72 hours post pitch to see the gravity after primary fermentation.

Also, since I bombed the brew day so hard, I'm mostly just interested in how things are going.
 
Welp, just bottled up. My refractometer indicated that the gravity never fell below 1.020. I find that hard to believe, given that I could taste the booze in the unfinished beer. Maybe my mind playing tricks on me, I dunno. I think it's more likely that I screwed up measuring the gravity initially and that my refractometer needs some adjusting.

Upside: even if it's weak, the beer tastes pretty darn good, if I say so myself. I was worried about the bitterness being off the charts, given the amount of hops and what I measured as phenomenally low sugar content. Doesn't appear to be the case.
 
I don't even bother using my refractometer for final gravity...always get hydrometer reading. I tried both for awhile but was unable to find consistent formula for getting from starting brix and final brix to final gravity...plus I do relish my final gravity sample, has become an important step in my bottling ritual.

I think the refractometer is ok for checking if ok to bottle...by gravity holding steady for a few days in a row, if you are into that, but just not useful to say what final gravity really was.
 
Refractometers? No thank you. After my first three or four brews, hydro only. Glad to hear it tasted good!
 
Hmm actually I'd not want to give up my refractometer. Used it 6 or 7 times today brewing one batch. Firs runnings, second runnings, cold steeped grain, pre boil, estimated 60 min left point, original gravity... That's 6... Each measurement required less than a quarter of a teaspoon and was readable within 3 min of collection.

It stays in my brew day tool kit though and doesn't get used on racking or bottling day...
 

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