Never brewed a roggenbier. Am I on track here?

[Brewmex41]

I did a rye Ipa and really prefer it over a non rye Ipa so I thought I would try a German roggenbier. Looking to see if I'm going to be on track with this recipe. It's based off a couple things I found, like a few recipes from BYO and some ingredients I have on hand.

5.5 g batch size
6 lb 2 row (i have a bulk sack of it)
5 lb rye malt
1lb cararye
2oz midnight wheat just for color adjustment

.33 oz Magnum (12.2% AA) 60Min
.5 oz Tettnanger 10min
.5 oz tett hop steep at knock out.

Weihenstephaner weizen yeast
Est stats
OG 1.052
16 Ibu
16 Srm
5.1% +/- abv

 

[gwapogorilla]

Looks good to me. If you want the banana flavor to come through from your yeast, only use about 1/2 of the yeast pitching amount you normally would. And, keep the fermentation around 72-75*.

I have made a couple of rye beers myself, and I am really liking them...more so than wheat. I wish it wasn't so darned expensive.

You will need to use rice hulls, as the rye will plug your sparge. I prewash and soak my rice hulls in warm water. This gets and dirt off of them, it doesn't screw with my absorbtion numbers, and the sweet wort won't absorb into the hulls.

I also recommend NOT running your rice hulls through your grain mill. Yet another lesson I learned from trial and error.:smack:

 

[Brewmex41]

Looks good to me. If you want the banana flavor to come through from your yeast, only use about 1/2 of the yeast pitching amount you normally would. And, keep the fermentation around 72-75*.

I have made a couple of rye beers myself, and I am really liking them...more so than wheat. I wish it wasn't so darned expensive.

You will need to use rice hulls, as the rye will plug your sparge. I prewash and soak my rice hulls in warm water. This gets and dirt off of them, it doesn't screw with my absorbtion numbers, and the sweet wort won't absorb into the hulls.

I also recommend NOT running your rice hulls through your grain mill. Yet another lesson I learned from trial and error.:smack:

I've used rice hulls before. I figured id need them for this one. I think I will try and sneak this one into my brew schedule sooner rather than later.

 

[gwapogorilla]

You may want to use a little more rice hulls than your used to. Rye plugs really tight. I curse every time I brew with it. As a rule of thumb, I use .1 lb of rice hulls for every pound of wheat or adjuct....and it works fine.
Not true with rye...I have to use more.

Good luck, and enjoy!

 

[DavidJP]

Am just drinking one now, no idea if its true to style, are there any commercial examples available, but its turned out pretty nice and from being sceptical may try another one

Heres the recipe i used kindly provided by a LHBS
1 lbs Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) 8.5 %
3 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) 25.5 %
3 lbs Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) 25.5 %
3 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) 25.5 %
1 lbs Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) 8.5 %
4.0 oz Carafa III (525.0 SRM) 2.1 %
4.0 oz Crystal 15, 2-Row, 11 2.1 %
4.0 oz Crystal 150, 2-Row, ( 12 2.1 %
0.50 oz Spalter [4.30 %] - Boil 60.0 min 8.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Spalter [4.30 %] - Boil 25.0 min 5.7 IBUs
0.50 oz Spalter [4.30 %] - Boil 5.0 min 1.6 IBUs
1.0 pkg Bavarian Wheat (Wyeast Labs #3638)

OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 19.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 15.4 IBUs

 

[gwapogorilla]

Am just drinking one now, no idea if its true to style, are there any commercial examples available, but its turned out pretty nice and from being sceptical may try another one

Heres the recipe i used kindly provided by a LHBS
1 lbs Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) 8.5 %
3 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) 25.5 %
3 lbs Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) 25.5 %
3 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) 25.5 %
1 lbs Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) 8.5 %
4.0 oz Carafa III (525.0 SRM) 2.1 %
4.0 oz Crystal 15, 2-Row, 11 2.1 %
4.0 oz Crystal 150, 2-Row, ( 12 2.1 %
0.50 oz Spalter [4.30 %] - Boil 60.0 min 8.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Spalter [4.30 %] - Boil 25.0 min 5.7 IBUs
0.50 oz Spalter [4.30 %] - Boil 5.0 min 1.6 IBUs
1.0 pkg Bavarian Wheat (Wyeast Labs #3638)

OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 19.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 15.4 IBUs

Roggenbier's are hard to find in my area, so have not tried a "true" German roggenbier before.
I go off of the guidlines when I brew mine. Typically, roggenbier have at least 50% of the grain bill consisting of rye. So I would bump that up while getting rid of the wheat. But that's me.

Also, try changing your yeast to Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen Yeast/ WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale Yeast(they are the same strain) and ferment at around 75* to give some banana flavor. I fermed mine too low...around 65*, and got NO banana flavor. Bummer.

 

[dannypo]

I tried a few roggenbiers while in Germany a few years ago. They were very enjoyable. They all had very little banana flavor. Think of them as a dunkelweizen with a light rye spicyness.