Oats, rye and wheat

[RobMT]

Going for a bit of an experimental beer. Grain bill at 60% efficiency:

10# 2-row
1# (R)ye malt
1# (O)at malt
1# (W)heat malt

Pitching a kolsch yeast

How will those additions change the flavour? I'm assuming it will be more so in the body of the beer, correct? What if I used flaked rye, oat and wheat instead of the malts?

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Also, this will be called a 3-row beer

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Sounds like a fun experiment. Rye malt will add some peppery spiciness, oats won't add much of anything aside from creaminess to the body, and wheat will add a grainy bready character and body.

 

[EllisTX]

I'd mash low if it were me. All three of those are going to add to the body of your beer. I think it will taste great. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Grantman1]

What are you doing for hops?

 

[Stout-n-Braggot]

I would keep the rye malt, then switch the wheat and oats to flaked (and work on upping mash efficiency a little bit)
It sounds deliciously refreshing to me! I would recommend using Wilamette hops for all additions, dry-hopping with between 1/2 and 1 oz for sure.

 

[RobMT]

Awesome! Thanks for the help guys.

Stout-n-Braggot: I'll definitely take your advice on the switch to oat and wheat flakes along with the hop choice.

Ellis: Thanks for the heads up on the mash temp. I hadn't even considered that.

Cheers everyone! I'll post up here once it's done!

 

[RobMT]

And here's the recipe as it stands now:

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.54 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.24 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 4.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 30.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 65.5 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 76.9%
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 2 7.7 %
1 lbs Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 4 7.7 %
1.0 pkg Kolsch Yeast (Wyeast Labs #2565) [124.21 Yeast 9 -
1 lbs Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 3 7.7 %
1.00 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 18.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 6 7.3 IBUs
0.50 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 4.7 IBUs
0.50 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 13 lbs
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 19.30 qt of water at 159.8 F 149.0 F 60 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (0.81gal, 4.07gal) of 168.0 F water

 

[GoodFeckinBeer]

I'd be interested how this turns out. I was looking for a good easy drinking summer beer to brew up soon

 

[RobMT]

I'd be interested how this turns out. I was looking for a good easy drinking summer beer to brew up soon

I'll keep updating as it comes along. It's been in the primary for 3 weeks now and has reach it's FG at 1.009. I'll be bottling either today or next week. Initial samples tasted pretty good, slightly warm due to alcohol as i way overshot my efficiency and ended up near 80%. So the beer is sitting at just over 6%

 

[EllisTX]

Nice! Kolsch yeast must be a beast.

 

[RobMT]

Nice! Kolsch yeast must be a beast.

It really is. The fermentation went wild. I had a blow off tube running at full bore for a good few days until I could settle back to an airlock.

 

[MrOH]

I made a similar beer recently, recipe found here

http://hopville.com/recipe/1084823/american-pale-ale-recipes/gold-oil

Had a lot of troubles with the mash, both conversion and run-off, and I hopped it pretty aggressively, so that's what the main flavor is (and what a flavor Centennial and Amarillo is!!), but the mouthfeel is awesome! Super smooth and creamy. Has the feel of a nitro-pour. Definitely something I'd try again, with a few tweaks.

 

[RobMT]

Sorry it took me so long to reply. This beer turned out awesome!

Smells very much like a german lager, and has a very mild spiciness from either the hops or the rye, can't tell for sure. Carbonation is great and the mouthfeel is bang on. Everyone who has tried it has been amazed by it, and these are the beer drinkers that are normally very critical of my homebrew. A winner in my books and a definite re-brew.

Only "problem" is how loosely the yeast packs itself. Have to be very careful to keep it in the bottle when pouring because the colour and clarity is affected very quickly.

Here are a couple photos, it is almost crystal clear. The photos show the beer with quite a bit of condensation on the glass which is adding to the haziness.