Rye Pale ale questions

[Patirck]

I have been drinking a lot of rye beer (commercial ones) lately and have really gotten into the style. I've had a half dozen or so examples and my favorite so far is Epic brewing's Rompin Rye followed closely by Great Divide Hoss lager. It's a good balance between rye and hops. I've had a few that were so bitter (over did the early addition of hops) that you couldn't really taste the rye.

I'd like to make a rye pale that isn't too bitter (hoppy is good way to bitter is not my thing). I've read that 20% is about as high as you should go with rye. I've also read that there are several types of rye (flaked, malted, etc..).

I'm thinking of:

20%Rye
40% Pilsner
18% Vienna or Munich
20% Crystal 30
2% Carapils

I have a lot of Chinook, Amarillo, Cascade, Galena, Nugget and Willamette. I'll probably go with one 60 minute addition of 15 or so ibus and do the rest at flame or a few minutes before to get to about 25 - 35 ibus. I may or may not dry hop with Amarillo or Willamette.

I'll probably use us-05 unless someone has a better suggestion. I have read that epic uses hef IV (WL-380) for they're rye. Hef yeast and rye could be an interesting combo.

Any comments or suggestions?

 

[pm5k00]

Grain bill looks good, personally I'd go with Munich over Vienna. 20% rye should be noticeable without being overpowering. I make a rye pale ale with 30% malted rye and find that to be a good amount for my taste. If useing malted rye (not flaked) you can go up to 100% of your grainbill, and there is a recipe some where on HBT that does that, "rye God, rye?" I believe.

Hop wise I like fruity hops in combination with rye, so that's my recommendation. US-05 is a good choice for this style, although admittedly I have never used a hefe yeast with rye.

....looking forward to hearing how this turns out.

Edit: saw other comment and noticed % of crystal, I'd bump that down to 10% overall.

 

[troysoy2]

My only advice is that your grain bill has a little too much crystal malt for my taste. To each his own, of course.

At the very least, I think you'll find the 2% carapils to be unnecessary. It's my understanding that rye is relatively high in proteins and whatnot (much like wheat), and will contribute plenty to head retention.

20% malted rye sounds good to me. You may want to consider rice hulls to avoid a stuck sparge. Depends on your system.

I used the Hef IV yeast in my roggenbier recipe recently, and really like the flavors it contributed. However, there's a big difference between German style roggenbier and an American rye beer. I've never had Epic Brewing's rye beer, and it might be cool to blur the lines between the two styles, but I'd stick with the us-05 for this recipe.