Last year we experienced a small uptick (boomlet?) in Rye Beers, with many breweries releasing a rye pale ale or RIPA as their summer seasonal. Unfortunately this does not appear to be a trend that will repeat in 2010. Several of the beer I enjoyed last year are not slated to return. With the fate of one of my favorites, Oakshire’s Line-Dry Rye, still in question, I decided to brew up a Rye Beer of my own to enjoy as the weather improves.
The recipe I came up with is a cross between Mike Flynn’s Light Rye Ale; a crisp rye pale, and Surly Brewing’s Surlyfest; a malty rye fest bier.
American Rye Beer
7.0 lbs Vienna
2.0 lbs Rye Malt
1.0 lbs Flaked Rye
1.0 lbs Flaked Corn (keepin’ it real)
.50 oz Cascade @ 60
.50 oz Cascade @ 30
.50 oz Mt. Hood @ 30
.50 oz Mt. Hood @ 15
Fermentis Safale US-05 Yeast
Estimated Efficiency: 70%
Estimated OG: 1.050
Estimated FG: 1.012
Estimated ABV: 5.0%
Estimated IBU: 30
Estimated SRM: 8
Aside from not realizing that the valve was open on the mash tun and dumping some wort on the floor, the brew day went quite well. I under shot my estimated OG by a couple points, ending up at 1.047. I attribute this more to a poor crush on the Rye Malt and the aforementioned loss of wort than to a glaring flaw in the brewing process.
I have some extra Centennial lying around and am thinking about using it to dry-hop in a week or so. I really like the dry-hopping in Bear Republic’s Hop Rod Rye, which I believe is a mix of Centennial and Amarillo. Thoughts?
Thanks again to Brewmate Jesse for helping out with the Rye Beer. I am returning the favor tonight by helping him brew a chocolatey Milk Stout; recipe, pics and all that goodness to follow.
Cheers!
Kevin
Nice to see others respecting the Rye beer and Hop Rod Rye. I just brewed a Terrapin Rye Pale Ale clone last weekend because I miss it a bunch and can’t buy it in Ohio. Not a big fan of doing clones, but it helps as I learn what ingredients account for taste in beers I like. Should be ready in mid April. I have high hopes as I pretty much nailed the target OG and FG.
I dry hopped with Amarillo. I am interested in how the Centennial / Amarillo mix turns out for you. Who wins – The grapefruit taste of the Amarillo or the floral citrus of the Amarillo?
I also had some adventures with my Rye. I somehow loosened the CPVC from the valve during sparge and had to dump my mash out, fix the problem, and dump the mash back in. I have since bought a new piece which should fix the issue. I also decided to let my hops (almost 5 ounces) reign free during the boil, so I spent a lot of time straining them before bottling and fermentation. Lesson learned, keep using muslin bags.
Cheers to the Rye!
[...] has also made mention on more than one occasion of his fondness for Black Butte Porter. My rye beer was a big hit with him, as was the BridgePort ESB I served a while [...]