rye

[highincolorado]

hey out there
formulating a rye beer, and i was just wondering if anyone knows....how much rye is too much rye? %wise
also wondering about the conversion of rye ...fermentables vs non...any help is appreciated
thx
Dan

[David Quinn]

Never used rye before. But I have some advice.

Pilot brew a few 10 gal batches to determine what you need to use. Nothing like learning from experience to give you a connection to your product. Then you have no excuse for that first big batch to come out very close to perfect.

[brewsurfer]

Dan-

A couple of links to help you out:

http://www.midamericabrewing.com/BriessMaltAnalysis.pdf

http://www.midamericabrewing.com/Wey...ltAnalysis.pdf

Rye is pretty high in glucan levels (ie gets sticky), so some hulls (rice, barley, etc) may be in order, depending on usage level and your lauter's depth, etc. I've used twenty percent, with a certain noticable spice character different than wheat. Remember that most folks associate that Rye flavor with the caraway in the bread.

As a historical note, most folks in the US got started brewing rye beers when it became known that Anchor was buying noticable quantities of rye malt. Turned out it was for Rye Whiskey rather than beer.

cheers

[Valleybrew]

My experience and guidance from other brewers I've picked up over the years seems to point to 16% as the upper limit for Rye in a batch. I've done around 10 Rye beers and this level provides a real nice Rye flavor without messing up mash sparge on a 7BBL infusion system.
Good Luck,
Steve

[arfbrau]

Dan,

Just used 20 % Durst rye malt in an ale and came out a little mild on the rye flavor (yummy though). No mash problems, attenuation was average and could have used up to 30% safely, but the Durst rye malt could be milder than some. Some roggen recipes from Germany call for up to 40% (made like a hefeweizen). Malted and flaked rye are very different though, beware.

[kugeman]

I use 20% Thomas Fawcett Rye in my blond ale with no sparge problems. It gives the blond a nice crisp flavor without being too overpowering. I've gone as high as 25% but found the rye flavor to be a little too strong for this particular beer. But if you want the rye flavor to be the focus of the beer I say go for it!