I have a confession to make. For the first time since I bought the kegerator in February, I don't have any beer on tap. It's been a sad time, devoid of beer ... aside from the wealth of amazing wintery beer we have in Seattle and my secret stockpile of bottled homebrew from
last winter. Anyway it's time to get my act together and get something back on tap.
This recipe predates the kegerator, going all the way back to ... last fall (2013). My friend Elise has hops--
Cascade and
Hallertau--growing at her parents house, so we put together a beer that would work with those varieties. I picked rye because--not being familiar with rye or Hallertau hops--the spicy notes from their descriptions sounded like they would go together well. Traditional Bavarian
roggenbier combines up to 50% rye with German hops, which set a comforting precedent for the idea. However, I wasn't looking for the banana esters from the Bavarian yeast, so I didn't base my beer off that. Instead, I went for something more akin to an altbier, with some Munich malt and a touch of crystal. Here is the recipe I ended up brewing:
Wet Hop Rye Ale
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Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Estimated ABV: 5.3 %
Estimated OG: 1.054 SG
Estimated FG: 1.014 SG
Estimated Color: 10.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 33.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 50.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
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Amt Name %/IBU
11 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 64.7 %
3 lbs Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) 17.6 %
2 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) 11.8 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) 5.9 %
0.60 oz Columbus [14.00 %] - First Wort Hop 25.5 IBUs
0.80 oz x 4 US Hallertau [4.80 %] - Boil 15.0 min 5.3 IBUs
0.30 oz x 4 Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min 2.3 IBUs
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) -
1.80 oz x 4 US Hallertau [4.80 %] - Boil 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs
0.35 oz x 4 Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg San Diego Super Yeast (White Labs #WLP090)
2.00 oz US Hallertau [4.80 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days 0.0 IBUs
Mash Schedule: BIAB @154F with protein rest at 110F
Total Grain Weight: 17 lbs
Estimated Cost: $33.67
The batch turned out to be one of my best to that point. The rye was quite spicy, with some hop flavor, but nothing close to an IPA. This was before I began studying water chemistry though, so it had a touch of the rubbery smokiness that plagued my early all-grain beers. It blended in with the rye, so I couldn't tell exactly where the sharper flavors were coming from, but combined they overwhelmed the hops. In addition, the body was a little heavier than I would have liked. All in all, more malty than I would have liked, and not enough hops to really stand out as a wet hopped beer.
This year Elise's brother used the hops, so I didn't get to rebrew the fresh hop version. As it turned out, I was quite busy anyway with two other
fresh hop beers. Now that I'm getting back to this recipe, I feel like I have the freedom to let the malts run wild (as they ended up doing last time) instead of trying to restrain them to let the hops stand out. I want it to stay fairly dry though, so I'm going to replace the crystal with more Munich and drop the mash temp down to 150F.
Besides switching to dried Hersbrucker hops, I think I'll also add a bit of Columbus to the dry hop. Hallertau just isn't as aromatic as American varieties, so I think this will give me more of the hop punch I'm looking for, hopefully without drowning it out.
Last time I used
White Labs'
San Diego Super Yeast to get a clean fermentation without too many fruity esters. I liked that pairing but with all the similarities to altbier, I considered switching to an
alt or
Kölsch yeast. Those yeasts are also
very clean, so it's the same idea, but in the beers I've used them in, they come across very differently. In the end, I decided to use the SD Super Yeast again since I'll be fermenting the
black IPA next to it and can use the same starter and ambient temperature. I do hope to try out the recipe with a German yeast soon though.
Rye Ale #2
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Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Estimated ABV: 5.9 %
Estimated OG: 1.056 SG
Estimated FG: 1.012 SG
Estimated Color: 5.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 36.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Ingredients:
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Amt Name %/IBU
8 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 61.5 %
2 lbs 8.0 oz Munich Malt (6.0 SRM) 19.2 %
2 lbs 8.0 oz Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) 19.2 %
0.75 oz Columbus [16.10 %] - First Wort Hops 33.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Hersbrucker [1.60 %] - Boil 15 mins 2.3 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) -
2.00 oz Hersbrucker [1.60 %] - Boil 0 mins 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg San Diego Super Yeast (White Labs #WLP090)
2.00 oz Hersbrucker [1.60 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days 0.0 IBUs
0.45 oz Columbus [16.10 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days 0.0 IBUs
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion @150F, No Mash Out, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 13 lbs
Estimated Cost: $28.25
I started off the morning, by brewing a rye ale, and now it's time to get this IPA underway. It makes for a long day, but if I can brew 10 gal of beer in 11 hours instead of 5 gal of beer in 8 hours then sign me up.
With the rye ale out of the brew kettle, I could finally move on to lautering and batch sparging. I turn on the burner while sparging to heat the first runnings near boiling and reduce the time to boil when I finally get to full volume, but this time I got the heat a little high. The first runnings reached a hard boil before I even started draining the second runnings. I doubt it's a big deal, but if there's a bit extra melanoidin formation than normal I wouldn't be surprised.
