For batch #3 of our homebrewing career, we were thinking about doing a rye stout in the style of something like Baume from Half Acre. It's 7% and 60 IBUs with big notes of chocolate, coffee, rye, and citrus. It doesn't have to be a dead ringer, but something approaching that would be great. We're doing partial mash brewing right now. I've looked around and found a few rye stout recipes that look interesting, but was wondering if anyone here had any general information. 1. What percentage of rye does one have to add for it to be noticeable? At what point does it tend to be overpowering? I was thinking that 20-25% might be a good level to shoot for, but this is based off of a conversation with a local professional brewer who was talking about a rye brown. 2. There seem to be different forms of rye to work with. What are the merits and perils of each? 3. How does one balance rye with other desired flavors in a stout?
With rye malt, I think 10% is where it generally becomes really noticeable as rye, at least in paler ales. Overpowering would be in the eye of the beholder. Rye malt has enzymes for converting starches to sugars. Unmalted rye does not, so you'd need a base malt to convert. Unmalted rye provides some creamy mouthfeel. Malted rye not so much. With any rye though, I'd recommend having rice hulls on hand to prevent a stuck sparge. I have settled on a pound of hulls for every 3 pounds of rye malt, but it's also dependent on the percentage of rye in the recipe and the coarseness of your grind.
I'd shoot for 10-18% total Rye for a partial mash recipe. You could use about 7-10% rye malt, and perhaps a little bit of chocolate rye, crystal rye, and/or flaked rye. I don't like citrus with the coffee/chocolate/rye flavor combo though. I would really use a low amount of earthy hops for this type of stout. But you can do whatever you want of course. When I think of citrus with chocolate & coffee, sans the rye (which essentially tastes like traditional German pumpernickel bread), I think more along the lines of Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial IPA... not a 7% abv stout.
I disagree, I've never used unmalted rye, but the beers I've brewed with malted rye (albeit in large percentages) have literally been the most viscous, full bodied beers I've ever brewed.
1. 20% sounds about right, especially for something like a stout with competeing flavors. 2. I think the most bang for your buck flaked rye would be best, and your doing a partial mash so that should be fine...just make sure you are using enough base malt to convert it. 3. I think you may be fine with a good amount of chocolate malt (maybe a touch of roasted barley if you want). You could also add a bit of crystal in there for character, but remember there is already carapils in the extract (assuming light malt extract).
I brewed a Rye India Pale Lager a few weeks ago and 10% of my grain bill was rye malt. The rye is definitely noticeable and to the point that it almost overpowers the hops. If you don't want the rye to overpower the other flavors I'd suggest keeping it in the 10-15% range.
To me, more subtle. Still sort of 'earthy' but possibly mistakable for english hops (like fuggle) for example.
I was looking at trying to play off the spiciness of the Rye in conjunction with using Chinook for bittering, maybe Ill look to do about 8-10% rye
Same here. It's much the same way that Belgian white beers (made with raw wheat) aren't appreciably more full bodied than German hefs (made with similar portions of malted wheat).
Once I made a stout with rye and added oats for some reason. Won't do that again, came out ok but i want spicy when using rye and the oats contrast that. I did recently compare rye malt to rye flour all grain wise in 2 similar batches, due to flour being really cheap. 5lb for $3.50. The flour I thought had a little less bite, but I'll still use it just up the %.
