Rye... Worth it? Def my new enemy.

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Rye... Worth it? Def my new enemy.

Postby cb_j » Mon Dec 12, 2016 8:02 pm

So i bought a bag of rye a while back.
I'd dabbled in it before, rye beer, a mostly corn whiskey with a major rye component... but all previous recipes had a good chunk of malted barley as well. (hulls. remember this for later.)
So i thought i'd dive in and throw together a big 18kg rye and 2kg ale malt.
Easy. Right?
Kind of.

I'm very relaxed with everything related to this hobby. Some people will cry if they saw what i do. It ain't no Virginia backwoods - only because it's in my backyard. :laughing-rolling:

So after grinding, i brought 20L of water up to 70 C, added it to the fermenter, stirred in 1kg of ale malt and 9kg of rye malt, then brought another 20L of water up tot he same temp and threw it in with the previous lot and then stirred in the same amount of grain. Boiled some water and added it to the lot so it sat around the 65 C mark.
So i'm pretty sure the next day i added more cold water and pitched the yeast. (In the morning?) I came home to find it had exploded during the day. And i thought there was HEAPS of headroom!
(i'm not exactly sure the total volume, but there was probably 70L after a light squeezing.)
I am also fairly busy during the week, so it got infected. not a big issue, i expect it, and don't mind, and am pretty sure it doesn't come over in the final. So i've embraced that white moonscape of sour love!

The fermented liquid was very thick when i siphoned the first lot off.
Then there was the residue that stuck to everything.
So squeezing the grain for the second charge, i thinned it out a little with water.

So then the distilling began. Strip it all out then combine for a hybrid (CM?) pot run.

Foam city.

I watched it so very carefully before i put the copper on the keg and ran it very slow and when it perked up i turned it down straight away. When i thought i was safe i turned it up a little but no, a tiny puke. all good. flame off, then flame back on after a little rest. Had to strip it slow.
The second charge was much more forgiving due to the higher water content. All stripped out now waiting for time to do the final run.

It tastes alright this far, so i'm looking forward to having half white and half oaked. But man... if i do all rye again, SOOOOO much rice hulls are going in! Even maybe off grain fermenting!
Rye is a kent.
I thought corn was bad.
Last edited by Sam. on Mon Dec 12, 2016 8:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: changed expletive
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Re: Rye... Worth it? Def my new enemy.

Postby scythe » Tue Dec 13, 2016 3:57 am

What were the SG readings?
Seems like you had good starch conversion if it exploded.
A thick wash is a bit of a red flag tho.
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Re: Rye... Worth it? Def my new enemy.

Postby TasSpirits » Tue Dec 13, 2016 5:09 pm

I made a Rye mash a couple of weeks ago, mashed it in a bag and used 4L water per kg Rye, lifted the bag, let it drain for a while then sparged and fermented off the grain. Worse than barley to use but not too bad this way. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Rye... Worth it? Def my new enemy.

Postby cb_j » Mon Dec 19, 2016 6:51 pm

SG? :think:
What's that?
Just kidding. I'm sure if I followed protocol on this one I'd have an answer, but I don't do that stuff anymore.
Why?
I'm pretty happy with what I produce and how I produce it.
Yes, I do know how to use all the instruments I have but I choose not to worry about it.

I did a quick calc, and roughly I get 10kg of sugar out of that 20kg grain (70% conversion of 70% grain weight (starch)).
But I'm not here for quantity.
I should have taken more notice of the thick mash but there's not too many that do all rye...

I'm definitely giving it another crack later.
Smaller batches, rice hulls and off grain fermentation. And gravity readings!
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Re: Rye... Worth it? Def my new enemy.

Postby Clickeral » Tue Dec 20, 2016 11:17 am

cb_j wrote:SG? :think:
What's that?
Just kidding. I'm sure if I followed protocol on this one I'd have an answer, but I don't do that stuff anymore.
Why?
I'm pretty happy with what I produce and how I produce it.
Yes, I do know how to use all the instruments I have but I choose not to worry about it.

I did a quick calc, and roughly I get 10kg of sugar out of that 20kg grain (70% conversion of 70% grain weight (starch)).
But I'm not here for quantity.
I should have taken more notice of the thick mash but there's not too many that do all rye...

I'm definitely giving it another crack later.
Smaller batches, rice hulls and off grain fermentation. And gravity readings!


I put down an IPA last friday that was 0.8kg rye (7.9kg grainbill) and only cracked 58% efficiency so I wouldnt always work of 70% I normally get 74% conversion with my setup
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Re: Rye... Worth it? Def my new enemy.

Postby Swisswa » Wed Dec 21, 2016 1:05 am

I'm only new to all grain stuff, but pretty sure if you are going to play with rye you need to give it a protein rest at 50-55 degrees first to avoid the foam problems (not sure about the thick wash though)
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Re: Rye... Worth it? Def my new enemy.

Postby cb_j » Fri Jan 06, 2017 10:37 am

Indeed.

The sugar piggyback turned out great, however.
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