Summer Rye

Most of my early craft beer loves were on the darker, heavier, maltier side; in particular, Sinebrychoff Porter has held a dear place in my heart since a friend introduced me to it at Bukowski’s in Boston years ago.  But with the arrival of warmer weather (for which, to be honest, I wait all winter) it’s time for something a bit lighter and more balanced.  So, to follow the hefty Russian imperial stout that will lay around until next winter, the big brew day a couple weeks ago saw the birth of what I’m calling a summer rye.

Rye, malted or otherwise, is often cited as a brewing ingredient that produces a pleasant spicy flavour, a viscous and even tongue-numbing mouthfeel, and ungodly stuck mashes.  Undaunted, last spring I brewed an ordinary bitter almost entirely from malted rye with nary a peep of trouble from my mashtun (though I did add some rice hulls for insurance).  Having used rye malt with great success on several other occasions as well, it formed the base for this year’s first warm-weather beer.  As I ended up going back and forth on the grist for a while, I ended up buying getting the rye in several lots, so some is from Weyermann and the rest is from Briess.  While the rest of the base malt is domestic 2-row, I tried to add to the German qualities of this beer with a couple pounds of dark Munich to increase the maltiness and a touch of chocolate rye to give it a nice amber colour.

As I’m working through the end of last year’s bulk hop purchase, a small amount of Columbus pellets went in for bittering; however, a late addition of Saaz plugs (at an unexpected 7% alpha acids) should add its own spicy signature.  The yeast slurry of WY1007 from my alt a couple months ago, fermented cool, should impart a clean German touch, though it’s been throwing a good bit of sulfur late in fermentation.  In the end I hope to have an easy-drinking summer beer that’s a bit fuller bodied than most.

Other than an early boilover–someday I’ll learn to stop running around cleaning until at least after the hot break and bittering hops have settled down–the brewing was pretty straightforward.  Boiling off a good bit more than I meant (and losing some to the boilover), the OG ended up a bit higher than intended, so it may not be quite as sessionable as intended; somehow, I think I’ll manage.

Summer Rye
Batch size: 4.8 gallons
Projected OG: 1.057
Projected SRM: 12
Projected IBU: 34.4
Boil time: 60 minutes
Brewhouse efficiency: 74%

Grains
44.9% - 5 lb 2-row
36% - 4 lb Rye malt
18% - 2 lb Dark Munich
1.1% - 2 oz Chocolate rye

Hops
.5 oz. Columbus (14.5%) (60 min)
1 oz. Saaz (7%) (10 min)

Yeast
WY1007 German Ale (slurry)

Water additions (mash)
1 g Gypsum
1 g Calcium chloride
.5 g Baking soda

Brewday: 30 April 2011
Sacch rest @ 154F for 1 hour
One large boilover cut down volume big time
Fermented in basement at ambient (62̊F)

9 May 2011: Brought upstairs to warm up a bit & finish out; sulfur smell from airlock

Bottled: 15 May 2011
Added 2 qts boiled & cooled water to bring volume to 4 gallons & lower gravity - adjusted OG 1.050
FG: 1.010
ABV: 5.2%
Bottled with 4.3 oz of table sugar