A dark rye session IPA like thing

[mashani]

A motley mix of my brewing tendencies. 5 gallons, split between 2 LBCs.

A 24 hour cold steep of 2oz British Black Patent and 2oz British Chocolate malt.
6# MoreBeer Rye LME (20% rye, 10% 40L, and 70% 2-Row) - 3# in the boil, 3# as a late addition @10 minutes
1# D-180L Candi Syrup late addition @10 minutes

40 minute boil. All hops in commando.

0.5 oz Apollo (14% AA) @30
1.0 oz Cascade (7.1% AA) @10
0.5 oz Apollo (14% AA) @5
2.0 oz Styrian Goldings (3.5% AA) @flameout, with a lid tossed on the pot immediately.

30 minute hop stand with the lid on the pot - all hops stayed in, so figure extra 10 minutes of AA utilization and flavor contribution until it dropped below 180. I've found by throwing a lid on the pot I can start the stand at high temps but not blow off all the aroma from the late additions. The volatile oils re-condense back into the wort as it cools (blown off oils are not destroyed, they just are vaporized, but they can't all escape with the lid on). And no, I don't get DMS doing this, even in an AG batch it doesn't happen. I tried this a while ago out of desperation, trying to keep my house Brett at bay. It worked great, so I've never looked back.

Cool rapidly with ice water top up, split between 2 LBCs, sample after top up OG was 1.049

IBUs are probably around 47-48 with the hop stand utilization added in.

Pitched a full pack of S-04 into each. I chose S-04 over S-05 or Notty since I used 1# of candi syrup and didn't want this to dry out quite that much. BU/GU is more like at 1.043 OG since 1# of sugar, so it's plenty bitter, so I wanted the more rounded/malty English profile. I would have actually used Wyeast London ESB in this if I could have scored some, but could not find any locally.

This is a mix of hops I've never tried before, but I think it will be wicked with the rye because rye likes spicy and piney hops, and spicy hops play nice with dark candi syrup too. I used dark candi syrup instead of dark crystal because there was plenty of crystal in the Rye LME. I wanted the dark fruit but not the extra sweetness. My Belgian 'tude there...

I don't know why I'm brewing so many 5 gallon batches. It's not normal for me to be doing this. If it keeps up, I would get a 5 gallon fermenter but I don't want to carry such a thing from my kitchen to my basement. But I think I'm switching back to 2.5 gallon batches soon. Maybe. LOL.

[Beer-lord]

Still working on my rye recipe but thus one is really different and looks good! I never thought of using those nice, earthy Apollo hops with rye either.
Gonna follow this one.



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[mashani]

Since I'm fermenting on the low end of S-04, it's being somewhat mellow, although still has a good 2" of krausen right now and stuff is whipping around... It's not blowing off insane amounts of smells like a more violent fermentation would, but the whiffs that I am getting are really nice.

[mashani]

Well....... this finished at 1.008..... glad I didn't use an "aggressive" yeast LOL.

Hydro sample - smells spicy, and at first I tasted some caramel and figs/raisins, but its dry not sweet (more like a dubbel). Then I got smacked up side the head by ruthless levels of bitterness (perceived due to low OG/FG) and earthy/spicy rye and hop flavors. And I don't mean "too much" by ruthless... (although it is quite bitter, perceived bitterness is higher then most session IPAs I've had... makes sense since BU:GU is up there at DIPA ratios). I mean that the closest beer to what I tasted that I've ever had was somewhat ruthless as well. I've never looked up a clone of said beer, but it must use a bunch of late earthy/spicy/piney/dank/less citrusy hops of some sort. Not saying in any way this is a clone, nor was it intended to be - just that if you like that then you would probably like this unless you are put off by the raisin/figs. To me, with my Belgian tendencies, they are like a bonus. You don't want? Use lighter candi syrup.

Has nice mouth feel even though light in body due to the rye.

I was conflicted how to carb this as it's sort of like a British/American hybrid IPA meets a dubbel. But I went ahead and carbed it very lightly like a British beer. I think that will let the rye shine more, and I don't need more perceived bitterness from the carbonation like I would in a Belgian. This is plenty bitter.

But you could do this with a Belgian yeast easily and call it a Belgian Rye Dark IPA. It would be good.

Won't mind if the bitterness fades a bit over time, but I would not want to trade the hop flavors/aromas for less bitterness. If I changed anything it would be to take the 30 addition and move it to 25 or 20, less bitter, even more flavor.

[mashani]

Popped trub bottle. Bitterness has mellowed a bit. I think I would leave additions as is at this point. If you want a real bite, then add a small one earlier in the boil, but I like it as is.

Crappy pic attached. Yes, it's that dark..

If you can imagine Ruthless Rye blended with some New Belgium Snow Day and good dubbel, well, that's what this is like. I don't know how to describe it better then that because although it hints at all those beers, it's not really like anything commercial exactly due to me using that D-180L. It's a different vibe (fruity but dry, less caramel, more figs/plums/raisin) then if you used dark crystal or even special B, and/or de-bittered black malts. The cold steep worked great at giving me a nice smooth coffee/chocolate flavor that blends in nicely without seeming "roasty".

It's unusual but quite good. Not sure what if anything I'd do different.

Now I'm thinking about making a rye dubbel. I bet it would be wicked.

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