BeerBorg

I brewed a batch of Rye Guy Rye IPA today. It's a recipe that uses a lot of rye malt. There's 12.5# of grain, and 4# of it is rye.

Needless to say, rice hulls are needed, and I added about a 1/2 pound of rice hulls to the mash. I still had a slow, nearly stuck sparge, and my runnings were nearly 2 gallons short of my projected pre-boil volume. I topped it up, of course, but my projected ABV is closer to 5.5% rather than the 6.1% I've come to expect.

I'm not complaining about that; it'll still be a good IPA, and I've been getting better attenuation lately, which usually has meant the ABV being about half a percent higher than projected anyway.

But I honestly figured that amount of rice hulls would be adequate.

Im finding a 1/2lb just isn't enough. I recently had a 12lb grist with 5lbs being wheat and I struggled, too.

From now on I'm using 1lb. It's cheap, avoids the frustration and works better with a full pound in my experience.

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When using a bunch of rye, I would suggest that you start your mash at around 108-110 degrees for 20 minutes (Beta Glucan rest) and then raise to your normal mash temps. That will help a lot. You don't need to do a full step mash, just that one step if you want to help avoid the "gummies".

My last rye used much less than you did Dave, 1.5 or 2#. I just threw in a handful of hulls. That was rye malt, I find flaked rye much stickier.

Kealia wrote:Im finding a 1/2lb just isn't enough. I recently had a 12lb grist with 5lbs being wheat and I struggled, too.

From now on I'm using 1lb. It's cheap, avoids the frustration and works better with a full pound in my experience.

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Yeah, I think I'll do the same. As you point out, the cost is negligible. But I seem to remember the last time I made this, I didn't use a full pound, and didn't experience any problems. But every batch is different.