For my fifth beer, I decided to brew a Dry Rye Roggenbier from Midwest brewing. Of course I can't simply follow the directions that are included with the kit. That would be too easy. For this round of brew I'm trying three new techniques
1) Yeast Starter
2) Partial Mash
3) Use of a hops bag and filter on funnel
I decided to do a yeast starter for this beer because I've been reading that it’s better for the beer. Less lag time before fermentation & better attenuation. Why not try it? I followed one of the many tutorials online. I used a 1/4 cup of wheat DME and boiled it with water for 15-20 minutes. My goal was an OG of the wort ~ 1.040. I used a 32oz EZ cap bottle for the "fermenter" covered with foil instead of the cap. The process was easy but I was a little worried at first due to a funny sour smell coming from the starter. However, I read up online (I love the internet) and found that the smell may be due to acetaldehyde, whatever the hell that is??? Ask a chemist, I'm a computer engineer. Bits and bytes for me.
I also thought it would be fun to try a partial mash(PM). This beer was a good choice to do a PM because I really wanted the rye flavors to come through. A traditional Roggenbier has roughly 50% of the grain bill from rye (from what I've read). The recipe kit from the Midwest brew had a very small amount of rye grains for use during the steeping process. I decided to amp up the rye flavors by purchasing an additional 1.5lbs of rye (flaked, chocolate, and malted). I then made a partial mash with all the grains (kit + additional purchase). For the partial mash I used three pots; a pressure cooker, my brew kettle, and a 2.5 gallon stock pot. The pressure cooker was used for the actual mashing. It was a great pot for the job. It's thick and holds the heat well. It also has a very tight fitting lid which keeps the mash warm (target 155F). The stock pot was used to heat the strike water and sparge water. The brew kettle was used in obvious ways. I posted some pictures and a short video of the adventure. Let me know if you see anything wrong with the procedure.
The last new thing I did was use a hops bag. I did this per Nate's suggestion that it helps reduce "trub" and improves yields. I did have some issues with the bag though. I burnt the tie string (gas stove). I also dropped the bag into the pot. Caused a small boil-over when adding new hops. I also burnt my hand when trying to squeeze the hot wort from the bag in the end.
In the end the brew made it into the carboy around 1.:15 AM. A long night of brewing.
My OG for this brew was 1.51 (potential ABV ~6.5%). The higher OG was not doubt due to the additional sugars from the PM. Is this a problem? No. As our slogan states: We have strong wives, we need strong beer.
Yeast used: American Wheat W1010. I wanted a wheat yeast with little to no banana or bubblegum flavor.
Update Aug 12th. Read the hydrometer tonight, SP of 1.15. Still needs more fermentation.
I tasted the beer tonight and I’m very excited. It had a nice subtle rye flavor. Honestly I was hoping for more but I think this will be a great way to ease non-rye lovers into this style of beer. This beer should be just in time for bow hunting.
1) Yeast Starter
2) Partial Mash
3) Use of a hops bag and filter on funnel
I decided to do a yeast starter for this beer because I've been reading that it’s better for the beer. Less lag time before fermentation & better attenuation. Why not try it? I followed one of the many tutorials online. I used a 1/4 cup of wheat DME and boiled it with water for 15-20 minutes. My goal was an OG of the wort ~ 1.040. I used a 32oz EZ cap bottle for the "fermenter" covered with foil instead of the cap. The process was easy but I was a little worried at first due to a funny sour smell coming from the starter. However, I read up online (I love the internet) and found that the smell may be due to acetaldehyde, whatever the hell that is??? Ask a chemist, I'm a computer engineer. Bits and bytes for me.
I also thought it would be fun to try a partial mash(PM). This beer was a good choice to do a PM because I really wanted the rye flavors to come through. A traditional Roggenbier has roughly 50% of the grain bill from rye (from what I've read). The recipe kit from the Midwest brew had a very small amount of rye grains for use during the steeping process. I decided to amp up the rye flavors by purchasing an additional 1.5lbs of rye (flaked, chocolate, and malted). I then made a partial mash with all the grains (kit + additional purchase). For the partial mash I used three pots; a pressure cooker, my brew kettle, and a 2.5 gallon stock pot. The pressure cooker was used for the actual mashing. It was a great pot for the job. It's thick and holds the heat well. It also has a very tight fitting lid which keeps the mash warm (target 155F). The stock pot was used to heat the strike water and sparge water. The brew kettle was used in obvious ways. I posted some pictures and a short video of the adventure. Let me know if you see anything wrong with the procedure.
The last new thing I did was use a hops bag. I did this per Nate's suggestion that it helps reduce "trub" and improves yields. I did have some issues with the bag though. I burnt the tie string (gas stove). I also dropped the bag into the pot. Caused a small boil-over when adding new hops. I also burnt my hand when trying to squeeze the hot wort from the bag in the end.
In the end the brew made it into the carboy around 1.:15 AM. A long night of brewing.
My OG for this brew was 1.51 (potential ABV ~6.5%). The higher OG was not doubt due to the additional sugars from the PM. Is this a problem? No. As our slogan states: We have strong wives, we need strong beer.
Yeast used: American Wheat W1010. I wanted a wheat yeast with little to no banana or bubblegum flavor.
Update Aug 12th. Read the hydrometer tonight, SP of 1.15. Still needs more fermentation.
I tasted the beer tonight and I’m very excited. It had a nice subtle rye flavor. Honestly I was hoping for more but I think this will be a great way to ease non-rye lovers into this style of beer. This beer should be just in time for bow hunting.
Glad to see Four Dude's has ventured into the partial mash. Good write up, and good late night brewing. Stoked to sample the Rye!
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