Greetings brewers,

Around a month ago, I sampled two beers that really left an impression on me. Both were rye porters.
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16055/50033
and
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/17981/62371

I'd like to start refining my own version of this "style" but am having a bit of trouble researching examples. Perhaps someone can provide a little help?

Here's what I'm thinking so far and I'm certainly open to suggestions:

73% Pale
12% Flaked Rye
7% Munich
5% Chocolate
3% Black Patent

Target OG = 66
Target IBU = 40 (will aim primarily for bitterness but might add a small charge of hop flavor towards the end, intending to use Goldings and/or Fuggles)
WLP001, ferment at 66 desiring a clean fermentation profile.

Cheers and thanks for reading!

Crystal Rye, if you can find it, can be really good (definitely depends on who makes it and I think the best I had was an English maltser, maybe Bairds), and I would personally include some crystal in a porter grist. Also, why flaked rye specifically as opposed to malted? Not that there's anything wrong with flaked but it seems like it might be a lot at 12%. I have made some rye stouts and I like to keep the total rye at about 15%, usually mixing crystal and malted rye, but I have also used flaked before.

Flaked instead of Malted b/c I'm under the impression that the flaked rye will lend more flavor. That said, I've not used it in such a high proportion before.

As for crystal rye, I could certainly seek that out. That wasn't even a malt I'd yet heard of, let alone considered using here.

I think the best rye beers use several types of rye to give more complexity to the rye character. Many rye beers are very one note and this really helps.

Six Point uses rye, crystal rye, and chocolate rye in their rye beers (2 great ones are righteous rye and the one off belgian rye)

Lenny's RIPA also uses 3 types of rye: malted, torrified, and crystal.

I think beers that use a high percentage of either malted or flaked rye get a sharp dry character that's very one-dimensional. You'll need other malts or hops to play off of it. Besides multiple forms of rye, munich plays very well off of rye (see Roggenbier).

Thanks for the tips, here. While I'm not sure the examples I mentioned utilize multiple rye types, they did have a level of complexity I wasn't finding in other rye beers.

Originally I'd intended on brewing this over the weekend but I might need to move it out in order to re-shape the recipe and acquire some of these other grains.

Cheers!

2 things:

1)You didn't list the single most important ingredient when making rye beers: RICE HULLS

I've made 50% wheat beers without rice hulls and was fine if I lautered slowly. I made a 10% rye beer and it stuck horribly.

2) You may want to figure out if either of these beers used caraway seed, which gives a flavor many of us associate with rye, but is really a spice used in rye and rye-based breads like pumpernickel

+1 on the Rice Hulls. Made a 12 gallon batch with only 6# rye wednesday, and the sparge took forever. I'm still sticky.!ummm from the wort, I mean.