Rye Malt

[Chunk]

Does anyone have any advice on using Rye malt? I want to use enough to get a Rye flavour but I don't want the Rye to take over. I've heard that using over 15% can result in VERY sticky mashes, but I don't want to use so little that none of the Rye comes through.

Any comments would be great!

[Crackin]

I remember one interview whereby the brewer said that he was dissapointed in rye beer because it did not taste like rye bread. Try 10% to start with.

[Deathrider]

I use 10 % rye malt in my pale ale. Adds a little "spice" to the flavor and mouthfeel. Terrapin Rye pale ale also uses 10%. Listen to the Can You Brew It, Terrapin show.

[ScootsieDoubleday]

The Roggenbier show is also pretty good.

I found that the American Wheat/Rye show spoke mostly about using Wheat, and very little about the use of Rye.
+1 on the Terrapin show, by the way.

Try this as well:

http://brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue1.3/hayden.html

[Chunk]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm mid way through the brew day at the moment. Plumped for 15% rye in the end, will have to wait and see how it turns out.

[ResQ]

do most have to double mill the rye like you do vienna or wheat malt to get better conversion? rice hulls?

[SacoDeToro]

I use rye malt quite frequently. I use it in percentages up to 20% with no lautering issues or the use of rice hulls. I often use it in upwards of 20% along with 5% flaked wheat or some other flaked grain in the case of saisons. Again, no rice hulls, lautering issues, or drops in efficiency. Rye malt crushes pretty easily so there's no reason you should have to mill it twice - just throw it in with the rest of your grains/grist. Further, wheat malt does not need to be double milled. Malted grains are pretty friable and shouldn't create milling challenges. That said, raw rye, barley, and wheat berries are very hard and some people do choose to mill those twice. I just wanted to draw a distinction between milling malted grains and raw unmalted berries.

As a note, most people associate the taste of caraway seed with rye. Caraway seed is often used in rye breads, thus leading people to believe that particular flavor is contributed by the rye. IMO, rye can add a slightly earthy flavor in large quantities when used in paler beers, such as saisons, but does more to modify the viscosity of the beer. With the use of rye malt, you can get a very dry beer that still has a substantial mouthfeel. Roggenbiers can be relatively dry, but almost always have a strangely viscous mouthfeel. Those are simply my perceptions.

[Chunk]

I bought the rye malt ready milled, so can't comment there unfortunately.

I've read a lot about very sticky mashes when using high percentages of rye malt ... got to say I didn't have any problems with this though. Mass was pretty standard stickyness wise.