Founders Red's RyePA

[jimlin]

Founders Red's RyePA was one of the few beers I tried in the past couple of years that really stood out to me as different, but not for the sake of being different. Loved the flavors I found in this brew. The spicey bite which I assume to be from the rye, the dark crystal, and the amarillo hops all combine for something I truly enjoyed.

I have yet to find anything quite like it. Hop Head Red lacks the rye, and Sierra's recent Ruthless Rye IPA didn't do much for me. 6-packs in MA go for about $12-13 for the Founders, so it would be great to see if I couldn't replicate this one.

Discussions here and on other forums lead me around and around... this link I just found seemed to offer some info from the brewery. Granted, not specific, but helpful:
http://www.homebrewchatter.com/board/sh ... 76ca94b362

So, here's what I've come up with after seeing many clone attempt recipes online, as well as that email from Founders.

My two LHBS don't have the belgian specific malts, so I'm using US crystal malts

Recipe: Red's Rye Pale Ale-US caramel version
Style: 14B-India Pale Ale(IPA)-American IPA

Recipe Overview

Wort Volume Before Boil: 8.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.00 US gals
Volume Transferred: 5.50 US gals
Water Added: 0.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 5.50 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.00 US gals
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.048 SG
Expected OG: 1.063 SG
Expected FG: 1.015 SG
Expected ABV: 6.4 %
Expected ABW: 5.0 %
Expected IBU (using Rager): 70.3
Expected Color: 12.2 SRM
Apparent Attenuation: 75.0 %
Mash Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Duration: 90.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 64 degF

Fermentables
US 2-Row Malt 10.00 lb (66.7 %) In Mash/Steeped
US Rye Malt 2.50 lb (16.7 %) In Mash/Steeped
US Carapils Malt 1.00 lb (6.7 %) In Mash/Steeped
Belgian Aromatic Malt 0.50 lb (3.3 %) In Mash/Steeped
US Caramel 120L Malt 0.50 lb (3.3 %) In Mash/Steeped
US Caramel 60L Malt 0.50 lb (3.3 %) In Mash/Steeped

Hops
German Northern Brewer (8.0 % alpha) 21 g Loose Pellet Hops used 60 Min From End
German Northern Brewer (8.0 % alpha) 21 g Loose Pellet Hops used 30 Min From End
US Amarillo (10.3 % alpha) 28 g Loose Pellet Hops used 20 Min From End
US Amarillo (10.3 % alpha) 28 g Loose Pellet Hops used 10 Min From End
US Amarillo (10.3 % alpha) 28 g Loose Pellet Hops used 1 Min From End
US Amarillo (10.3 % alpha) 56 g Loose Pellet Hops used Dry-Hopped

The Founders email said Perle and Amarillo, but I'm substituting the Perle with NBrewer, which I have a nice supply of. Picked up all the grains a couple days ago and hope to brew this weekend. Figuring a mash temp of 154 too leave some nice residual sugars to balance against the 70 IBUs.

The full pound of carapils is still iffy.... the brewery's email suggests using "Lots of Cpils" which is the only reason I calculated a full pound.

[jimlin]

I ended up backing off the rye a tiny bit, using 2 lb, not 2.5

I underestimated my boil-off in the last couple batches resulting in a slightly higher OG, hence backing off the rye. Actually hit the numbers pretty well this time: estimated preboil and OG was 1.046 and 1.061 respectively. I got 1.046 and 1.060.

Mashed at 155. I seem to finish dryer than the calculations estimate on every batch, so tried to offset this a bit with the higher temp.

5 gal strike water; assumed 2 gal loss to grain absorption; added 1 gal at 170° to mash out (rectangular cooler tun, Denny Conn's batch sparging method). 1st runnings gave me the 4 gal I was hoping for. Batch sparged another 4 gal to collect my 8 gal. (went for 8 gallons because of the higher boil off results I've gotten in the winter months). Problem is... my SS boil pot, which was advertised (overstock.com) as 36 qt is truly only 32, as my 8 gallons would have almost overflowed. Left a little bit out. (up until now, I hadn't actually measured the volume of the pot and had always assumed it was the 9 gal)

There was a lot of break material and/or hop matter (4 oz of pellets in the boil, all loose). I'm going to end up with under 5 gal in the end, but so be it. I only transferred over 5 gallons (not 5.5) because of how much "stuff" was in the bottom of the pot. My carboy is 6 gal, not 6.5, so this may be for the best anyways. (Have used the buckets with lots of headroom for primaries for all previous batches)

Going to pick up a 5 gal better bottle this weekend to use as a secondary when I dry hop this with the 2 oz of amarillo.

Used dry yeast for the first time in a year (my ill-fated MrBeer brews and my one pre-hopped extract amber brew were all dry yeast, and then I switched to full boils and liquid yeast with starters last summer). Pitched s-05 after the carboy was down to 65° (cold basement floor got it down after I had used the immersion chiller to get to the upper 70s) and attached my fermwrap and Johnson controller. Got a big blow off tube jammed into the neck of the carboy and out to a bucket of star-san solution. Hoping it kicks into gear while at work today and I go home to find it bubbled away.

[jimlin]

Dry hopped for about a week and then cold crashed for about 5 days. Took it out of the fridge Tuesday night, bottled Wed night. Finished at 1.012 (OG of 1.060) for 6.3% (I believe Founder's is 6.6%)

Tasted the FG sample and was very happy to find it remind me of flavors I associate with the Founders brew.

Ended up drinking the whole gravity sample.

Going to stash the bottles in a closet that stays in the mid-upper 60s for a couple weeks to carb.

[Mills]

I look forward to hearing how the final product turns out!

Mills

[jimlin]

I look forward to hearing how the final product turns out!

Mills

Mills,
I've gone through about 8 bottles so far. It hasn't quite been 4 weeks in the bottle yet. I'm guessing they might still change/improve with a little more time, but overall, I'm calling this a success. I haven't found the Founder's RyePA lately so I haven't been able to do a side-by-side, and I doubt it would be dead on... but, the flavor is definitely reminding me of why I like the Founder's brew so much. I would venture to say that my recipe is pretty damn close. One thing I will do next time is add some gypsum to the boil, as I believe my well water is on the soft side, and therefor most of my hoppier beers haven't had the hop "bite" is associate with good commercial brews. (the batch I brewed after the rye ipa was a second attempt of Tasty's Amber, and this time I added a tsp of gypsum to the boil, and from the sample I tasted before bottling, I'd say the gypsum will improve this going forward).

The RyePA finished at 1.012, despite a high mash temp (155°), and I believe that the Safale S-05 I used is partly the reason. It really attenuates. I've been using liquid yeasts with starters, but wanted to try the S-05 in batches I would normally use cal ale yeast, to see if I would be as happy with the results. Heck of a lot cheaper and easier if I'm not harvesting or repitching, which I'm not. But even with the high attenuation, I still got good body to the beer, which has been lacking in some of my other brews.

I also was a little low on priming sugar (used 4 oz when I should have probably used 4.5 - 5 oz). It's still carb'd up fine, but I might use a bit more next time.

So the only things I will change when I rebrew this one (and I will) would be adding some gypsum and carbonating a tad bit more.

If I can find the commercial beer, I will pick it up and compare.