Ryle Pale Ale

Here’s the recipe I followed today:

http://www.byo.com/stories/recipeindex/article/recipes/112-specialty-a-experimental-beer/2169-rye-pale-ale

I followed it really closely, actually. Something I’ve rarely accomplished in the past.

One thing that went really well today was soaking and sparging the grains. I sparged with the exact right amount of water. Well, not technically the right amount probably, but when I rinsed the grains with the water I’d heated for sparging, I ended up with just about the exact amount that will fill my brew kettle.

The final product turned out darker than what I’d expected, but I did a vigorous boil for the entire thing, so that probably had something to do with it. Also, I couldn’t find Crystal 10L, so used Crystal 20L instead – adding to the color.

I’m hoping this turns out well as I really like rye.

Rye Pale Ale

My newest batch is a Rye Pale Ale

Grains

• 5lbs Marris Otter (3.0 SRM)
• 1.5lb Munich Malt (20.0 SRM)
• 2lb Flaked Rye (2.0 SRM)
• 1lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM)
• 0.5lb Cara-pils (2.0 SRM)

Hops

• 1 oz Columbus (11.8%) – 60min
• .5 oz Centennial (8.60%) – 15min
• .5 oz Centennial (8.60%) – 5min

Yeast

• WyEast American Ale XL

Mash at 154 F for 60min

This one went pretty smoothly – very little spillage, not too much mess, which was awesome considering it was my first all-grain.

Doing an all-grain alone, by the way, would be a PIA – you need a second person to hold the grain while you sparge. Luckily Kyle was free that day and was curious enough about the process to go out to Brew & Grow with me and help me out a little.

I wasn’t stoked that I had to use hop pellets for the bittering hops, but they didn’t have whole leaf that came close to the recipe I was trying to follow.

OG 1.060 @ 90F

I’ll be bottling (hopefully) this weekend.