Author: Matt Del Fiacco

A wide variety of cereal grains in many different forms are available to brewers for use in the production of beer. One such grain that is seeing an increase in popularity, especially in Pale Ale and IPA, is rye. While rye certainly has a history in many beer styles, notably the German style Roggenbier, its popularity has seen a revival in the American craft beer scene.

Like barley, rye can be malted in order to make the grain’s sweet resources available for use by brewers. By some reports, a grist containing just 5% rye malt can add a layer of complexity without contributing too much spicy rye flavor, while usage at upwards of 10-15% will be much more expressive. Due to a combination of possessing high beta glucan content, which increases viscosity, and the fact it has no husk, brewers using 20% or more of rye malt are cautioned to take measures to reduce the chances of stuck mash.

Rye malt is one of those grains that I’ve been peripherally aware of but had never actually brewed with. I used some flaked rye in an Imperial Stout once, primarily as a means to improve the beer’s body, but that’s it. Curious to learn more about this spicy grain and any potential complexity it might contribute to my beers, I decided to test it out for myself!

| PURPOSE |

To evaluate the differences between a beer made with rye malt and one made without rye malt that was otherwise identical.

| METHODS |

I often see Rye Malt being used in the context of an American Pale Ale, so that’s what I went with for this xBmt.

Caulfield

Recipe Details Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV 5.5 gal 60 min 33.4 IBUs 5.4 SRM 1.053 1.012 5.4 % Actuals 1.053 1.013 5.3 % Fermentables Name Amount % Pale Malt (Weyermann) 9.75 lbs 84.78 Rye Malt (Weyermann) 1.75 lbs 15.22 Hops Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha % Pekko 6 g 60 min Boil Pellet 15 Pekko 10 g 20 min Boil Pellet 15 Pekko 31 g 5 min Boil Pellet 15 Pekko 50 g 3 days Dry Hop Pellet 15 Yeast Name Lab Attenuation Temperature Flagship (A07) Imperial Yeast 75% 60°F - 72°F Notes Water Profile: Ca 80 | Mg 2 | Na 10 | SO4 125 | Cl 62

Download Download this recipe's BeerXML file

I threw together a single large starter of Imperal Yeast A07 Flagship a couple days ahead of time.

I started my brew day by turning on the elements to start heating the strike water I collected the night prior.

As the water was heating up, I weighed out and milled the grains for this batch, one including rye malt while the other had an equal amount of Pale Ale malt in its place.

Staggering the start of each batch by 15 minutes, I mashed in once the water was adequately heated and set the systems to recirculate before confirming both were at the same target mash temperature.

I grabbed samples of wort about 15 minutes into each mash for pH measurements and found them to be nearly identical (5.39 vs 5.40).

With each mash complete, I removed the grain baskets and began heating the worts, measuring out the kettle hop additions during the wait.

Each wort was boiled for 60 minutes with hops added at the times listed in the recipe.

Once the boils had finished, I ran the wort through my counterflow chiller directly into separate sanitized fermentors.

Hydrometer measurements showed the rye malt wort was ever so slightly higher in OG than the wort made with all pale malt.

I let the worts finish chilling to my desired pitching temperature of 64°F/18°C before returning to pitch the yeast, each batch receiving half to the previously made starter. I noticed airlock activity from both batches within a few hours and left them alone for a week before adding the dry hop charge. After another 4 days, no activity was observed so I took hydrometer measurements indicating FG had been reached in both beers.

I proceeded with kegging the beers at this point.

The beers were placed in my cool kegerator where each was fined with gelatin and burst carbonated. After a week of cold conditioning, the beers were carbonated and ready to serve to participants!

| RESULTS |

A total of 25 people of varying levels of experience participated in this xBmt. Each participant was served 1 sample of the beer made with rye malt and 2 samples of the beer made without rye malt in different colored opaque cups then asked to identify the sample that was unique. While 13 tasters (p<0.05) would have had to accurately identify the unique sample in order to reach statistical significance, 14 (p=0.016) were capable of doing so, indicating participants in this xBmt were able to reliably distinguish a beer made with rye malt from one where this grain wasn’t included.

The 14 participants who made the accurate selection on the triangle test were instructed to complete a brief preference survey comparing only the beers that were different. A total of 4 tasters reported preferring the beer made with rye malt, 5 liked the beer made without rye malt more, 3 people had no preference despite noticing a difference, and 2 tasters reported perceiving no difference.

My Impressions: Having never used rye malt before, or really rye in any flavor-forward capacity, I really didn’t know what to expect going into this xBmt. That said, out of the 3 semi-blind triangle tests I attempted, I identified the odd-beer-out every time. The beer were very similar, both had a strong malt backbone with notes of biscuit and cracker, and the hop character was seemingly identical too. However, I perceived the beer made with rye malt as having a more full mouthfeel and earthy character compared to the all pale ale malt version, it wasn’t very obtrusive, but it was apparent. In the end, I preferred the beer made without rye malt because of its simple, clean character.

| DISCUSSION |

Rye malt is used by brewers to add some depth and nuance to otherwise simple malt bills, meant to support the bitterness and hop character that comes with modern Pale Ale and IPA. Additionally, rye malt’s high beta glucan content is known to increase both wort and beer viscosity, lending the finished product increased body and smooth mouthfeel as well as improved foam stability. The fact participants in this xBmt were able to reliably tell apart a beer made with rye malt from one made without rye malt suggests this particular grain has a noticeable impact.

More objectively, these beers had some easily observable differences. Despite being fined with gelatin, the beer made with rye malt never quite cleared in the way the beer made with all Pale Ale malt did, possibly because of the contribution of beta glucans from the rye, which is purported to adversely impact clarity. Another difference was that the beer made with rye malt had a higher FG than the one made without, an observation that stumps me seeing as rye malt is modified.

When discussing this beer with participants after completing the survey, a few noted the beer made without rye malt tasted cleaner and had a more defined biscuit character than the rye malt version. Common descriptors of the rye malt beer included tea, spice, and herbal, some of which were likely influenced by the hops.

While I personally preferred the beer made without rye malt for its clean presentation, the rye malt beer did seem to have better mouthfeel and foam quality, and in no way was the beer bad. I can’t help but think rye malt would shine in a session beer where its impact on body would counter the thin mouthfeel that plagues may low ABV beers. I’ll definitely be experimenting more with rye malt in the future, but at this point, I don’t see it becoming a staple in any of my recipes.

If you have any thoughts about this xBmt, please do not hesitate to share in the comments section below!

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