June 6, 2009
My first official award-winning beer! This batch was born from an unknown desire to produce and taste a really good rye beer. I was pretty sure I had never really tasted a true rye beer and for some reason I was truly craving one. I did make an earlier attempt at a small one-gallon batch with good results, but I felt I needed to boost the percentage of rye used. I had also decided I was going to keep the temperature as cool as possible since it was June in Florida. The 5 gallon glass carboy was kept in a spare tub with an ice bath composed of 2-liter bottles of frozen water (a.k.a-ice) and a towel soaked in the cold water that was wrapped around the top and neck of the carboy. By swapping out the ice bottles every other day for new ones, I was able to keep the temperature around 65-68 F for the entire fermentation. This method produced excellent results and was one of the main factors the beer went on to win an award. On July 16, 2009 it was entered in the local Dunedin Brewers Guild monthly competition. The style for the month was category 15: German Wheat and Rye beers. My beer won 1st place in its category (15D, Roggenbier-German Rye) and won 3rd place overall. One judge (my lowest score) claimed it was too hoppy for the style, but he was alone in that opinion. It received great reviews from everyone. The aroma was slightly spicy from the rye and hops and had an apricot-like aroma as well. The taste was very refreshing, crisp and dry, with a light sweetness. A beer to truly be proud of!
- 3 lb. Light LME
- 1 lb. Wheat LME
- 3 lb. Flaked Rye
- 0.5 lb. Munich Malt
- 0.5 lb 40L Crystal Malt
- 1 oz. Amarillo pellet hops @ 60 mins.
- 1 oz. Hallertau pellet hops @ 15 mins.
- 1 oz. Hallertau pellet hops @ 5 mins.
- SafAle US-05 yeast
Grains and Rye steeped at 155-165 F for 45 mins. Full 60 min. boil for extract. Fermentation kept at 65-68F. Bottled on day 12.
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