I find that if I have a hankerin’ to brew more than one style of beer in a short amount of time then I usually brew a mixed style, this time is no different. Case in point: Rye Porter. I cant say I have had more then one example of this style, but Tommyknocker brews an excellent example (do not listen to Beer-Advocate on this one, they have no idea).
Before I think of a recipe, I think of what I want, and what attributes of this type of beer I really liked. First, I love the roast profile of the beer from Tommyknocker. Second, it was lighter in mouth-feel which I thought was a refreshing take on the style. Third, the rye. The rye is subtle, and doesn’t give too much of that high beta-glucan oiliness that tends to make me gag a little, instead it just adds a nice cushion for the roastiness to mingle with, and of course, nice spiciness.
The plan is to hash out the three things I mentioned before-
Roast: I bet they probably use some form of roasted rye in the recipe from Tommyknocker, I want to do something different but hopefully get similar results in my recipe. For the porter aspect I’ll use a light-handed (for me) addition of Black Patent. I like black patent in porters because it has that coarser ashy roastiness that makes me think porter, also I believe it to be a little more authentic. Less authentic though, I want to use some Franco-Belges kiln coffee malt. I just love this malt. That is all. No more to say.
Mouthfeel: Not that difficult to manipulate. I omitted crystal malts, I believe they would add a muddiness to the roast profile by complicating the flavor. Also I mashed low, real low. A 148° single sacc rest will create alot of easilly fermentable sugars, but I’m hoping the beta-glucans in the rye will keep it from being watery.
The Rye: Another easy one. I don’t like super strongly flavored rye beer, just a thing I have. So I kept the rye at %24 of the grist.
Recipe:
Good photo ops are often messy.
Malt:
Mashed at 148° for 75 minutes-
- %24 Malted Rye
- %59 10°L Munich (Great Western Malting)
- %7 Black Malt 500°L
- %10 Kiln Coffee Malt 150°L
Hops:
- East Kent Golding @ 60 Minutes to 25 IBUs
Yeast:
- 2 Sachets of Danstar Nottingham
OG: 1.050 FG:1.011 ABV: %4.9
It fermented strong @ 64° for 3 days and was almost terminal gravity so I bumped it up to 68° for the last few degrees to ensure a clean, impurity free fermentation. Today, one week from brewday, I gently moved it into the fridge @ 32° to ensure yeast free racking to the keg in a few days. It wont be a long, long time before I post some tastings.
Below Baldy Beer Blog 