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Black Ryeday


Vital Statistics:

Batch Number:13
Style:Rye Beer
Brew Date:29 November 2009
Original Gravity:1.062 (15.21 °Plato)
Final Gravity:1.009 (2.31 °Plato)
ABV:6.9%
ABW:5.4%
Calories per pint:266
Estimated IBU (Rager):56.8
Estimated IBU (Tinseth):42.2
Mash Temperature:150°
Mash Efficiency:90%
Days in Primary:32 (into secondary on 31 December 2009)
Days in Secondary:37 (bottled on 6 February 2010)
Yeast Used:1272 American Ale II
Apparent Attenuation:85%
Real Attenuation:69%
Rating:3.75
Entirely Consumed:Yes (finished 18 January 2011)
Availability:346 days
Recipe:

7 lb 2-row pale malt
2 lb rye malt
1 lb flaked rye

11 AAU (24g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 60
5 AAU (31g @ 4.5% AA) Willamette @ 15
4 AAU (37g @ 3% AA) Hallertau @ 5

1 Irish moss tablet @ 15 min

Wyeast 1272 - American Ale II
General Notes:

IPA-style rye beer.
Tasting Notes:

Tasting notes taken 3/31/2010. Poured from 22oz bomber into a tulip.

Appearance: quite hazy brown-orange color with lots of apparent effervescence. Head is two fingers of pillowy ivory foam that appears to have a fair bit of staying power. This beer doesn't really conform to any typical style, but I like the way it looks. I'm especially impressed by the tenacity of the head. (4)

Smell: aroma is sweet and floral. I don't know if it's the rye or the hallertauers, but there's a bit of strawberry aroma mixed in with what is kind of a sweet, unctuous malt. Weird but good. (4)

Taste: spicy and somewhat dry. There is a definite alcohol overtone; like #12, I got an unexpectedly high mash efficiency on this one. So, there is spice and fruitiness derived from the alcohol plus a rye spice and bizarre hints of strawberry. I think it's very interesting; there is a hint of vegetable to the hops (is this the nugget I keep using?) but otherwise it's pretty unique among my beers. I imagine this beer would go very well with Indian or Thai food. It's interesting, and not bad, but definitely not great. (3.5)

Mouthfeel: per all my recently overcarbonated beers, this has a great creamy mouthfeel, although truth be told this style doesn't seem to really call for "creamy". I'd prefer it to be crisp. Overall, it's not too bad, though. (4)

Drinkability: this beer has some interesting flavors and aromas, but overall it's just not very polished. I just don't feel like drinking two in a row. (3.5)

Overall score 3.75 (B). I would like to try making this again when I have a more predictable mash efficiency and take it down a notch to maybe 5.5 or 6%. I might even try swapping out the nugget for something else and maybe even switching up yeast; I do feel there's a lot of potential for rye-heavy brews, though.

Additional notes: this beer did not age well in the bottle. As time progressed, the strawberry note got stronger and stronger. By June-July, this beer tasted basically like bitter strawberry frosting. Its rating at that time would be more like 2.8-3. This explains its extremely long availability -- I didn't want to drink any more of the stuff.
Hops Table
Hop Variety Addition Time AAU AA% Quantity (g) Type IBU (Rager) IBU (Tinseth) Notes
Nugget 60 11.00 13.0 24 Pellet 45.3 32.5  
Willamette 15 5.00 4.5 31 Pellet 8.4 7.3  
Hallertauer 5 4.00 3.0 37 Pellet 3.1 2.4