I got inspired to brew a brown ale that was something of a blend between Denny’s Rye IPA (Wrye Smile) and Tasty McDole’s Janet’s Brown Ale, except a somewhat lower gravity (~1.060). In part this idea came about from my also wanting to use up my 2015 hops. I decided to go for a malt bill of:
20 lbs GW 2-row
4 lbs GW Rye Malt
2 lbs Bairds Dark Crystal (75L)
1 lb Bairds Extra Dark Crystal (130L)
1-2 lbs Weyermann Chocolate Rye Malt (245L)
The hop bill is:
US Mount Hood 5.4 % 60 g First Wort Hopped
US Apollo 18.0 % 10 g 60 Min From End
US Cascade 9.3 % 90 g 10 Min From End
US El Dorado 12.0 % 60 g Whirlpool
US Columbus 13.8 % 60 g Whirlpool
US Cascade 9.3 % 60 g Dry-Hopped
US Columbus 13.8 % 30 g Dry-Hopped
US El Dorado 12.0 % 30 g Dry-Hopped
Though I may not dry hop half of it (I am thinking of fermenting half with S-04 and putting it on Nitro, then dry-hopping half and fermenting with an American yeast and putting it on CO2)
If I’m looking at just color, then 1 lb of the Chocolate Rye gets me to a nice 21 SRM - dark enough. But I haven’t used this malt as the sole roasted malt before and I was wondering if I should push it deeper - is the flavor contribution of the Chocolate Rye so mild as to necessitate more (like Midnight Wheat)?