Black hOps Rye Ale #42

Brew Date:12/15/18

Way overdue on the brew front. Black Rye Ale, nothing Pale about it!

This is a variant on batch #7. I wanted to go straight RyePA, but the variation is due to the lack of availability of supplies from my main source. It looks like the store closest to my home is closing down the brewing section. This is the continuing saga of all good things must come to an end. So now I get to drive 45 minutes to get re-supplied, or buy from the Amazon of home brew, and paid huge shipping costs.

Malts:
14 lb two row
2 lb roasted rye
2 lb rye
4 oz black wheat for color!
Hops:
Galena 13.8%
Kent (Gold) 8.9%
Amarillo 8.6%

Safale US-05

First brew store didn't have the rye so I bought two lbs toasted rye from them and then I went to the second store, on a separate mission, and figured I really need the rye. Got it, along with two more pounds of two row. So with out measuring final gravity, I anticipate 7+% in the end.

Supplies, malted and roasted barley, hops, yeast

A closer look at the Blackness.

You can't brew without having some inspiration.

 Strike water spreadsheet I found on line may moons ago. I usually go by feel these days because I use more water than the usual 1 quart per pound.  I discovered this the day I left the perforated bottom out of the mash tun. Had dough balls due to insufficient water, which I found after scooping out the mash to put the bottom in the tun.

One of my favorite aromas is from mashing malted barley. It's like you're in a bread bakery. But this only lasts for an hour and a half because once the hop addition start, the place takes a different turn, scent wise.

Pour out the wort using Wifey's pitcher, add several more gallons of 150deg F to rinse.

Hop additions every 20 minutes, Strongest in the beginning to weakest at the conclusion.

Boil for 90 Min, stirring, watching, breathing in the smells of Heaven. Because hops are a sedative, you could tell the worst news right now and I wouldn't even care.

Chill, I'm chill about right now. Too bad the heat has to go down the drain, but as I hinted earlier, I don't care.

 I use a siphone to get the beer from the boiling pot to the carboy fermenter. I've used this method just about every time and it's the simplest and easiest to clean up.

Time to pitch the yeast in a few hours after they hit room temperature. And then I wait a week.

It's been a while since I brewed that there are a few things if forgot about, like how much preparation there is. And that assumes the kitchen is ready for me to invade.

I will know in a week  just how this Black hOps Rye Ale is shaping up. Because, I always taste during transfers between primary and secondary fermentors.

Malty, hoppy, creamy, best ever recipe. Now, can I repeat this?