Rye Beer

(5 gallons, grain and extract)

Ingredients:

• 0.5 lb. medium crystal malt (50-60° Lovibond)
• 0.5 lb. Vienna malt
• 25 lb. chocolate malt
• 75 lb. malted rye
• 25 lb. malted wheat
• 4 lbs. amber malt extract syrup
• 1 lb. wheat dry malt extract
• 0.5 lb. Belgian candi sugar (or 0.5 lb. dark brown sugar)
• 0.5 oz. Hallertau or Tettnanger hop pellets (2% alpha acid at most)
• 12 to 15 slightly crushed fresh or dried juniper berries
• 1 packet (10 to 14 grams) dry ale yeast or liquid culture (Wyeast 1007)
• 1/2 cup corn sugar

Step by Step:

Crush together crystal malt, Vienna malt, chocolate malt, malted rye and malted wheat. Heat 1 gal. water to 165° F, mix in grains. Mash should stabilize at about 152° F. Hold at this temperature for 45 min. (in prewarmed oven, or insulated lauter tun) then add 0.5 gal. 180° F water to raise mix to about 165° F. Hold for 10 min., then run off liquid (through a sparging bag or lauter tun false bottom set-up). Sparge with another gallon of water at 170° F.

Collect all runoff in the kettle (you should get approximately 2.25 gals.), and heat to boiling. Remove from heat and stir in amber malt extract syrup and wheat dry malt extract. Add in Belgian candi sugar if you can get it, or dark brown sugar will work. Return to heat and raise to boiling again. Boil 40 min., then add hop pellets. Boil five more minutes, then remove from heat. Place in sinkful of cold water and ice.

As wort cools, steep (in muslin "bouquet garni"-type bag) a small handful of slightly crushed fresh or dried juniper berries for approximately 15 min. Add to your fermenter and top off with pre-boiled, chilled water to make 5.25 gals. Remove juniper berries at this point. When cooled to 70° F, pitch yeast. Primary fermentation should be complete under normal circumstances within five to six days. Rack to secondary and age at cool temperatures (50 to 55° F) for two weeks. Prime with corn sugar and age three to four weeks in the bottle.

Notes and Alternatives:

The brew may be lagered as well, and I suggest using the Wyeast 2042 Danish lager. I've been told that the Estonian farmwives who make this at home use a very clean baker's yeast, but I don't suggest trying this in the US.

If you can come up with a convenient and sanitary hop-back arrangement, you can achieve a kind of dry-hop touch to this beer by racking it through the hop-back filled with fresh green juniper branches on the way to the fermenter (or to your wort chiller) while it is still warm.

All-Grain Brewers:

Make a mash of 5 lbs. of 6-row brewer's malt, 0.5 lb. amber malt (or light crystal, 20° Lovibond or so), and 1.5 lbs. wheat. Use a two-step mash, with a 30 to 40 min. rest at 130° F and saccharification at 152° F as above. Add the adjuncts above to the mash tun between steps.

Extract-only Brewers:

Increase the malt syrup to 5 lbs. and steep 0.5 lb. rye and 0.5 lb. wheat in the brewing water, removing them at 170° F. The rye character won't be quite as pronounced, but you will not have any chance of a stuck runoff!

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