kitchen sink lager

weldedsord

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I agree that's way underpitched, meaning it will take longer to ferment and condition, but if you want to tie up a fermenter for a couple of weeks, it'll work out OK. An alternative is to use a starter and double the yeast.

I pitched at that rate for a big (1.072) Oktoberfest, it took 12 days to ferment and I left it to condition for another 16 days before racking it into a keg for lagering. Tasted fine.
 
Curious about the rye. I tried simpsons red rye in lager couple months back and it ended up being a dumper. Worst tasting beer I'd made. (Honestly wouldn't call it beer) I assumed it was the rye as It was the only change from previous recipe.
You use rye before in lager?
 
Are you referring to the recipe in your first post? That recipe has only 1% Rye in it. No way that would cause anything other than a very subtle change in flavor. As you mentioned, underpitching is a distinct possibility. Could be fermentation temperature way outside the yeast's happy zone. Did you do a diacetyl rest before lagering? Lagers can be tricky. And there is always the possibility of an infection.
 
Are you referring to the recipe in your first post? That recipe has only 1% Rye in it. No way that would cause anything other than a very subtle change in flavor. As you mentioned, underpitching is a distinct possibility.
Could be fermentation temperature way outside the yeast's happy zone. Did you do a diacetyl rest before lagering? Lagers can be tricky. And there is always the possibility of an infection.
I'm not the original poster, My question was to him. I'm assuming that he has brewed and drank this. And diacetyl was most definitely not the issue. I was doing a 3 gallon batch and i used between 6 to 8 oz of rye. (have to go find the original recipe). Tasted like the rye had overpowered everything else. Main grain was Red-x so was hoping the rye would balance the sweetness.
 
I'm not the original poster, My question was to him. I'm assuming that he has brewed and drank this. And diacetyl was most definitely not the issue. I was doing a 3 gallon batch and i used between 6 to 8 oz of rye. (have to go find the original recipe). Tasted like the rye had overpowered everything else. Main grain was Red-x so was hoping the rye would balance the sweetness.

Rye can't overpower anything in the flavor. But maybe the body. I've used up to 50% rye on several occasions and it doesn't taste bad or overpowering at all. Mild bready flavors.
 
Rye can't overpower anything in the flavor. But maybe the body. I've used up to 50% rye on several occasions and it doesn't taste bad or overpowering at all. Mild bready flavors.
Ok I'll take another look at the brew see if i see where else it could have gone wrong. But the flavor wasn't an off flavor just bad. I could only find one place in US with the simpson red rye. Maybe i got something else from them by mistake. No way for me to know for sure.
 
Ok I'll take another look at the brew see if i see where else it could have gone wrong. But the flavor wasn't an off flavor just bad. I could only find one place in US with the simpson red rye. Maybe i got something else from them by mistake. No way for me to know for sure.
I sampled one beer that had Red-X as the main malt. I thought it was crap - couldn't get through more than a few sips. Just because it can be used as a base malt, doesn't mean that it should be. :D
 
I sampled one beer that had Red-X as the main malt. I thought it was crap - couldn't get through more than a few sips. Just because it can be used as a base malt, doesn't mean that it should be. :D

Any rough thoughts about the taste? And it was the malt, not the brew?
 
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Any rough thoughts about the taste? And it was the malt, not the brew?
It's been some time since I sampled that beer but it definitely left an impression. It certainly could have been brewed badly but the guy who brewed it was capable of some pretty decent beer. I just remember it being off-putting, like an over-cooked sweetness, maybe, sort of "fake" tasting. Nothing malty or bready or cereal like you'd get from most base malts. It could have been just a shitty fermentation but it was enough to completely quell any curiosity I might have had about using that malt.
 

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