Hey everyone, I recently had a great Roggenbier at Reuben's in Seattle and I wanted to try and emulate it. It was a slightly sweet, clear, amber beer that had German hefeweizen yeast character. I used a Dunkles Weissbier as a base recipe and added rye. Critique my recipe! HOME BREW RECIPE: Title: Seth Roggenbier Author: Jack Deharpport Brew Method: All Grain Style Name: Dunkles Weissbier Boil Time: 60 min Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume) Boil Size: 7 gallons Boil Gravity: 1.040 Efficiency: 65% (brew house) STATS: Original Gravity: 1.057 Final Gravity: 1.013 ABV (standard): 5.66% IBU (tinseth): 14.5 SRM (morey): 16.89 FERMENTABLES: 3 lb - American - Rye (24%) 3 lb - Torrified Wheat (24%) 3 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (24%) 1.5 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 60L (12%) 1.5 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 40L (12%) 0.5 lb - Rice Hulls (4%) HOPS: 0.5 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 14.5 MASH GUIDELINES: 1) Infusion, Temp: 150 F, Time: 40 min, Amount: 15 qt, Target Temp 2) Infusion, Temp: 160 F, Time: 40 min, Amount: 15 qt, Target Temp Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb OTHER INGREDIENTS: 1 each - Whirlfloc, Time: 10 min, Type: Fining, Use: Whirlpool YEAST: White Labs - Hefeweizen Ale Yeast WLP300 Starter: No Form: Liquid Attenuation (avg): 74% Flocculation: Low Optimum Temp: 68 - 72 F Fermentation Temp: 70 F Pitch Rate: 0.75 (M cells / ml / deg P) PRIMING: Method: Force Carb (Keg) CO2 Level: 2.5 Volumes
You may not have enough barley malt to convert the adjuncts (the wheat and the rye). Be sure and check the Lintner in the recipe - it should give you an idea if you have enough enzymes. Plan on extending your mash, though, and check with iodine to make sure the adjunct grains converted.
Way too much crystal. Use about 1/3 of what you have. Also I think most roggens are closer to 50% rye or more. My opinion...
I agree with losing some of the crystal. I'd probably cut it in half. And replace with more 2 row. And make sure to use plenty of rice hulls, rye can stick your mash which is no fun.
There's not much about that recipe that would make it a proper, traditional Roggenbier and a few things that would just make it not work very well. Rye will convert itself but even at that, you've still only got 48% base malt. Since it's a German style, Munich is the way to get the right maltiness and Caramunich, while it's not fundamentally different from C-malts in function seems to impart a more subtle flavor and is good for caramel and color. The amount of character malt should be lower in general - definitely not 24%. A smaller percentage of darker malt and a bit of dark roast for color without adding any overtly roasty flavor will help. The torrified wheat may make it more like an Oatmeal Stout in mouthfeel than a bold, dark medium-bodied beer as it's intended to be. If wheat character is desirable, use malted white wheat to replace some of the base malt or Rye. Cascade hops aren't typical. Ideally noble hops with some spice character would be good but Willamette or an English variety like Golding or Fuggle might be okay. Have a look at this article. This series does a good job of getting to the fundamental character of various styles and provides solid guidelines to help put together a solid recipe. https://beerandbrewing.com/make-your-best-roggenbier/
