Tonga, Rustic Pale Ale & Tasting Notes

So what's a Rustic Pale Ale?  I have no idea, but if it was a style, this beer would be in the style guidelines.  I lusted to create what I envisioned as a perfect pale ale, in fact a perfect beer in general, crafted for me.  Light, a little rough around the edges (to satisfy my Sour/Siason needs) and hoppy on the back end.  So I guess calling it a Rustic Pale Ale fits for me, and isn't that the point? 

Aroma:  Medium to low "hop aroma" but well balanced with rye peppered notes pairing into soft green grape stem-ish aroma coming from the Nelson hops.  Medium to high hop aroma.

Appearance:  Golden Yellow, brilliantly clear.  Fluffy white head, lingers longer than I've seen on a pale ale.  The lacing down the glass is textbook.  Everything about this beer screams "Drink Me!" Don't the carbonation bubbles traveling up the glass in that shot look quaffable?

Mustache Rye'd IPA, Take 2.

A couple of months ago I brewed by 1st Mustache Rye'd Pale Ale recipe.  I really wasn't to excited with the results.  I felt the glacier hop didn't work well in the lighter "Pale Ale" style.  I ended up dumping about 3/4 of the batch.  My only other experience with Glacier was in my Blackout IPA, which I loved.  So I am back at the drawing board to create something new.  I wanted to create a 7% +/- IPA this time, with a much higher % of Rye Malt.  The goal was 35% Rye, but I backed off at the last minute and settled at 30.6% of the grain bill.

4c's Red Rye IPA, Take 4

Over the last year I have been tweaking this recipe.  It is very close to being perfect, the only problem I am running into is the creation of some DMS once this is bottled.  I really can not put my finger on when this is happening because I do not get this taste on draft.  At about a month of cold storage I start getting a little bit of buttery smoothness.  To combat this I am taking the boil to 90 minutes and changing my whirlpooling time vs temp drop.

This beer (3rd batch version) was also sent to Sam Adams Longshot comp.  But with the creation of some DMS that I tasted on Weds I don't have much hope for the beer advancing.  

Raven Black Rye IPA

Finishing up my 4 C's Rye Red IIPA last weekend I started to think about Rye Malt in a new light.  The spice that the rye brings is a very desirableness characteristic for an IPA.  Black IPA's also would benefit from this addition.  To date I have only brewed one Black IPA recipe.  It is mostly Glacier hops with Chinook for bittering called Blackout.  Most people say the max amount of Rye is about 20% of the total grain or you will run into problems.  I've never tried this style of beer before if you can call a Black Rye IPA a style.  But I did find a couple of examples while planning this recipe.


Barlow Brewing: You'll shoot your eye out Black IPA

Homebrew Talk Black Rye IPA

As normal I am going to load the back of the recipe with hops and keep the bittering hops minimal.  I am a little nervous about the Citra dry hop addition in the recipe.  Other commercial brewery's use Citra as a dry hop but my personal taste for Citra is in more sessionial beers like my Fargo Session ale #1.  To let the pineapple shine through.  Either way the brewing adventure is always evolving and that is the reason I homebrew.

Raven Rye-BIPA

Specialty Beer

 

Type: All Grain	Date: 2/11/2012
Batch Size: 6.00 gal	Brewer: Chris Lewis
Boil Size: 6.87 gal	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min	Equipment: My Equipment
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0	Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 56.23 % 3 lbs Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 17.56 % 1 lbs Carafa III (525.0 SRM) Steeped ONLY Grain 6.62 % 1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 6.62 % 9.6 oz Special Roast (50.0 SRM) Steeped ONLY Grain 3.97 % 1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 36.4 IBU 0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops - 1.00 oz Amarillo [8.50 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops - 0.25 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (30 min) Hops 6.5 IBU 0.75 oz Palisade [7.50 %] (10 min) Hops 5.3 IBU 0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (Whirlpool) Hops 2.2 IBU 1.00 oz Palisade [7.50 %] (Whirlpool) Hops - 1 Pkgs Pacific Ale (White Labs #WLP041) [Starter 35 ml] Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.081 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.070 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.022 SG	Measured Final Gravity: TBA SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.28 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: TBA %
Bitterness: 50.5 IBU	Calories: TBA cal/pint
Est Color: 35.4 SRM	Color: Color
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Full Body	Total Grain Weight: 15.10 lb
Sparge Water: 3.96 gal	Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F	TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE	Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Full Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp 60 min Saccharification Add 18.88 qt of water at 168.2 F 156.0 F 10 min Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F
Mash Notes: Temperature mash for use when mashing in a brew pot over a heat source such as the stove. Use heat to maintain desired temperature during the mash.
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Kegged (Forced CO2)	Volumes of CO2: 2.4
Pressure/Weight: 21.6 PSI	Carbonation Used: -
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 60.0 F	Age for: 28.0 days
Storage Temperature: 52.0 F
Notes
Created with BeerSmith

4 C's Double IPA

Rye has always scared me, I have thoughts of rye bread as a child always brings back bad memories of biting into a great look piece of bread and getting a tart, somewhat spicy flavor.  This chain of events somehow always ends in my tossing out a otherwise great sandwich.  Now, I have grown, a little over the years but for the most part anything with rye makes me look for the alternative.

Then one day at Obrien's Pub in San Diego I had a Rye IPA from Alpine Brewing Company called Nelson.  This was brewed with Nelson hops.  These hops are grown in New Zeland, and by all accounts one of the most unique hops I personally have ever tried. 

I have no other way to describe the taste of the Nelson other than mind blowing.  This beer was clean, crisp and spicy.  The combination of the Nelson and the Rye was a match made in heaven.  This started my journey onto the idea of Rye brewing.  Now keep in mind, if you love Rye, this is not a new brewing idea at all.  Just from my perspective the thought of brewing with something that I traditionally hated was not something that I ever conceived before.  Would other things work?  Mustard for example?  Probably not, but now I know that thinking outside the box in brewing could change things for the better. 

Getting back on track, my passion for homebrewing was started by the IPA.  Russian River, Alesmith, Alpine and other San Diego breweries make the best IPA's in the country.  The blending of hops, malt and residual sugar is amazing.  My other personal favorite is Mermaid Red by Coronado Brewing Co.  I've had other red's but they always lack the crispness of the Coronado's.  Somehow the idea of blending all of the above started to grow in my head.  The thoughts of a hop layered, sunshine red, malt bomb just seams so satisfying to me.  So I started working on this recipe a couple of months back.  The idea was simple, a malty, hop ridden shot of sunshine.  With the current backlog of session beers in the fermentor I wanted something a little stronger, maybe in the 8% range.  The end result is below.  The 4 C's comes from the 4 hops in the beer.  Chinook, Cascade, Columbus and Cenntennial.

**Entered into NHC 2012**