preparing RYE.....need a little help

Safegyde · Post by **Safegyde** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:21 am

Hello shiners. Good day to you all. I went and bought a pound of Rye from a local brew shop to try and make a Tenn style type of whiskey. (I know I probably need more rye, but that is all they had left, I am only making a 5 gallon mash anyway.)

I have a question. The rye I got is cracked but most of the recipes I read on the mother site used rye flour. Should I just grind it up more?

So I am going to bring some water to a boil and let cool to about 149 F then add the rye. I will let that cook for about an hour stirring the whole time. I read that when making a mash for distilling instead of making beer you don't have to worry about separating the water from the top of the grain, or sprinkling water over the grain to rinse off the sugars, etc. That it is ok to just cook it up and let it cool before diluting and adding yeast. Does that sound right? I read a lot about preparing malts on the mother site, but very little about preparing rye for whiskey.

I am also going to boil a few pounds of cracked corn to add to the mix and ferment with some EC-1118. (branching out from bakers yeast to try something new)

So does my rye preparation sound good enough for a decent whiskey? Is there anything else to the mashing process that I really need to pay attention to?

thanks for your help guys.

Post by **Dnderhead** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:41 am

Cracked is good but you need a lot more about 2LB a gal and you
need malted grain for enzymes ( about 20%)

punkin · Post by **punkin** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:42 am

So does my rye preparation sound good enough for a decent whiskey? Is there anything else to the mashing process that I really need to pay attention to?

Yes.

Malted grain.

zymos · Post by **zymos** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:46 pm

If the rye was purchased from a brew shop, maybe it IS malted rye...

Safegyde · Post by **Safegyde** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 2:54 pm

I don't think it is malted. I believe it was whole grain. He ran it through the cracker for me to break it up a little.

I am sorry, I guess I didn't explain enough in the beginning. I am not doing an all grain mash here. I am still going to be using sugar for the yeast to convert. So malting the rye is unnecessary...right?? Won't simmering it for a good while and using the water from that as well as the cooked rye grains provide me with enough taste? Or does the malting process effect taste as well as converting starch to sugars?

Using the water from cooking the rye is ok, right? I read where some do it and some don't mention it. Does anyone out there do it??

Post by **Dnderhead** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 2:59 pm

You could do ujsm with rye instead of corn basically sugar wash with
grain for flavor

that is 7 lb of sugar
7 lb of grain
5 gal of water
and yeast

punkin · Post by **punkin** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:46 pm

Yes.

If you're using sugar and a UJSM type approach it sounds just yummy.

Aidas · Post by **Aidas** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:33 pm

It is yummy. I've done countless washes of Rye UJSM

However, there are plenty of threads on it. Read the UJSM thread. Everywhere you see the word "corn", replace it with the word "rye" -- you can't go wrong.

Aidas

goose eye · Post by **goose eye** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:25 am

these boys i no mostly will use hot slops right out of the ketle an pour
in barel with rye. dont put suger in to later cause it will get carmelized.
lot of folks like usein cider slops
gotta be real careful with them hot slops cause they will take skin

so im tole