Rye Source?

[tombombadil]

Where do people get rye in the states? I found a few sellers on Amazon and azurestandard, but are there other sources? The local grocery store sells wheat and oats but no rye.

[Twisted Brick]

I got my rye from here but it was a one-time deal. My next rye purchase will be from azure standard.

[Midwest]

If your in the Midwest any agricultural seed store will sell cereal rye about 16.00 for 50 pound bag

[dieselduo]

I buy Viking rye malt for 5.99 for 5lbs from Morebeer with free shipping over$59 .The Viking 2 row is 7.99 for 10 lbs. So not hard to get there

[Bushman]

Both malted and unmalted rye can be purchased in small to 50 lb bags at local brew stores.

[tombombadil]

If your in the Midwest any agricultural seed store will sell cereal rye about 16.00 for 50 pound bag

How about this stuff?

I couldn't find any local seed places selling rye around here, just wheat and barley.

https://www.deercreekseed.com/winter-rye

[tombombadil]

Even with shipping it works out to $0.60/pound if I order 2 bags, that's like half or 1/3 the price of the other sources.

[zach]

I got my rye from here but it was a one-time deal. My next rye purchase will be from azure standard.

Thanks for the info on azure standard. I'm looking at organic rye berries and barley (whole unmalted) at half the price of the local home brew supply. They have a local pick-up scheduled next week with free shipping.

[Twisted Brick]

Thanks for the info on azure standard. I'm looking at organic rye berries and barley (whole unmalted) at half the price of the local home brew supply. They have a local pick-up scheduled next week with free shipping.

We're on the same page re: managing malt costs. After careful study of the concerns of home malting rye and subsequent tests, I discovered that rye malted just as easily and consistently as wheat, right about the same time I read on ADI that some distillers were malting rye on their own too.

I had 100lbs in my Azure Standard shopping cart last month but could not make the pick-up because of work at a remote site. Now, because of the virus, plus Azure Standard is out of stock, I have to postpone the order. I also noticed that the price went up several dollars for 50lb sacks and that they quietly cleared my cart. I am ecstatic that I have 100lbs of organic rye already and waiting to be mashed.

[tombombadil]

Anybody have an opinion on this stuff?
https://www.deercreekseed.com/winter-rye

[6 Row Joe]

I bought my last supply from Mile High Distilling. It was reasonably priced.

[still_stirrin]

Anybody have an opinion on this stuff?
https://www.deercreekseed.com/winter-rye

Do you know “for a fact” that the seed grain has NOT been treated...with pesticide or fungicide? Often seed grains are. The seed grains at the big box store or nursery have been treated. Even seed grain from a local COOP likely has been treated.

So, I would caution you for the use of seed grains to be used for consumption (or brewing).
ss

[tombombadil]

That's a good point, I didn't even think about that.

My plan was to experiment with 100% raw, 50%raw and 50% malted, then 100% malted to see if I could taste any difference. See if its worth spending extra on malted rye or not.

I emailed the seed company but I'll probably just end up using all malted rye for now anyways.

My experiments will have to wait until the virus situation has slowed down so I can get the raw stuff at a good price from azure standard.

[Twisted Brick]

.
Distilleries make their rye from 100% raw, 100% malted, or any combination in between. Bottom line: it's all good.

When the time comes, I'm going to try a 100% rye: 75% malted, 20% raw, and 5% home-malted caramel rye. Or thereabouts.

[still_stirrin]

Sure...go for it.

I brewed 7 barrels (250 gallons) of Roggen, a German rye beer at the local brewpub here a few years back and oh boy...what a challenge that was. The beer was 60% rye malt and 25% wheat malt and 15% barley malt. I went through all the temperature rests, ie - beta glucan rest, protein rest, and saccarification rest. The beer wort was still soooooo syrupy! Rye is a very tall order, so be forewarned!

I used a German wheat yeast (from Weihenstephan labs) and it turned out great. But conditioning took more than twice as long as a normal ale beer. And while the selected yeast strain was listed as a highly flocculant yeast, it still took forever to clear, most likely due to the rye concentration.

And the whole brew from grinding the grains to pitching the yeast took me 14+ hours to do while a normal ale beer only takes about 7 to 8 hours, including cleanup.

The “sourdough” flavors were delicious, although very “Continental”...German to be more exact. In fact, many educated consumers compared it to the German beer by the same name....”Roggen” (Google it for a good description).

All this to say...rye is a very challenging cereal grain to work with. Don’t disregard it too lightly. If you think corn is tough to work with...just know that in high percentages rye is much more difficult to use.

So, you guys wanting to do 100% rye beers, albeit for distillation, just know that you’ve got your work cut out for you.
ss

[tombombadil]

Haha that's good to know. I did not think it would be as difficult as corn, definitely didn't think it would be worse!

My favorite drop so far is the traditional bourbon recipe that I only did one run of, I'm thinking I must like whatever the rye adds to it. So I want to make a 100% rye batch to see what it's like.

Now that I'm thinking about it, one of the local distilleries was telling us (on a 'tour') how he charges extra for the rye because it's such a hassle to work with. After several failed attempts at lautering it he gave up and now they just ferment and distill it on the grain like bourbon.

[Twisted Brick]

All this to say...rye is a very challenging cereal grain to work with. Don’t disregard it too lightly. If you think corn is tough to work with...just know that in high percentages rye is much more difficult to use.

Thanks, ss. Your well-placed warning is taken very seriously. Mashing a high-percentage rye has become my obsession, primarily because it has proved itself such a bitch to work with. That and I absolutely love drinking what is quickly becoming the latest rage here in the U.S.

I have read everything under the sun regarding processing rye and will tackle it with everything I know, just like you did: full complement of rests, alpha, gluco and glucanase. Steam mashed, squeezed, and then cleared, however long it takes. Slooooow warmup, strip, repeat. Will be starting with a 5 gallon test mash and document everything. I just gotta knock out the last 5 batches of traditional (rye!) bourbon that I got going on now.

[tombombadil]

For the record, the two best sources I found are morebeer (malted) andd azure standard (raw).