Nearly All Rye Whiskey

[hawkwing]

I have a bag of flaked rye I was going to use for bourbon but decided to do a wheated bourbon instead. So now I want to use to make a rye whiskey. I’ve been contemplating 90% rye give or take. Would barely be the best gain to top up the bill? I assume I’ll have to use enzymes. I’ve read some mention of using potatoes or oats for mouth feel.

Not sure what kind of sticky challenge this might be or not. I’ll likely ferment on the grain. Possibly carefully distill on the grain as well.

Any words of wisdom, thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

[WhiskeyRebellion]

Why not use malted barley so you don't have to put in separate enzymes.

Or better yet get some malted rye and do a 100% rye mash bill. Whistle pig is an excellent rye and they use 100% rye.

[hawkwing]

I only have 2 row malt barley and it might not have enough enzymes. Will have to see if I can get malt rye. But why not just use 100% non malted and enzymes?

[WhiskeyRebellion]

IMO malted grain passes a different flavor from unmalted.

[still_stirrin]

The flaked rye will be quite “pastey” in your fermenter, so using barley malt will help. And even with 10% 2 row, you’ll have enough “resident” enzymes, especially considering that the flaked rye will still have a little diastatic power itself. But, I would think more about the consistency of the mash than the enzymatic power…mostly because the flaked rye will be more like a “sticky goo”.

Even with 70 to 75 percent of the grainbill, the rye character will be extremely dominant and the added malt will help with the consistency such that the yeast will have better luck with the ferment.

You certainly can use the high rye recipe with enzymes, but using flaked rye will make a difference when compared to malted rye berries.

Without doubt, you’ll learn about rye as a cereal grain, both in how you mash it, how it ferments, and what flavors it brings to your finished spirit.

Good luck. Have fun. But, always be safe, responsible, and discrete.
ss

[hawkwing]

I am slightly concerned about the sticky paste nature of the mash. But since I’m fermenting on the grain it’s not as much of a concern as if I was going to try and strain it.

From reading on here malt rye is milder. I was looking up commercial rye and some are 90-100% with a small amount 5-10% malt rye. Some use malt barley. Barley is easy for sure. Not sure if I’d have to order rye malt online or not. But both flaked rye and pale malt are pretty cheap from the wholesale distributor.

I got the idea of 90% from Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye. I have no idea what the other 10% is. But barley seems to be a logical choice.

Last time I used rye it was about twenty years ago and it was a small percentage of whole unmalted rye berries, a bag of frozen corn and mostly malt barley. I treated it like I was making beer and strained it with my mash tun through the false bottom. It is very good though. I tried some last night.

[hawkwing]

It would be more work but I do have whole seed grade rye berries I got for making bread. I could try malting some. But I’m usually only home for a week at a time so I’d have to make sure I can do it in that time.

[hawkwing]

As it turns out I can get two kinds of rye malt locally at about twice the cost of what I paid for the flakes. One is Canadian made and says it’s for distilling and the other is German and probably for beer. Maybe I will try 10% malted.

What yeasts would you recommend for rye whiskey?

[Ben]

90% rye
10% raw oats
1/3 oz rice hulls per lb of grain to keep the sticky manageable. I sparge, but I see no reason you couldn't use the same technique to squeeze or... whatever you do. The oats will help with this too (use crimped, mill, the husks will stay in tact).
I use proximity malted rye, it has a diastatic power of 100°L, at that rating you could run 1/3rd of your mash malted and use no enzyme and be in good shape.

S04 yeast
Lacto is delicious with rye.
Let it ferment 3 weeks or so, allow the yeast to do their thing.

My recipe: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=85799

[hawkwing]

What effect does oats have on the whiskey?

[Sporacle]

Top left corner
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=77388

[hawkwing]

I might have to make two batches one with oats and one without just so I know the difference.

I’ve also found Whitestar yeast for high rye bills that I could try. They have several rum and whiskey yeasts I could try since I’d have to spend $50 minimum.

[CanadianIceman]

As it turns out I can get two kinds of rye malt locally at about twice the cost of what I paid for the flakes. One is Canadian made and says it’s for distilling and the other is German and probably for beer. Maybe I will try 10% malted.

What yeasts would you recommend for rye whiskey?

I use bakers in nearly all my products, some get us-05.
If you don't mind doing a bit of work malting rye is super easy.