Berliner Roggen - Rye exchange

[gm-]

Berliner Ryess (Roggen would probably be more correct, but just doesn't have the same ring to it)

O.G 1.030

66% Pilsner
23% Rye
11% Flaked rye

0.5 oz 4.7% AA Mt. hood in the mash

30 min protein rest at 51°C
75 min Sacch Rest at 64°C (after heating 2 liter decoction)

Heated to 98°C, chilled down to 25. No actual boil.

Pitched 0.5 l of a very nasty looking lacto starter in apple juice and 1 teaspoon US-05 week later.

Left for 3 months in my basement at 15°C

[Ruby]

Light, light coloured beer. Maybe a few SRM darker than champagne, with an ever so slight haze with a snow white head (sorry for the reference folks. I know that "snow" is now considered one of those four-letter words)

The aroma reminds me of craft cider from the UK. Sweet, dry apples. Tasted a tiny bit funky to start with, but faded quickly. Exceptionally light taste, again very reminicsent of hard cider. I think your apple bugs tmay have taken over a little, but i still enjoyed the experience very much. My wife, Amanda absolutely loved it. She felt that she'd enjoy it sitting on the deck in summer. Light bodied, and the carbonation was expertly done. Sparkling, but the bubbles were not a nuissance like champagne.

Its probably one of the most unusual beers ive ever had and it was a priveledge to drink. I feel grateful to have got to try something so long in the making.

Cheers!

[gm-]

Glad you and your wife liked it. Personally I was hoping for quite a bit more tartness (3-4x more), but this try is in the right direction, will just have to explore some options to get more tartness, maybe a sour mash or a heat belt to give the lacto bugs better environment.

[dean2k]

Understand your sentiment for more tartness, but still a very fine beer with some subtle flavours sneaking around in there. Like to see where you go with 2.0

[CartoonCod]

Very interesting beer. In the aroma there are notes of lemony citrus and low spicy phenolics, also some grainy/spicy cereal character. Very low hops. Not a very strong lactic component. No diacetyl. There could very well be alot of DMS or none at all. There is a spicy/vegetal/cereal character that is unique to me and I'm not sure if its just the character of the grains without boiling, or if its a type of DMS (DMS detection is one of my weak points in certain beers). For the flavour, I find it is similar to the aroma, with a low but noticeable bitterness. Quite dry, with a low to medium mouthfeel, and low astringency. This is my second or third Berliner sp. I've tried, and I think with a bit more of a lactic acid component for more tartness, it would be pretty spot on.

Thanks for this, now I've got to brew a Berliner!

[gm-]

Thanks a bunch for the review Adam, very helpful. I also wondered about that flavour, I can usually pick out the canned vegetable DMS in beers like Keiths but this seems different somehow. I am making version 2.0 of this beer later today, this time with 10% acidulated malt followed by 24 hour sour mash and a short boil. Will be interesting to compare the flavour profiles between the two versions.