This recipe is inspired by the Seirra Nevada Ruthless Rye Clone written up by the Home Brewers Association. I have adjusted it to be a partial mash recipe with about 8 lbs of grains.

As the name suggests, this is a Rye based IPA that the HBA describes

With a name like Ruthless Rye, you’re certainly in for something hearty and rustic. You’ll experience strong hop flavors due to dry hopping, which allows the aromatic oils and resins to be absorbed into the beer without an overpowering bitterness. When you add in rye’s spicy, black pepper flavor and dryness with the complex fruity, floral and herbal hop profile, you’ll end up with a balanced beer with incredible flavor, bringing the rye and hops to life finished with a ruthless, hoppy kiss.

Recipe

This is a partial mash recipe for a 5 gallon batch

Grains:

  • 9.5 lb pale malt
  • 1.5 lb rye malt
  • 12.0 oz 80° L crystal malt
  • 1.0 oz chocolate malt

Hops:

  • 1.0 oz Bravo hops, 15% a.a. for 90 mins
  • 1.0 oz Chinook hops for 5 min
  • 0.5 oz Amarillo hops for 5 min
  • 0.5 oz Columbus hops for 5 min
  • 1.5 oz Citra hops dry hop
  • 0.5 oz Columbus hops dry hop
  • 1.0 oz Chinook hops dry hop
  • 0.5 oz Amarillo hops dry hop

Yeast:

  • Safeale US-05a

Target OG: 1.064

At the end I recorded an original gravity of 1.051.

Results

Tasting arrived and the recipe definitely delivers the expected flavors. It is a nice dry, floral, balanced flavor. It has a great grapefruit aroma and flavor. It is not overpowering and most of the hops flavor sits in the front and middle of the mouth. I have been comparing it to some of my other favorite IPAs recently which seem to often hit the middle and back of the mouth. I also love the color, just a hint of red!

Rye IPA First Taste
Rye IPA First Taste

I don’t know if “ruthless” is the right name for this IPA. But it is delicious.