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brewing now nelson sauvin rye saison

I'm brewing mine tonight. I usually, and probably will this time, double-mill my rye malt. Typically, I'll do a quick mill pass on flaked grain, as well--I know it's said you don't have to but I prefer to get everything in smaller pieces. I'll likely use some rice hulls, just to be on the safe side.

I also will be batch sparging with a pump; normally, I fly sparge, but I'm trying to save a little time. Will update in a couple weeks...
 
I read today that rye is a smaller size than barley.  I think I will tighten my mill for the rye crush too.    Terrapin make a pretty good rye apa.  They say they crush it almost like flour. 
 
Even though this isn't my thread, I'd thought I'd post back regarding my rye saison experience...

In a nutshell, I don't think I'll ever make a saison WITHOUT boatloads of rye  8) It's so damn good and the perfect complement to the spiciness of the saison yeast. My first batch was a ratio of 7.5# pilsen/2# flaked rye/1# rye malt per 5 gallons. I used the Wyeast French Saison yeast, and kept the fermentation temps hot--in fact, I used a space heater to keep my carboys somewhere around 90dF! The yeast only took the beer down to 0.997--wimps ;) Still, there is a ton of body in this beer and awesome flavor--no alcohol heat. This is also the beer that I split into a 5-gallon experiment featuring grilled asparagus, grilled lemon peel, and black pepper. Honestly, it's friggin' amazing. If you don't like asparagus you won't like it, but this rye saison is the perfect foil for these flavors. The base batch is incredible, too--I've gotten rave reviews from my brew club compatriots, and even people who are not beer drinkers are enjoying it (profusely, I might add). I'm also aging 3L of it in a bourbon barrel :D

I did another batch this past weekend, where I changed the ratio to 6# pilsen/2.25# flaked rye/1.5# rye malt--so, about 40% rye. This time I'm using the Belle Saison dry yeast, and it's a beast--fermentation started in less than an hour. I didn't have any problems with a stuck mash, and I did my usual fly sparge. Might have been a little slower than usual, but the addition of some rice hulls prevented things from getting stuck.

Bottom line is that if you're interested in making a saison, give rye a try in your recipe. It's quite incredible.
 
I entered this into the fair this year. Entered it in the specialty Belgian category, because the description mentioned using things like rye not common in typical Belgian ales.
Well anyways, i got a fairly low score because of the amount of rye i used. I felt it could use more rye myself.
 
I  used a lot less rye on my first try.  the wort tasted promising but the nice rye flavor seemed to get lost after fermentation with a ridiculous yeast blend.  4 weeks later it was pretty much gone.  Been out of town for a while and hoping it came back when I get back.  anybody have any input as far as what 'form' of rye gives the best flavor contribution?  Its a great flavor.
 
I'd like to know that as well. I just got done drinking Alameda brewing co Rye IPA and I think i could handle a lot more rye.
I'm actually thinking about brewing a small batch of beer with mostly rye and enough 6-row to convert the grains. Just to see what my rye taste threshold is.
 
I looked at a bunch of brewers websites and they all claim the malted form, the all grain kits out there seem to use malted as well.  The malted form seems to be the more expensive so I'm assuming they use it cause it works best.  I dunno.
 
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