Homebrew Summer: Rye Tai

While many of the pro-am pairings from our five-years strong Homebrew Summer program match brewers who have never met one another, there are plenty of cases where longtime friends come together to create something special. Such is the case with this week’s Homebrew Summer duo, recreational fermentationist Louie Ilievski and Pizza Port Solana Beach Head Brewer Mike Havens, who brought the former’s rye IPA recipe, Rye Tai, to life on a larger scale. While this isn’t the first time they’ve brewed together, it just may be their most successful effort. Judge for yourself, as the beer hit the Solana Beach brewpub’s taps over the weekend, and feel free to try your hand at brewing the beer using the recipe below!

Louie Ilievski
Homebrewer

At the height of COVID I was brewing quite frequently to keep up with the surge in demand from friends and neighbors, so I had more opportunities to try new things. One such beer was my first attempt at making a rye IPA. I wanted to keep it simple in both the malt and hop bills, letting the few ingredients involved shine in their own ways. I also took this opportunity to try a new hop at the time, HBC 692 (which is now known as Talus), focusing on a heavy late-boil addition and dry-hop to veer slightly away from the traditional West Coast IPA and take some cues from the hopping methods of modern hazy IPAs. The resulting aroma and flavor from Talus really surprised me, giving off what I perceived to be tropical, coconut-like notes. This gave rise to the name Rye Tai, and it was very well received in my circles, with several iterations and variations subsequently brewed. Having known Mike for quite some time and collaborating on several homebrews in the past, I was excited to partner with him for Homebrew Summer. Rye Tai fits right in with the Pizza Port vibe and knowing Mike’s passion, and dedication to the craft, I was confident he would represent the beer well on the scale of his system. The extremely smooth brew day and nailing of our targets makes me even more excited to try the final result!

Mike Havens
Head Brewer, Pizza Port Solana Beach

I’ve known Louie for a long time and have had plenty of his beers over the years. It was an easy decision to partner with him for Homebrew Summer. Pizza Port has been known for West Coast IPAs, so choosing an IPA recipe seemed liked the logical choice. I tried to keep the recipe as similar as possible to his five-gallon version. The only tweaks made were adding acidulated malt for pH adjustment, and a small reduction on the percentage of rye malt.

Any tips for homebrewers using this recipe?
I’d just recommend paying closer attention to your pH, and your mash and sparge temperatures since it’s a relatively simple grain bill.

New homebrew recipes and pro-am beer release information will be posted to our site throughout the summer, so check back with San Diego Beer News on a regular basis (or subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter and we’ll send all the recipes and release information straight to your inbox). Cheers and happy homebrewing!

Pizza Port is located at 135 North Highway 101 in Solana Beach