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Hey, I am new to the forum and very glad that it exists. Its nice to have an outlet to bounce ideas and opinions off of with like-minded, enthusiastic people in the distilling world. Let's talk rye! We are getting ready to run a few rye mashes and i'm looking to tighten up the recipe and mashing schedule - rye can be a tough grain to mash and i'd like to minimize the headaches. We have an old school mash tub (250 gal) with an agitator but no grist hydrator and are planning to use 100% rye (raw and malted) without liquid enzymes. The questions I have are: Does doughing in at cooler temps (86-95F) reduce the formation of dough balls? How important is a beta-glucan/protein (95-122F) rest to reduce mash gumminess? Can it be skipped with the addition of premalt? Is a sterilization rest (176-186F) required to kill any bacteria in the grain? Is 18% (85 lbs.) malted rye enough to convert 374 pounds of raw rye flour? Any insights, experiences and horror stories dealing with rye are greatly appreciated. Thank you. Erik