No-sparging for an Imperial Stout
 

I was thinking about brewing up a huge Imperial Stout along the lines of Brewpastors Dark Night of the Soul RIS. The problem is, I only have a 7.5 gallon aluminum (turkey fryer special) boil-kettle. It's just enough to do a full-boil with an average gravity ale......

....so, If I have 25 lbs of grain to mash, I will need roughly 7.5 gallons just to mash with, nevermind the extra water needed for sparging. So could I mash with 8-9 gallons of water (to account for water lost to the grain) and just make this big beer with the first runnings only?

....(and a follow up question, if this worked, could I make a second, lesser beer from second runnings?)

I'd like to hear from the more experienced brewers on this as well. I was thinking of making a Barleywine and Pale/Blonde in partigyle fashion like this. First runnings would be a 5 gallon batch or BW, add another 6.5 gallons and make some Pale Ale. With a 10 gallon batch of something in the 1.065 range, my first runnings come out at 1.090. Seems like after boil-off that would be a prefect range for a 1.095-1.100 BW. Same would be true for an Imp. Stout I would imagine.

Yes and Yes. The process is called partigyle (searching will come up with lots of threads on this topic). A very common partigyle is to make a barleywine and a mild. You're making a RIS, so your lesser beer will likely just be plain stout, though you may have to add some malt extract since the second (and subsequent) runnings are of significantly lower gravity.

I read that first runnings gravity can be calculated (if you're using brewing software) at 50% efficiency for most systems, second runnings at 25% and third runnings <10%. Testing my runnings on a recent stout confirms this, but your results may vary.

So does this mean that I would need even more grain and water to account for 50% efficiency?

are there any other ways to get around a small boil kettle? Could I boil the first runnings and second runnings dow separately and then combine them when they get to a volume that would fit the pot, add hops and go from there? (I suppose I could, but has anyone ever done this? and how did it work out?)

You could split it into two half batches then blend in the fermenter, too. Double the work, but it gets you around not sparging and your small kettle.

If you're looking to upgrade your kettle:

Here's a cheap ($40) 10-gal stock pot. I use it and it's great: Aluminum Stock Pot W/O Cover - 40 Qt., Stock Pots, Cookware

They also have a 60-quart for $65, free shipping: Aluminum Stock Pot W/O Cover - 60 Qt., Stock Pots, Cookware

I knew the 999-Barleywine was too much beer for a 5 gallon batch in my 10-gallon setup.

I just dialed the recipe down for a 3.5 gallon batch.

You could also just mash what you can safely and then supplement with DME. Kinda cheating the AG way....but it is valid.

Or you could give in and expand. Buy a cooler for 30 bucks or a keg off craigslist for 10. I got all 3 of my kegs from 3 different craigslisters in the same day for 30 bucks total! :rockin: