Wow this is an incredibly awesome and incredibly long thread!! I like this idea of yours, I wanted to try PM but didn't want to have to make the cooler contraptions. I was a little confused by this statement though. Partial boil means you don't boil the full volume of water with your wort right? and the reason you don't get as good of hop utilization is because you use less water, and the hop oils don't solute in water very well, therefor you need larger volumes of water to get good hop utilization?
yes, you have the right idea...increasing the concentration of the wort (more sugars, smaller volume) decreases hop utilization. beersmith can help determine how this will affect the IBUs.
i'm a complete noob to partial mash and allgrain. my first homebrew is still in the fermenter, but i'm already addicted! i just ordered ahs' imperial winter ale partial mash/mini mash kit. i love your write up, it's what gave me the cohona's to try partial mash so early in my brewing career. i just have one question about the sparge water. you heat it to approx 175* you said while the mash is still going on. about what tempature is your sparge when you actually add the grains/mash to it? sorry if this is confusing as i'm not 100% on all the terms just yet. it just seems as if there is a lag from when you heat up the sparge water to 175 and still have 30-60 mins of sparging?
you want the sparge temp (mash temp AFTER grains have been moved) to be at 170°F or less. i usually end up in the high 160s with this method, which works fine.
i usually heat up the water about 20-30 minutes before i sparge so it's read to go when my mash is done. then i simply move the grains to the new pot and stir, then let sit for about 10 minutes. not sure what you mean by the 30-60 mins of sparging.
Did my first partial mash of DB's Dunkelweizen, based on advice from this thread. Pitched a starter made from WLP380 and now it's bubbling merrily. Thanks!
Thanks for this post - brewing this weekend and this is really going to help me improve my process. I'm new to home brewing - did 2 Extracts then jumped into mini-mash for the past 4 batches. I have a couple questions I hope you (or anyone) could help me with
I really like your idea of tea bagging for the sparge. Up to now I have been using a ladel and I just don't feel entirely effective with it. But for your approach I'll have to buy another brew kettle. In the future I would like to get into All Grain, so I would love to buy a brew kettle that would work for that as well as my mini's right now. Any suggestions?
Quote:
Originally Posted by DeathBrewer
sorry, i've been on vacation the last couple of weeks.
i generally mash in 1.25-1.6 quarts per pound of grain (usually 2 gallons with 5-6 lbs of grain)
with my sparge, i heat up as much as i want to boil. so if i want a full boil, i will fill the send vessel with about 5 gallons of h20. the 1.5 gallons of original wort plus the extract puts it about where i need it to boil off to over 5 gallons.
it really helps to reach your boil faster as the water is already heated and you don't have to top off.
I ordered the AHS Irish Red Mini-Mash kit for this weekend and this is what I know about the grain amounts right now: Mini Mash: 5 lbs. Liquid Malt Extract, 2.5 lbs. Base Grains, 1 lb. Specialty Grains.
I think they recommend mashing with 2.5 gallons of water and then sparging with significantly less per pound of grain (sorry don't remember exactly as I don't have my old recipe from them with me. But it sounds like you might recommend mashing in 1.4 Gallons (1.6 Quarts * 3.5lbs grain) and then sparging in 2.5 gallons for the partial boil?
Thanks for this post - brewing this weekend and this is really going to help me improve my process. I'm new to home brewing - did 2 Extracts then jumped into mini-mash for the past 4 batches. I have a couple questions I hope you (or anyone) could help me with
I really like your idea of tea bagging for the sparge. Up to now I have been using a ladel and I just don't feel entirely effective with it. But for your approach I'll have to buy another brew kettle. In the future I would like to get into All Grain, so I would love to buy a brew kettle that would work for that as well as my mini's right now. Any suggestions?
I would get at least a 32 quart (8 gallon) pot. that's what i use for most of my 5 gallon all-grain batches, even with the tea-bag method. it's still pretty close when you're starting with 6.5-7 gallons pre-boil, but as long as i keep an eye on it, i rarely have boil-overs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by json2001
I ordered the AHS Irish Red Mini-Mash kit for this weekend and this is what I know about the grain amounts right now: Mini Mash: 5 lbs. Liquid Malt Extract, 2.5 lbs. Base Grains, 1 lb. Specialty Grains.
I think they recommend mashing with 2.5 gallons of water and then sparging with significantly less per pound of grain (sorry don't remember exactly as I don't have my old recipe from them with me. But it sounds like you might recommend mashing in 1.4 Gallons (1.6 Quarts * 3.5lbs grain) and then sparging in 2.5 gallons for the partial boil?
yep, you got it. their recommendation of 2.5 gallons of water would give you a very thin mash...that's like 3 quarts/lb. i would go no higher than 1.75 gallons (2 qt/lb), but even a single gallon would work.
remember also, that if you have a smaller pot for a small mash it actually works better to retain heat. when i do all-grain in my 5 gallon pot, it goes almost to the brim, leaving only enough room to stir and pull out the bag. i have yet to lose a single degree when it is this full.
i use any amount of water i'd like for the sparge...as much as i want to get up to the volume for pre-boil. remember that your extract will add volume as well.
I would get at least a 32 quart (8 gallon) pot. that's what i use for most of my 5 gallon all-grain batches, even with the tea-bag method. it's still pretty close when you're starting with 6.5-7 gallons pre-boil, but as long as i keep an eye on it, i rarely have boil-overs.
yep, you got it. their recommendation of 2.5 gallons of water would give you a very thin mash...that's like 3 quarts/lb. i would go no higher than 1.75 gallons (2 qt/lb), but even a single gallon would work.
remember also, that if you have a smaller pot for a small mash it actually works better to retain heat. when i do all-grain in my 5 gallon pot, it goes almost to the brim, leaving only enough room to stir and pull out the bag. i have yet to lose a single degree when it is this full.
i use any amount of water i'd like for the sparge...as much as i want to get up to the volume for pre-boil. remember that your extract will add volume as well.
have fun!
Awesome! Thanks Deathbrewer! Can't wait to get this Irish Red and try everything out!
you just use more water and more grain. i use about 3-3.5 gallons of water for 10 lbs of grain in a 5 gallon pot for the mash. that allows very little headspace, which helps maintain heat. i had a two hour mash a couple of weeks ago that didn't lose a single degree!
then i use about 3-5 gallons sparge...i'll use a smaller amount of my stovetop and a larger amount on my burner, just because i can't get a 6.5 gallon boil going on my stovetop. i get a little less efficiency in my kitchen, but not a huge difference.
and then, no extract required! other than that, it's the same gig!
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