I've made a few Parti-Gyle beers where I take the first runnings for a big beer and then use the second runnings for a session beer. Sometimes I add a bit of extract to the second runnings to get it to a reasonable O.G. if its on the weak side.
I recently had the idea to do the reverse. Brew 10 gallons of a normal beer, then drain off the first 5 gallons into a bucket and cool it with my immersion cooler. The remaining 5 gallons I'd continue to boil and add some extract to make a big beer. Is there any reason this wouldn't work? Has anyone done this before? Right now I don't have a particular recipe in mind to try this with, although I think it would work nicely with an Irish Red. Any feedback is appreciated.
I recently had the idea to do the reverse. Brew 10 gallons of a normal beer, then drain off the first 5 gallons into a bucket and cool it with my immersion cooler. The remaining 5 gallons I'd continue to boil and add some extract to make a big beer. Is there any reason this wouldn't work? Has anyone done this before? Right now I don't have a particular recipe in mind to try this with, although I think it would work nicely with an Irish Red. Any feedback is appreciated.