Using second runnnings from a Micro Brewery

Hey there I'm not sure if this is the right place to post but it seemed the most logical. So recently i was talking with a buddy of mine that works for a local brewery, and we started talking about the second runnings from the mash/sparge that usually just gets dumped down the drain. I was wondering if anyone out there has ever taken this to make a second batch with. I remembered, from what I believe was a book by John Palmer that I read a while back, that he had covered using the sparge water to create a second batch of wort. I did some research and read about a particularly grainy taste that could be balanced out with crystal malt. Also I would hope to use the sparge water from a big beer like a barley wine or an imperial ipa. If the og is too low could I supplement it with malt, adjuncts or sugars to ramp up the abv? The end result I'm looking for would be a light, approachable beer that even the non craft drinker would enjoy. If anyone has ever tried something like this I would love to hear feedback of what did or did not work for you. Thanks in advance!

Try a thread search for partigyle. You should find some useful info. It's not too uncommon a practice.

When I brew with a couple of my buddies, we'll usually let our mashtuns sit for awhile while our primary beers are boiling away in the kettle. Then we drain off the remaining second runnings, combine them all, and brew up a small batch mild. Most of the time, the OG has been somewhere in the 1.040 range and it always leads to a drinkable brew. I suppose you could amp it up with additional extracts but we never bother since we're not really shooting for any particular style.

I've read that you can also use the second runnings as a base for yeast starters.

Do have any idea what the grain bill is for the main beer? Will change your approach to the brew I think. But that's pretty cool to have available.

Seems pretty wasteful of a commercial brewery though. You'd think they'd come up with a way to capture that and either reduce the ingredients needed for the main beer or brew a small beer themselves.

parti-gyle + capping

did this last month with a barley wine & Irish red. planned it out as a 7.5 gallon batch with a 3 hour boil. so, mash in, mash out, take 4 gallons and start a 2 hour boil for that.

added sparge water to the MLT, capped with some crystal and let it set for 30 minutes, then ran the rest of the wort into a bucket for a 1 hour boil.

the big beer boil took so long I left the small beer overnight and boiled it in the morning

I'm not sure what the grain bill looks like at the moment, but I should be meeting the brewers soon to ask them a few questions and find out what beer they have that will work best for this situation. I agree that it sounds a little wasteful, which is why I Would love to get it off their hands. It just seems like a fun idea to play around with and get creative! I think the capping is a great idea and will most likely end up being what I do. Has anyone had any strange off flavors that they ran into? Or on the other end any success with this because of some grain or technique you did that turned out exceptionally well? I would love to hear all horror stories and success stories

CastleHollow said:

When I brew with a couple of my buddies, we'll usually let our mashtuns sit for awhile while our primary beers are boiling away in the kettle. Then we drain off the remaining second runnings, combine them all, and brew up a small batch mild. Most of the time, the OG has been somewhere in the 1.040 range and it always leads to a drinkable brew. I suppose you could amp it up with additional extracts but we never bother since we're not really shooting for any particular style.

I've read that you can also use the second runnings as a base for yeast starters.

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What was one of your favorite concoctions? This sounds like a fun idea!