Concentrated wort

I'm in the research phase to getting into all grain. While I'm getting stuff together, I figure I'll start out with partial mash. Recently I've started to see a lot of posts about concentrated wort. Sometimes it's in conjunction with partial mash, sometimes it's Belgian trippels, etc.

How is this done? Is it just a real thick mash? Is there any special way of mashing to get concentrated wort?

Thanks.

I'm a newbie, but from what I understand, it's the 3 gallons of wort in the boil, which you add to 2 gallons of plain sanitised water in the fermentor to make the wort you ferment.

Cheers

Actually, I mean as it applies to all grain or partial mash. I'm an extract brewer right now, and I don't quite understand how I would collect concentrated wort from the grain bed. My thinking is grain can only give off so much sugar, so why would it be more concentrated?

I've never heard the expression "concentrated wort" so I'm afraid I don't really understand what you're asking.

For a partial mash (also known as mini mash), you still use DME or LME, but get some fermentables from some grains. Instead of just steeping crystal or other grains, you'll actually add some 2-row or munich malt, etc and mash it at about 150 or so for 45-60 minutes and then rinse (sparge) the grain. This makes a mighty fine beer! You can still do a partial boil (boil 3 gallons and top up to 5) or even a full boil depending on your equipment and recipe.

Whenever I see discussion about wort concentration it's in relation to the higher SG of a partial boil prior to being topped off.
I've never done a partial mash, but as I understand it you will still likely do a partial boil, and the only thing that affects is the extraction of hop oils for bittering.

I'm a noob and could be missing something, but that's my understanding, anyway.

You should skip the Partial mash and go right to AG. If you have all the stuff to mash for PM you have enough to mash for AG, and as long as you're dong the work of making wort, you might as well make enough for your whole batch without having to add DME. That stuff's not cheap!

In the setting of a high gravity beer like a Tripple they may be talking about the first runnings from your mash. This has the highest concentrations of sugars and therefore the highest gravity. There are strategies for using that alone (or to double mash) to make your high gravity beer and then sparge again and use those runnings for a low gravity beer.

I do plan on going to all grain. But cash flow does not allow me to get a wort chiller and a bigger brew pot right now. I will be able to within a couple months, but I would like to get a little experience with a lot of grain, not just the 1 pound or so I do now.

I did find another thread in the all grain forum that talked with this. That guy will be ending up with around 4 gallons to boil and then add in the DME. I may take a look for some partial mash recipes and just give it a shot. I'll be doing another batch next week or the following, maybe it's time to make it a partial mash.