Easy Partial Mash Brewing (with pics)

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You can either top off at the beginning of your boil to make ~6.75 gallons (assuming you boil off about 1.25 gallons/hour) or stick with your suggested sparge and top off with bottled or boiled&cooled water and do a partial boil.

pros to partial boil = easier to heat, easier to cool
cons = decreased hop utilization, needs sanitary water for top-off
 
Hey Deathbrewer,

I'm looking to do another partial mash that I am mainly converting from the https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f67/aberdeen-brown-ale-newcastle-clone-ag-36912/ recipe. My concern is whether there is enough diastatic power from the 2-row malt to convert the specialty grains.

Here's the ingredients I'm looking at:
2.5 lbs. Munton's Extra Light Dry Extract
2 lbs. Briess 2-Row Brewer's Malt
1 lb. Flaked Maize
1/2 lb. Briess 2 Row Carapils
1/2 lb. Briess 2 Row Caramel 20
1/2 lb. Briess 2 Row Caramel 60
1/2 lb. Briess 2 Row Caramel 80
1/4 lb. Thomas Fawcett Pale Chocolate Malt

1/2 Oz. Target Pellets @ 60 mins
1/4 Oz. Kent Goldings @ 15 mins
Safale S-04 Yeast

I read somewhere that you would want an average of about 50+ lintner per pound. Is that accurate? By my count, the 2-row would give 140 lintner per pound and that's about all the power I would get. The grain bill is 5.25 lbs, so (2 x 140) / 5.25 = 53.33 which should get the job done, yeah?

Please edumacate me :p
 
Sure, I think it will work. Your math makes sense, at least :D although pushes it a little close.

Not sure where you got that info, however. Be curious to get some real math behind conversion...it would certainly make planning brews more precise than the usual ballpark estimates.
 
i have a few questions. this will be my first partial mash attempt.

since i will be mashing in my aluminum pot and grain bag.

if i mash at 155 and the temp drops too low would it be better to turn the heat on or add some hot water to get the mash temp back up to 155?

should i lauder? drain some of the wort and pour it back into the grain bed to clear it out? is this going to make any difference?

thanks.
 
Hey Deathbrewer,

I'm working on a maharaja imperial ipa clone, and am a total noob.

i found a recipe online but it only gives me percentages of grains not actual amounts. basically, I can't really read my recipe, and was hoping you could give me a hand with how much grain/dme i should use in this recipe.

any input is helpful.

this thread has been super useful, thanks a lot for any advice you can give.

the recipe is as follows:

OG:1.090
AE:1.012

grist:
pale 2-row - 93.8%
victory malt - 3.1%
c-120 - 3.1%

hops:
60 min-columbus(13.9% AA)-1.09 oz
30 min-columbus(13.9% AA)-1.09 oz
0 min-centennial(13.9% AA)-2.18 oz
0 min-simcoe(11.4% AA)-2.18 oz
dry hop-simcoe-4.38 oz
dry hop-centennial-2.18 oz
dry hop-chinook-2.18 oz

yeast-california
ferm temp-74F
 
BeantownR6 said:
i have a few questions. this will be my first partial mash attempt.

since i will be mashing in my aluminum pot and grain bag.

if i mash at 155 and the temp drops too low would it be better to turn the heat on or add some hot water to get the mash temp back up to 155?

should i lauder? drain some of the wort and pour it back into the grain bed to clear it out? is this going to make any difference?

thanks.
Click to expand...

No, I would just leave it. Sometimes my mash would drop down as low as 140°F...never hurt a thing.

If you DO feel the need to raise the temp, always add a small amount of boiling water, stir well, let it sit for a few minutes and then check the temp. Add more as necessary. Never apply direct heat...it will jump above your desired temp...it's just too difficult to get right.
 
jesustron said:
Hey Deathbrewer,

I'm working on a maharaja imperial ipa clone, and am a total noob.

i found a recipe online but it only gives me percentages of grains not actual amounts. basically, I can't really read my recipe, and was hoping you could give me a hand with how much grain/dme i should use in this recipe.

any input is helpful.

this thread has been super useful, thanks a lot for any advice you can give.

the recipe is as follows:

OG:1.090
AE:1.012

grist:
pale 2-row - 93.8%
victory malt - 3.1%
c-120 - 3.1%

hops:
60 min-columbus(13.9% AA)-1.09 oz
30 min-columbus(13.9% AA)-1.09 oz
0 min-centennial(13.9% AA)-2.18 oz
0 min-simcoe(11.4% AA)-2.18 oz
dry hop-simcoe-4.38 oz
dry hop-centennial-2.18 oz
dry hop-chinook-2.18 oz

yeast-california
ferm temp-74F
Click to expand...

for a 5 gallon batch, go with:

5.00 lbs - Pale Malt (2-row)
0.50 lbs - Victory Malt
0.50 lbs - Crystal 120L

6.5 lbs - Light Dry Malt Extract

Hope that helps...let me know if you need anything else.
:mug:

EDIT: I'd ferment in the mid-high 60s if you can. 74°F is pretty high and you will get a much cleaner beer below 70°F.
 
awesome

thanks a lot-i use a mac computer and i don't really know what kind of brewing software there is available for the os. i was looking at this recipe confused with how much barley/malt to use for weeks, and finally got up the nerve to ask someone.

as for the edit-i know they ferment kinda high to get a bit of a sweet fruity thing from the yeast to balance out the bitterness, but i'll probably ferment lower than that to be safe.
 
jesustron said:
awesome

thanks a lot-i use a mac computer and i don't really know what kind of brewing software there is available for the os.
Click to expand...

I use QBrew. It's not perfect, but it's free. Whatever info it lacks, you can enter in yourself, but it has most ingredients already in it. I don't remember where I found it, but I'd bet Google does.
 
i see alot of posts about water profiles when doing AG. all my extract brews i bought bottled water. i can afford the extra 5 bucks and rather not use faucet water.

for my first partial mash, is bottled water ok to use? do i need to worry about water profile if i use faucet water?
 
DeathBrewer said:
He wants to be able to click on "my replies" and have this come up so he can read it later ;)
Click to expand...

Yup. I'm on my blackberry a lot of the time, and this is the best way to mark threads I want to come back to later when I'm on a computer.

Great writeup deathbrewer, I'll be attempting my first PM brew this weekend with this method. Thanks.
 
BeantownR6 said:
i see alot of posts about water profiles when doing AG. all my extract brews i bought bottled water. i can afford the extra 5 bucks and rather not use faucet water.

for my first partial mash, is bottled water ok to use? do i need to worry about water profile if i use faucet water?
Click to expand...

Water profile is MUCH more important for mashing than it is with extract.

I use filtered water from safeway. I just fill up two 5 gallon water jugs and I'm ready to rock. It only costs $1.50 for 5 gallons.

I'm beginning to use the 5.2, although my beer turns out fine with just the filtered water.

I'll eventually get my filter installed, but I really don't trust the pipes at my house.

For top-off water, I always use bottled water, either in 1 gallon or 2.5 gallon size. A little extra cost, but much less of a PITA than boiling and cooling water.
 
DeathBrewer I have been using your method with great results and have been getting braver with every brew. The last one was a Blonde and I only used 1.5 pounds of extract, the rest was grain. The OG was to be 1.042 and I got 1.041, I missed the OG by .001 so I was very pleased about that. Dont know how it will taste but time will tell.

I have a 5 gallon pot and a 7.5 gallon pot. I have been thinking about using your method and doing a very simple Pale Ale all grain. Can it be done this way?

7.5 pounds of two row malt
1/2 pound Crystal Malt
Hops
yeast

Can this be done with good results or do I have to aquire a mash/lauter tun?
 
It'll work fine as long as you can get that much to a boil or split the boil between two pots. I use this method regularly to do all-grain with the same size pots. The 5 gallon will work perfect for mashing ~8 lbs of grain.

I have a thread on Stovetop All-Grain in my sig below.
 
I have a question about the mashing portion of the process. Once you place the grains into the boil pot and cover it do you turn off the heat and let it sit or do you turn the heat down to maintain your temp?
 
Glad to hear it!
:mug:

Sithdad said:
I have a question about the mashing portion of the process. Once you place the grains into the boil pot and cover it do you turn off the heat and let it sit or do you turn the heat down to maintain your temp?
Click to expand...

I turn the heat off. It should maintain temp fairly well and if there IS a drop, it's not a big deal. If you want to maintain heat, I'd suggest wrapping it in blankets or towels, not using direct heat.
 
DeathBrewer said:
I turn the heat off. It should maintain temp fairly well and if there IS a drop, it's not a big deal. If you want to maintain heat, I'd suggest wrapping it in blankets or towels, not using direct heat.
Click to expand...

Good, looks like I did it correctly then. Always like to hear that. Thanks again for the tutorial it really helped a lot. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be.
 
I was going to try the AG stove top method but maybe I'll try this first. After asking some questions in the AG post, I think it might be better to start here and learn more before going AG. A few questions I have are:

  1. I already have a 5g bare bones ss pot used for extract recipes that cost me about $35. What might be a good investment for the second pot? I am willing to not be as cheap this time since I'm still interested in the hobby but I'm still looking at stove top brewing. Seems like the pots with a thermometer attached would be useful but I'm not sure a spigot would help. I might go to the $100+ range but some pots get up to $300 awful quick. I'm also not sure if going up in size like 8g would really be helpful if I'm looking at the stove top for the near future - in fact it might work against me to go too large. Plus I'd like to keep the space that my equipment takes up down in order to keep harmony in the house.
  2. Do you notice a big improvement over extracts with specialty grains? If so, what can you expect or look for in a PM recipe over extract? Part of the reason I though to go the AG stove top method was to be sure I could get an improvement I could taste. I wasn't sure if going PM will be enough to tell a difference, or what to expect.

As said before, this is a great thread and it has very useful information.
 
1. I would go with a 7.5+ gallon pot. That size pot can be used for any 5 gallon batch and will really come in handy in the future. It was my first pot and I still use it almost every time I brew.

But do you have any other pots lying around? Go to a thrift store or a flea market or something and pick yourself up a cheap 4-5 gallon pot. You only need a 4 gallon pot for the mash in this method. 6 lbs of grain with 2 gallons of water only takes up about 3 gallons of space. With 5 lbs of grain you could even go with a 3 gallon pot. If you use a pour-over method (pour your sparge water over the grains in a colander instead of dunking them for sparge) you could use several small pots with water.

2. Grain tastes good :D and you can make beers that otherwise would be unavailable to you (such as rye beers or beers that use all vienna malt.) Grain also has protein and other goodies that you will not get as much of from extract.

I believe it was in the book Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels that he notes that "although many award-winning beers USE extract, it's important to note that none of them use ONLY extract" (paraphrase)
 
Thanks DB, I'm in the middle of my first stovetop mash, without this thread I probably wouldn't have had the cajones to make the step.
 
Hopefully this hasn't been covered before ...

  1. How did you determine what your heat loss would be? Just trial and error?
  2. Do you measure the temperature during the mash? You'd lose heat that way but how else can you tell if it's holding the temp? I see others will wrap with a towel but still how do you know if you need to unless you take a reading and then you're opening the lid and losing heat. Seems like a catch 22.
  3. How were you determining the mash time? The range of 30-60 seems a bit much and I'm not sure how to determine when conversion is done.
 
Thanks for the guide! I'm going to be doing this next Tuesday and have a few questions.

1) Should I use Campden and/or 5.2 pH Stabilizer with my bottled water?
2) Austin HB lists Large Coarse Nylon Bag 20" x 22" without much of a description. I imagine this would be OK, but not sure if "coarse" means that smaller grains will fall through.
3) I'm trying to clone Rogue's Yellow Snow IPA (One of my favorite IPAs). Rogue lists all the ingredients and specs on their website, so it makes this easy.

From their website:

6 Ingredients:
Malts: Two Row Pale, Cara Foam & Melanoiden.
Hops: Amarillo.
Yeast & Water: Rogue's Pacman Yeast and Free Range Coastal Water.

Specs:
15º PLATO
70 IBU
76 AA
14º Lovibond

Here's my recipe:

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 3.50 gal
Estimated OG: 14.250 Plato
Estimated Color: 6.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 69.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 44.44 %
3.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 33.33 %
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 11.11 %
1.00 lb Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) Grain 11.11 %
2.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (60 min) Hops 41.8 IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (40 min) Hops 18.4 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (20 min) Hops 6.3 IBU
0.25 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (10 min) Hops 1.9 IBU
0.25 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (5 min) Hops 1.0 IBU

Does that seem like it checks out? I'll pitch with Rogue's Pacman yeast. One thing I'm really confused about is the color that Rogue lists on their site. They list Yellow Snow as 14 degrees Lovibond, which according to Beersmith would be it really red/brown. I know from experience that it's not that red, and the amount of Melanoiden needed to get that color throws the recipe completely off. Any idea on why Rogue lists it like that?
 
DeathBrewer

Sorry if this has been asked, but i don't have time to read the whole thread. When you partial mash (from your original example) you used a total of 4 gallons of water (strike water + sparge water). After you remove the grains and combine the mashed wort and sparged wort (sorry if my terminology is off), how much water are you left with when you begin the boil?

I ask because my stove can only boil 3 gallons of water with the lid off. I'm afraid if I attempt to boil over 3 gallons is won't happen.

Great thead!
 
The common consensus on absorption is .125gal/lb, so using 6 lbs of grain would give you a little less than a gallon and you will be over 3 gallons already.

You also will need to account for extract displacement, as it will raise your volume.

Can you split it between two pots? That would probably work best until you can get a 5+ gallon pot.
 
I have a 20 qt and 22qt pot, so I can handle the displacement issue.

My worry is that my stove will not boil more than 3 gallons of water. The stove has a glass top and the bottom of the pot is not perfectly flat, therefore my boiling efficiency isn't what it could be.

So, if split the pots would you just hop one pot of water and boil the other with wort only, and then combine them at the end? I hope i didn't confuse the situation...
 
You want wort with the hops. You don't want the hops to be in water alone.

I've done it before and just split the hops between the two pots (mash and sparge worts.) It turned out great.

Some people have used the hops only in one pot and they said that worked well, too.

You could combine the two into one pot first to get equal distribution when you divide, or you could just add your extract to the sparge water to increase the gravity and leave the other as all-grain wort.

Really, any method will work...hope that helps...i tend to muddy the water sometimes :D
 

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