What are second runnings?

I have an opportunity to pick up 5 gallons of second runnings on a batch of Double Red that our local microbrew is doing. What are second runnings?

Im sure someone can provide a more technical answer but basically 2nd runnings are taken from grain used to make a bigger beer the grain has already been rinsed once but to get more out of it they make a smaller beer if you will less alcohol lighter body by rinsing it again i believe natural light is a 2nd runnings type of beer

Ah, that doesn't bring to mind very good things. Natural light....ick...

So I'm getting a second running from a double red (or Imperial Red). Estimated gravity on the second runnings is 1.050. The purpose is for a contest at my homebrew club. A bunch of us are taking these second runnings to use as a base wort and make a cat 23 beer out of them.

Free beer! Grab it!! It doesn't mean it will be like Nat Lite. It will just be lower gravity and less body. If the first runnings are good, the second will be good too. Many people here brew this way with a big beer and a small beer.

1.050 2nd runnings is pretty good...

Heck yes! I know it's not going to be like Nat Lite. I know the brewer and I know their beers and they are not anything like Nat Lite or even close, so I'm not too worried about it.

What's unfortunate is I could take more if I only had a place to store it. On that note, how long and in what kind of vessel can I store wort?

Warped04 said:

1.050 2nd runnings is pretty good...

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I'll test it when I get it (20th) and let you know the official, but that is the expected.

The best way to store it would be in a fermenter with yeast in it but you have to boil it that day or it will go sour.

we make a few second runnings brews at the brew pub i work for and it is amazing how differently the beers turn out. all we did was after we boiled the first wort we sparged the grains again and boiled as normal. i thought it would taste like a lighter version of its daddy but totally different altogether. One book i was reading said that back in the day a long long time ago they got 4 or 5 runnings out of the grains. and the last runnings had a gravity that would end up being about 5% abv which would be given to the servants/ slaves for payment for their work. Will work for beer goes back a long way.

-nick

At 1.050 you would just start boiling and adding hops. You don't want to try to store it, as Bobby said you'll want to use it right away so be ready to brew that day, it will go sour if not boiled fairly soon after being collected.