Wacky HYPOTHETICAL "all-grain" Question

As it says in the title, this is just a hypothetical I couldn't really answer. No need to explain why just getting all the gear and doing a proper all grain is better...it's just a hypothetical.

That said... if you were to take the BYO approach to countertop, partial mashing, except going with the three gallon jug instead of the two (which would then allow you to mash six pounds of grain), could you, in theory, use two three gallon jugs and do a full all-grain mash that way?

You would seemingly be able to mash up to 12 pounds of grain.

Obviously you'd be doubling up everything (literally just doing two mashes simultaneously and then either dumping all the wort into one pot or if you had to, into two identical smaller pots).

My mind wants to tell me that you would be missing something by doing this but would you?

Again, it's just a silly question with no real point other than when I was asked, I couldn't convince myself that it would be ok. LOL

In theory it would work, but here are my thoughts:
You would definately need to mash the same types and percentages of grain in each to get the true profile of a single batch msah. Meaning if your recipe is for EdWorts House Pale ale (8lb 2row, 2lb Vienna 1/2lb C10L) you would want to put 4lb 2row 1lb Vienna and .25lb C10L in each tun, rather than all in one and nothing but base in the other...

Currently I have a 3gal Ice Cube countertop PM'r. It does not take up any more counter space than my 5gal Rubbermaid Cooler, so why would I want to do all that extra work.

Or you could:

1) Buy a large grain bag that will fit up to 15 lbs of grain
2) Get a turkey fryer

Use BIAB, and you're set for all grain up to 12 or 15lbs or something like that. I just did a little over 10 lbs, didn't use enough water in my mash, spilled a lot, and didn't boil off half a gallon, and still ended up with 69% efficiency.

With a 5 gal paint strainer bag, a vegetable steamer, and a 5 gallon cooler you can mash around 10 pounds of grain. When you really want to get fancy you can upgrade to a valve and braid.

In the winter, I sometimes do smaller AG batches. I'll primary in a 5 gal bucket but only use 3gal of wort. then I'll use my 3gal carboy for secondary (mostly to reduce surface area so the CO2 can blanket the beer 'easily').

this lets me do everything on my stovetop, in two pots.

you'd be better off doing one mash/sparge in one vessel, but collecting equal runnings in two stock pots (if you had to), boil and proceed like normal.
separate mashings is more trouble than its worth IMO

Well what if you did two small batches, same grains in both but intentionally did differant mash temps say 148 and 155 and then mixmthem together in the boil pot? Would you get a highly fermentable extra malty beer.

I am guessing you would end up with a beer that would be similar to a single mash mashed at 151.5 F.

Those 5 gal paint strainer bags are AWESOME! I will never buy a wimpy and small overpriced grain bag again. I used one in a 2 gal cooler, wondering if it would be way too overkill for 4# of grain but it was PERFECT. Plenty of room for the grain to breathe and get all that hot water.

So cool!

Saccharomyces said:

With a 5 gal paint strainer bag, a vegetable steamer, and a 5 gallon cooler you can mash around 10 pounds of grain. When you really want to get fancy you can upgrade to a valve and braid.

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phissionkorps said:

Or you could:

1) Buy a large grain bag that will fit up to 15 lbs of grain
2) Get a turkey fryer

Use BIAB, and you're set for all grain up to 12 or 15lbs or something like that. I just did a little over 10 lbs, didn't use enough water in my mash, spilled a lot, and didn't boil off half a gallon, and still ended up with 69% efficiency.

Click to expand...

What's BIAB?

"Brew in a bag". Search around for it here or on google and you'll find some stuff on it. It's really easy and doesn't include a sparge.

Sounds like a pain in the a$$ to me, I would try to do it in one vessel if all possible or go the brew in a bag route.

Seems like only a few people are willing to answer this question.

I think it would turn out very similarly to doing it in one cooler. I don't think it would matter if you put all base malt in one cooler and some base with the rest of the other malts in the other cooler.

The only thing that you would need to be careful about is making sure that the exact same amount of grain and water is in both coolers.

Anyway, I'm sure I've read somewhere that Newcastle is a blended beer, and there are probably other examples (not sure if that's before or after fermentation). You would basically be blending beers with this technique and I think it would work fine.

I think if I did it this way I would put all the dry grain together,mix it all up and then divide it for the two mashes. I'd primary as one batch though. But,I don't see why it wouldn't work, but it wouldn't likely be the same beer you'd get doing it all together as a single mash/boil,just close.

Nyxator said:

Seems like only a few people are willing to answer this question.

I think it would turn out very similarly to doing it in one cooler. I don't think it would matter if you put all base malt in one cooler and some base with the rest of the other malts in the other cooler.

The only thing that you would need to be careful about is making sure that the exact same amount of grain and water is in both coolers.

Anyway, I'm sure I've read somewhere that Newcastle is a blended beer, and there are probably other examples (not sure if that's before or after fermentation). You would basically be blending beers with this technique and I think it would work fine.

Click to expand...

Actually, base malt has diastic properties that allow the conversion of sugars in a lot of the specialty grains, so separating them isn't the best idea. Also, the ph of an all 2-row mash will typically be higher without any other grain to change it. Your efficiency would likely suffer for this.

I don't know why using the same amount of grain and water in the two coolers would matter. You'd just have to use the right amount for what is in each cooler. But splitting up a batch of grain may not give you identical portions of what is already crushed unless you measured them separately.

And this isn't like blending beer at all. Blending is typically a post-fermentation practice used to create a specific taste. It is more like an experiment than a practice.