How many times can I sparge?

I watched a program on TV about how beer was brewed back in the Colonial peroid the other day. They used about 20lbs of grains and took the first runnings, lets just say 6 gallons to make this easier, and made a high gravity beer from that, but they went on to sparge again to make a lighter beer, and again and again. 4 TIMES!!! without adding any more grain.

Is there any truth to this method? Can it be done, well obviously, but is it worth the time?

I've heard of people doing this before... I know someone that's actually planning on doing that today. His first runnings will go to make a barleywine, then he'll keep sending water through it to make lower OG brews until the grain is fully spent.

I do think it's going to be easier to do if you use a lot of grain, and have a refractometer so that you know what's left in the grain each time.

I do believe there's more info on this method online, read up on it and give it a shot (if you want)...

BTW, it's not just a historical method, since people do it these days too.

Its called partigyle brewing, you'll find threads about it here on hbt and there's a good recipe and description in Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing book.

They didn't monitor ph back then like they do now. Your ph will rise as you sparge and you don't want it to get above 6 as you begin to extract undesired tannins.

I think what you are describing is the origins of Imperial beer but I have fallen for myths before.

I read that it was a way that french and belgian farmers made weaker beer for their farmhands to drink with their lunch.

Pappers_ said:

I read that it was a way that french and belgian farmers made weaker beer for their farmhands to drink with their lunch.

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Those French BASTARDS!!! Giving their oppressed workers weak brew to have with their lunch... Oh, wait, they were GIVEN beer to have with lunch? Lucky stiffs... I think the corporate world (especially in the US) has gotten so up tight that if you even THINK about having a brew at lunch you'll get sacked/canned/fired/etc...

BendBrewer said:

They didn't monitor ph back then like they do now. Your ph will rise as you sparge and you don't want it to get above 6 as you begin to extract undesired tannins.

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Bingo... That'd be the biggest concern for me.

Golddiggie said:

Those French BASTARDS!!! Giving their oppressed workers weak brew to have with their lunch... Oh, wait, they were GIVEN beer to have with lunch? Lucky stiffs... I think the corporate world (especially in the US) has gotten so up tight that if you even THINK about having a brew at lunch you'll get sacked/canned/fired/etc...

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I started bringing my homebrew to the office and let me co-workers drink it. Pretty soon we were having pizza and beer Fridays and I've convinced 2 of them theat they want to start brewing!

ThePearsonFam said:

I started bringing my homebrew to the office and let me co-workers drink it. Pretty soon we were having pizza and beer Fridays and I've convinced 2 of them theat they want to start brewing!

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Man, I want to work where you are...

heheh... I work from home... and the beer fridge is in the next room

a Partigyle is something I've wanted to do for a while now..

Mysticmead said:

heheh... I work from home... and the beer fridge is in the next room

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You, sir, SUCK!!! lol

If I worked from home, the keezer would be right next to me...

a Partigyle is something I've wanted to do for a while now..

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What's stopping you?? I might do it when I make my barleywine... Depending on how well my conversion goes. Right now, the grist is only about 21.5# of grain... I'll have plenty of room left in the mash tun to put more grain in, if I wanted to... Think I'll get a refractometer before I make that batch... I'm hoping to hit in the ~10-11% ABV range with the brew... In the upper half of the range for the style. Still well within the range for the yeast I'll be using too. Might get fresh yeast for this batch, and make a good sized starter. Or just use the last of the reserved yeast I have (from a washing) and make a decent sized starter. Either way, I see it as a solid brew coming up... I'll probably not have much left in the grain though. :rockin: unless I go with double the grain bill (the cooler/MT can handle it, at 70qts)...

BendBrewer said:

They didn't monitor ph back then like they do now. Your ph will rise as you sparge and you don't want it to get above 6 as you begin to extract undesired tannins.

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+1 and every time you sparge you raise the temp of the grain bed..

Sounds like a good reason to have a way to test the PH after your first sparge... I have some test strips already, one set for wine, another for beer. I think the beer ones stop at 5.8... So, as long as it still registers, it should be safe. I would stop if it was close to the 5.8 reading, so that I don't go too high on the next one.

I might have to try this with my next big brew... Looks like I'll be reading up on it before I give it a try though. Just want to make sure I have the logistics figured out before doing it the first time.

i just figured what the heck, its just sitting there any way might as well try it once to see how it come out. All you need is some more yeast and hops i usually have some extra kicking around, worse case if the OG is really low before the boil I could add some DME or something. Just another way to extend the brew day and maybe get another 5 gallons of beer for almost free

partigyle's are good.

jtakacs said:

partigyle's are good.

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You all just doubled my next Brewday's output with this idea...partigyle partigyle partigyle! Thanks!

DannPM said:

You all just doubled my next Brewday's output with this idea...partigyle partigyle partigyle! Thanks!

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And want to "triple" mine.... A little more to the grain bill and I was going to try a high %abv belgian triple with the addition of candy sugar then a mid %abv wit with orange and coriander and then a low %abv heff that I won't care if it falls of the mower going around a corner too fast....