Does anyone parti-gyle?

I am hoping to use this technique in the near future, looking for advice.
If you have done this, how much success did you have?
What beers were produced?
Was it worth it?
Any recipes, tips, suggestions or other feedback welcomed!
Thanks!

hell yeah!
10% imperial stout and a 4.5% dry stout.
hell yea!
tips, just be sure of the math ahead of time, go for it, and drink the results

Do it! You can make a normal and crazy beer at the same time.

For instance in February I get some local juniper and make a parti-gyle RyePA and Sahti.

You can do a big and session beer, or if you do it right you can get two average strength beers.

Ive done it with success.

IIPA->pale ale or session beer

IIPA->second runnings got some dark LME to make a session brown ale.

These beers are usually for finishing of the hop pellets leftover from a brew that didn't require the full oz. After all, its basically 5 free gallons of beer.

How much added time should I expect on brew day over a standard 5.5 gal batch. Right now I have only 1 burner, so I'll have to split time there. I'm thinking 2 hrs added. Is that reasonable?

Yup that seems reasonable. 30 minutes for the second gyle, hour for the boil, 30 minutes for cooling, racking and pitching.

Could I get 2 5.5 gal batches? Or is that asking too much? Would I likely need to add a couple lbs of base malt for the second beer?

Any recipes?

motobrewer said:

hell yeah!
10% imperial stout and a 4.5% dry stout.
hell yea!
tips, just be sure of the math ahead of time, go for it, and drink the results

Click to expand...

This. I tried it. Ruined both beers. Well not really ruined, but came in way too high on the first runnings and a tad short on the little beer. They were drinkable, but not my best effort. If/when I do it again, I'll double check the grain bill and gravities.

Like it's 1999-gyle! Sorry - couldn't help myself. No. I'm not a fan of big giant beers, but the idea of getting 2 batches from one mash is appealing. I think if I do I'll wind up splitting the first runnings, or maybe just diluting the first batch.

wickman6 said:

Could I get 2 5.5 gal batches? Or is that asking too much? Would I likely need to add a couple lbs of base malt for the second beer?

Click to expand...

you can technically get whatever you want. there's a calculator/table on BYO that does the math for you.

i mean, essentially you are making one giant beer and splitting up the gravity however you want.

Contrary to popular opinion, you don't make have to make one beer with the first runnings and another with the second. You can blend them to get what you want. Read all the parti-gyle-related posts here: Shut up about Barclay Perkins

I do it every time I brew. You will need 2 burners, 2 pots, and a big mash tun--then you get 2 batches in the time it takes for one, plus the time it takes to chill your second gyle. As far as calculations, use the efficiency you would with a normal batch, with one batch sparge of the same volume as your first runnings. The gravity of the first runnings will be about 70% of double the average, the gravity of the second runnings will be about 30%.

In other words, assume an English pale recipe: 6 gallons, OG 1.050, 80% efficiency in your system with a single batch sparge. Now buy twice as much grain as it calls for and mash it. Adjust your make-up and sparge volumes to make them the same, say 7 gallons if you boil off 1 per hour. You will still get 80% efficiency. The first runnings go into one kettle and will end up at about OG 1.070. The second runnings go into your other kettle and will end up at about OG 1.030. You will adjust your hop additions based on these expected numbers, but you won't hit them exactly no matter how careful you are (I'm an engineer, not a mathematician). You may also add steeping grain, or sugar, or whatever, to either or both. Boil. Blend. Ferment. Enjoy. Partigyling is awesome.

As far as recipes go, you can't go wrong with English ones, obviously. I started doing it this way in order to make 10 gallon batches using my small pots and the IC that fits in my small pots, AND to make English ales. I usually blend porters 50/50, which gives the exact same results as boiling both gyles together in one huge pot, like normal people do. i like to do a 1.040 and 1.060 pale ale. I am doing the 12-12-12 wee heavy with a 1.040-ish bitter. Etc.

I did 5 gal. of a Double IPA and 10 gal. of standard IPA a few months ago. Turned out great!! My next partigyle will be 5 of English Barleywine and 10 of Bitter. If you plan on doing lots of partigyle brewing you should invest in a refractometer. It will make your brewing session go much easier.

I do it when I brew a Barley Wine then use the second runnings for a small session beer, much like the way Anchor makes Old Foghorn then second runnings for their Anchor Small (3.3%).

I've Partigyled a RIS and made a schwarzbier from the second runnings. I found I needed some DME on hand to boost my OG on the small beer.

I did my first partigyle this week and didn't have the conversion I was hoping for. So my 2nd batch is only 3gal and will be 3%abv lol. I'll have better luck next time!

I tried this last January using Mosher's suggestion for a 2.5 gallon Barley Wine and then 5g of special bitter. I had only done a couple AG batches beforehand and it turned out to be a long, crazy day. I probably tried to get too much BW and SB out of it, so the SB was low on pre-boil gravity. I had some extract around and added what I had during the boil, so it worked out okay.

I split the bitter into two 2.5g batches and fermented one with NeoBritannia and one with London Ale. Those two were decent session beers. The BW is decent, but still needs some time.

I would do it again and with more AG experience and think it would go better. The 2.5g BW batch size helped since I boiled that on the stove and the 5g SB on the outdoor burner. Just be ready to take some measurements and do adjustments on the fly.