Full mash, but split boils?

Hello all!

Well, my first PM India Red Ale is a week in the primary at this point, and I don't know any better way to pass the time until tasting than brewing another time or ten. I am going to make KingBrianI's HBT Competition-placing "Extraordinary Bitter" here: >> linky <<, and I have a few questions.

First of all, my setup is true partial mash in a 3G Gatorade drink cooler... I figure I can mash between 8-9.5 pounds of grain if I'm careful, and it just so happens that the grain bill on this bitter is really light... just a hair over 7 lbs. This means I can effectively do a complete all-grain mash, but I am still stuck with my 16qt stockpot for the boil. I do have a second 12qt stockpot as well, so my question is this. Can I take the runnings normally and split them between the pots for a total wort volume in the 6G range, and then boil them simultaneously, just separately? The only reason I ask is because I'm not 100% sure if this logic holds with respect to the hop additions... I know beer is a colloid, and basically hop extraction in either wort would be incorporated as they were racked together into primary, but I also know that hop utilization will be low in a 3.5 or 2.5 gallon boil.

I guess my question is this... would you split the hops and try to approximate "mini-additions" to EACH wort during boiling, or, since the hop amounts are so low in this recipe, would you just toss them in the larger boil (3.5G) and combine both into primary and call it a day? Am I really losing that much utilization on a 20IBU recipe.

More importantly, would your answer change if this was a 30-60+IBU recipe?

Thanks in advance, this forum is the best!!

How much mash liqour are you using in the 3 gal rubbermaid? I mash 6 lb with 2.5 gallon in a 20 qt pot and have issues with space. I have done the split boil with no issues. I split the hops up along with the wort. IE if you plan on boiling .5 oz hops at 60 then split it up between the two pots for two .25 oz additions at 60. Worked out ok for me.

I mash around 1.25qt/lb, pretty standard... 7ish pound grain bill puts you right at 9ish quarts, very doable in a 12qt round beverage cooler with screw on lid. I'm thinking mash with 9 quarts, runoff around 7 into primary boil, sparge with another 8qts, runoff most of it (about 7qts, making total of 3.5G in primary wort), sparge again with 8qts to start the secondary boil, and then possibly a third sparge to clean up. I know it's kludgy, but yeah....

And thanks, I was thinking along those lines... glad to hear it went well for you!

You should have no problem splitting your boil. I did it for years back when I first started brewing over 15 years ago. Your IBU utilization will be a bit hard to calculate because of smaller volumes and unequal gravity between your two pots, but as long as you're not a slave to the brewing numbers, it should be close enough. I think it's a great plan -- Just RDWHAHB!

mkling said:

You should have no problem splitting your boil. I did it for years back when I first started brewing over 15 years ago. Your IBU utilization will be a bit hard to calculate because of smaller volumes and unequal gravity between your two pots, but as long as you're not a slave to the brewing numbers, it should be close enough. I think it's a great plan -- Just RDWHAHB!

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This is great to hear that I'm not thinking crazy with this... and no, I'm definitely not a Palmer, I'm a Papazian. I figure if the recipe has "the gist" and you know about where things are gonna land, that missing an IBU or two here and there or having 15 points gravity difference between your split boils is just noise... it's going to be great beer by the time it hits your glass anyway, right?

Technical question... when you used to do this, did you chill both simultaneously, or just take them in turn in a reasonable amount of time? I was able to chill ~14qt partial boil in a SS pot in an ice bath in about 20 min last time... I figure I repeat that, and let the smaller pot just sit in an ice bath in the other sink until I'm done, and it should have already cooled quite a bit by then anyway, and I can just finish up with the stir... something like that?

MrInternet said:

Technical question... when you used to do this, did you chill both simultaneously, or just take them in turn in a reasonable amount of time? I was able to chill ~14qt partial boil in a SS pot in an ice bath in about 20 min last time... I figure I repeat that, and let the smaller pot just sit in an ice bath in the other sink until I'm done, and it should have already cooled quite a bit by then anyway, and I can just finish up with the stir... something like that?

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This is exactly what I used to do, and it worked great -- Your sink has two sides for a reason, right?

mkling said:

This is exactly what I used to do, and it worked great -- Your sink has two sides for a reason, right?

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I had always wondered why it did... my wondering days are over!

MrInternet said:

Hello all!

Thanks in advance, this forum is the best!!

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Hello,

Judging by knowledge displayed in the OP, no futher advice is required IMO, you will be just fine!

I just did a split boil a couple of weekends ago (5G and 3G) and split my hops accordingly. At this point I think it will work out well, but it's a little early to say for sure.