Partial Mash and Partial Boil (Kind of)??

So I am reading up a lot about AG, but don't have the space for the proper equipment and am stuck on stovetop for now. I might be able to swing some space for a 7.5 gal Rubbermaid MLT setup however. I know a 7.5 gal now may be a little bigger than I need, but I hate to buy equipment only to upgrade a few months later.

Here is what I propose, and I wonder if it has been done (couldn't find anything specific) and how efficient it may be. I am going to be brewing a dunkelweizen next weekend, which will have 3 lbs of DME and ~5 lbs of grain. I have two pots, a 3.75 gal and a 3 gal. Would it be bad for the DME if I dissolve it in ~2 gal of water in the smaller pot, boil it there, and separately boil the grain wort in the larger pot? I figure if I don't have the DME in the bigger pot my hop utilisation would be pretty good in that pot. Opinions?

I do something similar, but I mash as much grain as I have room to boil the wort for, then add my extract very late in the boil. If you use brewing software, it can help you decide how much you can mash depending on the size of boil possible, and help you adjust your hop schedule so that you get what you want out of it without the extract in the boil the whole time.

I've never done anything like this, but it seems like it should work. I might be over-looking something though.

Thanks guys, unless someone chimes in this week saying that it just is a terrible idea (with proof) I shall find out!

@Chsre: I'll take a look at the software and see what I come up with, probably try the BeerSmith free trial.

Using one pot for the grain-wort and making the DME addition along with the flavor hop add would be simpler. The DME doesn't need much more than getting it dissolved.

By the way, I have a 40 quart IceCube for a mash tun and routinely do 4-5 lb PMs with batch sparging.

Hmm, so maybe just bring the DME to boil for ~15 mins with the hops (but in a larger amount to account for the short time), while boiling the grain wort for the full 60. Would this be enough time for the hops to impart their flavour? Being a weizen, it is obviously not going to have a lot of hop character. But would it be better to do less hops in the grain wort for the full time?

I can definitely see for a normal ale doing the first hop addition for the full boil in the grain-wort and the aroma/bittering in the DME towards the end in a separate boil.

Can I do this breakdown in BeerSmith to find the right amounts? I downloaded the trial last night but haven't gotten past inputting the recipes yet.

One mroe question: I can't seem to find a straight answer on fermentation time for this. Should I drink it younger than a non-wheat? Or does using a low flocculation yeast make it OK to go as long as I would a non-wheat and still have the right yeast content.

Gremlyn1 said:

Hmm, so maybe just bring the DME to boil for ~15 mins with the hops (but in a larger amount to account for the short time), while boiling the grain wort for the full 60. Would this be enough time for the hops to impart their flavour? Being a weizen, it is obviously not going to have a lot of hop character. But would it be better to do less hops in the grain wort for the full time?

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No, what we're saying is to just use one pot. Your DME doesn't need a long boil, so you can just dissolve it in the wort you get from your partial mash. No reason to use a different kettle for it.

Oh, I gotcha. Misread that! So sonce it is so little DME and it doesn't need to do much more than dissolve, just throw it in in the last 15 mins.

I've only used LME so far, does DME have the same scorching potential?

LME tends to scorch when you don't stir it enough. It has a heavier specific gravity then the rest of the wort in the pot and will sink and sit on the bottom and burn if you don't stir vigorously and/or turn down the heat when you add it.

DME tends to float on the top while it dissolves, so the scorching is not as much of a problem. At least that's what I've noticed.