first all grain recipe suggestions

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heffe

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im going to be buying my friends all grain equipment next week and i would like to do an india brown ale as well as an ipa or session beer with the 2nd runnings.

i understand the process but have no idea what would be a good recipe for the 2nd runnings. any suggestions on either recipe? any tips on pairing beer recipes for first and 2nd runnings?
 
You'd have to go from lighter to darker if you're planning on a color change. You could do a hoppy session brown. And start with an IIPA or something. What's the capacity of the system you're buying?
 
Double_D said:
You'd have to go from lighter to darker if you're planning on a color change.

Generally, yes. Unless you use steeping grains. I have been thinking about doing a 2-row only batch in my 5gal MLT to maximize the extraction of fermentables for 10 gallons of beer... And then just steeping specialty grains in the 2-row extract.
 
My capacity will be two 5 gallon batches. I could do one 10 gallon batch, i have 4 carboys and i like to do secondary fermentation. Boil kettles i have are 10g max ea.

Bru, only reason is that the parti-gyle seems to be a better use of grain, and ill be able to do 2 batches.

Do you reccomend i go single batch for my first?
 
My capacity will be two 5 gallon batches. I could do one 10 gallon batch, i have 4 carboys and i like to do secondary fermentation. Boil kettles i have are 10g max ea.

Bru, only reason is that the parti-gyle seems to be a better use of grain, and ill be able to do 2 batches.

Do you reccomend i go single batch for my first?

It's better to get the hang of brewing all grain before jumping into techniques that are more advanced.
 
I actually think it is easier to go partigyle. Just keep a bit of extra DME around in case you need to bump up your gravity. There's really nothing difficult about doing a partigyle brew. It is actually a great way to fill your fermenters and get your pipeline flowing.
 
That's a good idea, and considering I have a bunch of extra hops laying around that need to be used up I think I can find something that would only cost me yeast. If it turns out bad, I can always dump it out, not a huge loss.
 
heffe said:
My capacity will be two 5 gallon batches. I could do one 10 gallon batch, i have 4 carboys and i like to do secondary fermentation. Boil kettles i have are 10g max ea.

Bru, only reason is that the parti-gyle seems to be a better use of grain, and ill be able to do 2 batches.

Do you reccomend i go single batch for my first?

I'm not necessarily making a recommendation, just wondering the reason you chose that method. That's all. I'm interested in the results of whatever you do! :)
 
You'd have to go from lighter to darker if you're planning on a color change. You could do a hoppy session brown. And start with an IIPA or something. What's the capacity of the system you're buying?

I've never done this kind of brewing, so I admittedly am coming from a place of ignorance. I need someone to clarify this for me. It sounds like you're saying the wort from the second runnings would be darker than the first? If that's so, how is that possible? Wouldn't the majority of color extraction happen in the first time through?
 
Darker beers use darker grains. So if you started with a highish gravity brown ale, your second running will be a lower gravity brown ale. If you wanted to do a brown and a pale, you would do the pale, pull out the first runnings, then add some darker malts into the MLT to make a brown beer. But obviously once the darker mats are added, you can't really remove them from the mash.
 
i also liked the suggestion of keeping some dme around so if you do need to bump the sugars a bit you can easily.
 
Darker beers use darker grains. So if you started with a highish gravity brown ale, your second running will be a lower gravity brown ale. If you wanted to do a brown and a pale, you would do the pale, pull out the first runnings, then add some darker malts into the MLT to make a brown beer. But obviously once the darker mats are added, you can't really remove them from the mash.

Ah, I see what you're saying. So If I started with a bunch of dark malts I would have a dark beer, obviously. I would think they second runnings would be noticeably lighter though. Is this the case, or not?
 
Is there any reason you can't just combine your first and second runnings into a single beer? As somebody who's also planning his first all-grain batch, I can tell you, I'm looking to remove as many other variables as possible from my brew day. Trying to do two beers at once seems to be adding complexity to what will already be a long and challenging brew.
 
best answered by someone with experience but i believe you can, i think it would net a lower starting gravity though. is this right?

i want to make 2 different batches for variety. i have the bandwidth and 2 kegs so should be good.
 
Is there any reason you can't just combine your first and second runnings into a single beer? As somebody who's also planning his first all-grain batch, I can tell you, I'm looking to remove as many other variables as possible from my brew day. Trying to do two beers at once seems to be adding complexity to what will already be a long and challenging brew.

That's basically batch sparging.
 
feinbera said:
Is there any reason you can't just combine your first and second runnings into a single beer? As somebody who's also planning his first all-grain batch, I can tell you, I'm looking to remove as many other variables as possible from my brew day. Trying to do two beers at once seems to be adding complexity to what will already be a long and challenging brew.

This IS batch sparging, to a T.
 
If you separate the mashing and lautering steps from the boil, there's no reason that a partigyle brew day would be any more complicated than doing a single beer... In fact, it'll make your math easier. It'll just take longer. Plan on basically a full day to pull off your first AG double brew session.

Have a couple of buckets on hand to collect second (or even third) runnings. Note that plastic carboys won't stand up well to the ~150F heat of the wort (and I have a warped BB to prove it!), so you need buckets or extra brew kettles to make this work. Then just collect your runnings and boil at your leisure.

Later, as you get more experienced, you will heat the wort more quickly, likely with sparging, to stop enzymatic action promptly and get a more predictable brew, but for starting out, just collect the runnings as they come and don't start the boil before you're ready. You might even decide to clean out the MLT before starting a boil. That's totally fine for now. We're really splitting hairs here. Will it be the best beer you can make? No. But will 1 in 10 hardcore brewers or 1 in 5 BJCP judges be able to spot what you did? Probably not. It's a small issue, really. And it's not a fault, really.. it's just a deviation from a repeatable procedure. Your beer can still be fantastic. And hey, it's your first brew on your new system. So just go for it.
 
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