Ah-Ha moment/Parti-gyle

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wickman6

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Ok, I've been wanting to do a parti gyle for some time now, but I have a few equipment issues.

I have only 1 kettle big enough for a full wort boil.
I have only 1 burner capable of boiling full wort.
I don't really care for really strong beers either, but I want to take advantage of brewing 2 batches on brewday without spending 10+ hrs doing it.
Here's what I came up with:
collect my first runnings and begin boil. Add a couple pounds of extra grain to the cooler MLT.
Dough in second batch while first is on the heat, and mash as usual.
By the time first run is cooled and transfered to the carboy, I can collect the second beer in the kettle.
Boil second beer as usual, and get into another carboy.

Ferment both individually, possibly with different yeast. The first should still be bigger than the second, but that's ok.
Once ferment is done on both, I'll taste them and see what I've got.

I'm thinking bottle about 3 gallons of each individually, and then blend the remaining 2 gal of each together to give me 3 slightly different beers.

It should extend my brew session by about 2 hrs I figure, but I'll have 3 beers in the end for a total of 10 gallons.

I'm pondering my hop schedules for each beer, and also considering adding some specialty grain on the second beer.

Btw, this will be done with an oatmeal stout recipe, so it oughta be pretty interesting!
 
yeah, this is what i do when i parti-gyle. it works pretty well. what's the total grainbill? i've done this a few times with an imperial stout, 26 pounds of grain or seomthing. i get 5gal of 1.107 wort and 5 gallons of 1.045-50ish
 
This is the recipe I found on HBT from CBBaron,

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: S-04
Yeast Starter: no
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.25
Original Gravity: 1.055
Final Gravity: 1.018
IBU: 36
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 35
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14days @ 65F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): no

OG 1.055 (80% efficiency, adjust base malt for your system)
IBUs 36
6.75# Pale malt
0.5# roasted Barley (350l)
0.75# chocolate (330l)
0.5# crystal 40
0.5# crsytal 120
0.75# victory
1# flaked oats
2oz Willamette hops at 60
S-04 yeast

Single infusion mash at 156F for 60 min.


I haven't calculated my amounts yet, just figuring out the process.
Any help with figuring grain amounts I might need are welcomed, as I haven't tried this yet so I'm flying blind so to speak.
 
I'm aiming for 1.060 for the first beer, second I'd like around 1.045, but like I said, I can add some base after the first mash to help bring up the second gravity.
 
If you really don't like strong beers you can do some wort blending before pitching the yeast, or after fermentation is complete. That's if you don't mind what the blended beer will taste like. I've blended wort prior to boil but went into it knowing the first runnings would be way higher than I wanted & the sparge would be under. After blending a gallon or two between the them I got the gravities I was looking for. 1st batch was 5 gallons of Strong Scotch Ale & the 2nd was 10 gallons of 80 /- Scottish Ale. Did the same with a DIPA and Pale Ale although I capped the 2nd runnings with some caramel. You really have a lot of options available. Cheers!!!
 
I'm leaning towards blending after fermentation for a couple reasons. First, I'll only need 2 fermenters and second, I can have a taste of each fermented beer before blending. That way I think I could blend a little at a certain ratio, say 50-50 and see what that gets me.
I could tinker and change the ratio to get a blend I like, experimenting in small quantities before actually mixing the 2.

I don't really mind too much what the blended beer tastes like, I'm sure it won't go to waste!

Mainly though, I could get a good idea of what ratio I like and for future batches I have a good idea what to expect and I can ferment them already blended.

I'm getting excited for this one!
 
i think this is right:

60*5gal + 45*5gal = 525.

525 / 5 = 105

so, if you plan your recipe to target 5 gallons of 1.105 wort. then you'll have to figure out based on mash thickness what you'll pull out of the first runnings. Donno if it'll be possible to pull the first and have it be exactly 1.060, so you'll have to play with it a bit.
 
Ok, that helps a lot! Thanks. I do recall seeing that formula somewhere now.
I just plugged in some quick numbers to beer recipator to get an idea of what I'll need.
Says about 14.7 pounds of 2row with a total grain bill of almost 18lbs. Does this sound logical?

I'm wondering also about using maybe about 10 lbs 2 row foor the first, then add the rest before mashing the second. This way I'd have some fresh grain in the tun since I don't want a really big beer.

How much base would be good to hold back? Or should I just dump it all in in the beginning and blend it later?
 
I decided to do a Sprecher Black Bavarian clone for the first beer, shooting for OG of 1.054.

10lbs 2 row
1 lb c80
.5 lb chocolate
4 oz roasted barley

for the second, I'm going with the oatmeal stout, aiming for OG 1.052.

to the tun, I will add:
4lbs 2 row
1lb carapils
12 oz chocolate
1 lb victory
.5 lb c80
2 oz roasted barley
1 lb oats

I will keep my sparge water below 160 for the first mash, hoping to keep the enzyme activity going for the added base of the second mash.

This is an experiment by every definition, I have no idea why I came up with 4# as the base addition, just seems about right to hit the gravity I'm looking for. We shall see afterwards! Fingers crossed....
 
Sounds like a good plan. The advantage you have is that you are shooting for two mid-range OG's. If the first runnings fluctuate high and the sparge is low you can blend to get back towards the middle.

Good luck and let us know how it goes! I've been wanting to try a parti-gyle for sometime now.
 
According to my preboil gravity on beer #2, I'm about 5 gravity points low. Next time I'm thinking add one more pound of 2row for a total of 5 before the second mash. This time I'll just boil a little longer to compensate and since there's only one hop addition @ 60 min, this is a perfect candidate for just that.
 
Second beer, the oatmeal stout came in a little low, OG 1.047. Ended up boiling about 90 minutes giving me 4.8 gal in the carboy.

I cant wait until I get to taste both of them.

Over all, today's experiment went pretty well. I will probably do this combo again, changing only the additional pound of 2row for the second beer.

A few points low on the second beer isn't a big deal to me, especially since I took a shot in the dark as to how much more base to add for the second mash. Not a bad shot.
 
Second beer, the oatmeal stout came in a little low, OG 1.047. Ended up boiling about 90 minutes giving me 4.8 gal in the carboy.

I cant wait until I get to taste both of them.

Over all, today's experiment went pretty well. I will probably do this combo again, changing only the additional pound of 2row for the second beer.

A few points low on the second beer isn't a big deal to me, especially since I took a shot in the dark as to how much more base to add for the second mash. Not a bad shot.

Nice to hear the results. How long was the brew day?
 
A little longer than I planned, as usual. Started heating water at 9 am, finished clean up at 5, so a solid 8 hrs.
I could have easily shaved off at least an hour, possibly two. I was making a big old pot of chili in between running out to the garage.
Next time I expect about 6.5 hrs, I see where I can make myuself more efficient.
A second burner would absolutely help, of course.
All in all, it was a good brew day and I'm quite satisfied. Had I made these two beers individually, I would have used 3 lbs more 2 row and spent another day brewing.
The $5 bucks I saved in grain paid for the propane. Not much, but I'll take it.
The best part is though, only 1 cleanup session and one day yields me 2 hopefully wonderful beers.
My weekend days are very valuable to my family so if I can brew half the amount of days per month, its a win for me!
I love brewing, but I covet my family time as the kids are growing up so fast!
I am now a proud supporter of the parti gyle, thanks for the help and encouragement!
 
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