Easy Partial Mash Brewing (with pics)

[johnnyc]

You cannot mash specialty grains. You can cut down your base malt, but without enough base malt (and the enzymes they contain) you are not "mashing". Mashing is converting the starches into sugars, which can't be done without the enzymes.

3 lbs is plenty for a decent partial mash, however, depending on your recipe.

Your method sounds fine, except when you say that after doughing in you'd "get the mash back up to temp"...it should already be at the right temp after you dough in. You can use this strike temp calculator to help you hit your temp exactly: Green Bay Rackers--Mash Calculators

Guess I should clarify "specialty grains"

1.25 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 13.44 %
1.25 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 13.44 %
0.40 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 4.30 %
0.40 lb Caraaroma (130.0 SRM) Grain 4.30 %

From what I understand the Munich and Vienna has to be mashed.

Can anyone comment on the oven idea?

 

[DeathBrewer]

The following should be considered base malts:

Munich (not caramunich or dark munich, however)
Vienna
Pale Malt
Pale Ale Malt
2-row
6-row
Pilsner Malt
Wheat Malt
Rye Malt
Mild Malt (such as Ashburne mild)

Even Aromatic Malt should be considered a base malt, although I wouldn't use a large portion in any recipe.

If it's not "malted" it cannot be a base malt (such as raw wheat or rye), many "munich malts" do not have the proper enzymes and many sites do not give great descriptions, so always double-check.

 

[Palefire]

The oven idea should work fine - a number of people on here do it. If your oven can be set to 150*, you're golden. Some ovens start at a higher temp, so what people generally do (I think) is preheat it to the lowest possible temp, then when they put their pot in the oven they turn off the heat.

The one thing I'd be worried about is oversparging. If you're only mashing 3 lbs of grain, you'll be way oversparging if you sparge in the ~5 gallons or so you need to reach a full boil. Rule of thumb is that you don't want to use more than 4 quarts/1 gallon of water for lb of grain. That 4 quarts should include both mash and sparge water. So in your case, I'd recommend mashing with about 1 gallon H2O, sparging in about 2 gallons, then topping off with ~3.75 gallons to reach enough for a full boil.

Good luck!

 

[johnnyc]

Well I input it all into BeerSmith and here's what I got:

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - BeerSmith Brewing Software, Recipes, Blog, Wiki and Discussion Forum
Recipe: Coldwater 420
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: Partial Mash
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.41 gal
Estimated OG: 1.062 SG
Estimated Color: 12.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 45.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
5 lbs 8.0 oz Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 62.50 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 14.20 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 14.20 %
6.4 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 4.55 %
6.4 oz Caraaroma (130.0 SRM) Grain 4.55 %
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 21.7 IBU
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (30 min) Hops 16.7 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min) Hops 7.1 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (5 min) (Aroma Hop-SteepHops -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 3.30 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 4.13 qt of water at 164.6 F 154.0 F

The text version of the brewsheet doesn't show sparge water amount but on the classic brewsheet it calls for 5.77 gallons of sparge water. Hopefully that's right. I just hope the IBUs are right, I got burned on my last recipe b/c I used the wrong scale for AA%

 

[DeathBrewer]

The only reason it gives you that amount is so you can reach a full boil. It doesn't calculate what is most efficient for the grains. You may get some tannin extraction or other issues if you sparge with too much water.

 

[Dionysos911]

I am going to give this a shot this weekend. First question, I am going to need either a pot for mashing (currently have one lidless 24qt pot) or a cooler. Which would you suggest I purchase? I brew in a small kitchen in my apt so space is pretty limited.

Next question is for recipe advice.. I was thinking about making my first fruit infused beer also but that might be tacking on too many firsts at once. I currently have on hand:

2-3lb bags of dry wheat extract
3- 3lb bags of dry light extract
3- 6lb bags of liquid light extract
0.50 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %]
1 Pkgs Belgian Wit Ale (White Labs #WLP400)
1-package of Safale04


I can pick up hops and grain from my local brew store to complete whatever. I like IPAs, Pales, Blondes, Reds, Hefs.. I currently have a hef on tap right now so would prefer to shy from that a bit unless you have an idea for something amazing.. Anything jump out at you?

 

[bell0347]

Used this method for a robust porter PM the other day. Using beer smith and calculating myself, hit around 80% efficiency???!!!

Outstanding. Have never had that kind of efficiency with my mini mash tun I built last year out of a 3 gallon cooler. Used a 5.5lb grain bill and 4lbs DME.

Brew day went really smooth, minimal mess, and brewed in the kitchen. Found some 1 gallon paint strainer bags I used as a hop sock. Kinda worried that the "sock" will reduce hop utilization. We will see in a several weeks.

Thanks for the great thread. Plan on using this for a little while till I can afford my AG set up I want.

 

[knappster]

Hey DB, just ordered the ingredients for your dunkelweizen recipe. I plan to do my first PM on labor day!

 

[cmdrico7812]

Getting back to the methods involved in the steps proposed by DeathBrewer...

I've tried this method a few times now and it really works well. However, I'm getting a lot of grit and particulates going into my fermenter. I'm using a standard grain bag (not a fine mesh hop bag or anything) to remove the grain once it's mashed and I run my wort through a colander to remove hop particles before going into the fermenter, but I still get a lot of grit and fine particles in the wort from the mashing. I know it has a lot to do with the grind of my grains (I have a Victory hand crank; not the best), but can someone offere a few solutions/products/methods for helping keep some of the grist/particulates out of the fermenter from the mashing process? Thanks.

 

[bell0347]

I went to local hardware store and bought nylon 5gal paint strainer bags. The mesh is much finer than that in the muslin grain bags you often get at homebrew stores and you get 2 of them for under 3 bucks!. They are reusable and they also make the same bags in 1gal that I used for a hop sock. I had minimal particulate in the fermenter this time compared to using my mini mash tun I have been using. I am a little leary that the hop sock might decrease utilization some but it should not make that much difference.

The nylon appears very resistant to heat but I would not want to let it sit directly on the bottom of the pot while directly on the heat source for very long. Once you get a good boil going the hop sock floats up and around enough as to not lie on the bottom long at all.

There will always be a little hop material, break material, or kettle trub that makes it's way to the fermenter. You can help further reduce this by using some type of kettle fining material such as whirlfloc or irish moss. Cool your wort as quickly as you can then whirlpool and gently rack to your fermenter. Doing this you will loose a little wort but it will insure you get the clearest wort possible. You can also take this into account when creating your recipe. After a couple of times you will be able to figure out exactly how much you are loosing and need to compensate for.

 

[cmdrico7812]

Great tip Bell! I'll check out my local hardware store for those strainer bags. The ones from my LHOS can get expensive. Are the bags hard to find or should most hardware stores carry them?

 

[gingerdawg]

. Are the bags hard to find or should most hardware stores carry them?

Home depot and Lowes both have them in the paint department near the paint sprayers. The carry the 5 gallon and the 1 gallon sizes.

 

[knappster]

One more question before I do this on Monday DeathBrewer. I have gotten the same 5 gallon paint straining bag from Lowe's that have been mentioned a couple times. Clearly they are pretty deep bags. Did you use your clips to keep the bag from falling into the pot or to keep the bag from resting on the bottom?

Since you're not heating the pot with grains in it I wasn't sure if you needed to keep them off the bottom while mashing. Thanks!

 

[DeathBrewer]

Hi knappster!

No, as long as there is no heat on it, no need to worry...there won't be any scorching without a direct flame. Those bags are pretty tough anyway...I'd worry more about your grains than the bag. This is why we must constantly stir when doing a decoction mash or using direct heat to step mash.

 

[northernlad]

I used your cooling method for my first batch last night. 3 water changes and one ice bath. Cooled in 30 minutes as promised. Thanks for the tip.

 

[knappster]

Hey DB, just ordered the ingredients for your dunkelweizen recipe. I plan to do my first PM on labor day!

Thanks again for the tips, I did my first PM yesterday afternoon. I was definitely expecting the grains to soak up a little bit more water than they did. I ended up getting a 12 quart graniteware pot for mashing which was just fine, but when I mixed the sparge & mash water to my 16 quart stainless pot, it was almost filled to the brim. Once I added the DME it was damn close. I had to move very quickly to prevent boilover once I added the hops, lol.

I didn't check the gravity pre-boil, but after it was topped off in the fermenter I got 1.051. I think that puts me in the 60% efficiency range which is a bit low. Any idea what you typically see for your OG DeathBrewer?

A couple things I noticed when I was brewing:

1) When I mashed after mixing the grains the starting temp was about 157. It was around 150 after the hour mash.
2) When I added the grains to the sparge water, the temperature settled around 160. Should I have been adding heat to keep it at 175?

Would either of these contributed to lower efficiency? Should I have periodically been stirring the grains periodically when mashing and/or sparging?

The only change I made to your recipe was using Danstar Munich dry yeast because I've never used liquid yeast or smack packs yet, so I didn't want to try too many new things at once. I'll let you know how it turns out!

 

[duffman2]

Hey everyone, just did my first PM with DB's method and I wanted to see if you guys had any tips for me.

AHS Pumpkin Ale

- 4 cans pumpkin (baked 350 one hour)
- had 3 1/2 lbs of grain to mash
Heat 2g strike water to 173 (dropped to 156)
- Heat sparge water to 175 (1 gallon)
After 45 minutes
- used sparge water and also 1/2g extra sparge water (170) to rinse grains

I then followed basic brew techniques to boil, add LME, and hops and spices.

My questions deal with the water to grain ratio.

1. The AHS instructions told me to use 2 1/2 gallons for mash water. This is a lot of water for 3 1/2 lbs of grain.
2. They then said that I needed 1 qt water to 2 lbs of grain. everywhere else I've heard 1 - 2 qt per 1 lb of grain. Does this matter???

In DB's post he uses 2 gallons mash water and 2 gallons sparge water. He also uses a different amount of grains but he says that he uses the amount of sparge water that would raise his boil level to where he wants it. So is the sparge water amount arbitrary or should you find the right amount for your grains?? And why the discrepancy between AHS and everyone else for water amounts??

This thread helped me venture to PM and I'm very hopeful that everything works out great. Any suggestions would be a big help!

 

[switters]

Thanks a million for this thread. I just came on the forum to look for advice on PM brewing and I'm glad I found this.

I'm about to make my first PM. I have an oatmeal stout recipe that calls for 10.75 lbs. of grain. According to the Green Bay Rackers calculator, that will require 4.22 gallons of space in the pot.

My question is, is a 5-gallon pot actually big enough for this recipe or would I be a lot better off with a 7.5 gallon pot? The same question goes for the sparge pot.

Also, anyone know of a good source (online or otherwise) for reasonably priced stock pots for brewing?

Thanks again!

 

[DeathBrewer]

Step down the water to an even 13 quarts(1.21qt/lb)...a little low, but it will work. Should give you about 4.1 gallons. I like to use that calculator and keep an extra gallon in there for stirring, bag space, etc. otherwise it can become a mess.

I've gone up that high, but it's pushing it and I've definitely had some spillage.

I'd use the bigger pot for sparge. That's perfect for a boil. For the mash, you want to minimize head space (without having a problem, of course) to minimize heat loss.

Sounds like you have the right size stock pot...you should get a cooler if you're looking for some more equipment. I sometimes use this when I'm not doing the bag method:

Igloo 10 Gallon Cooler

I got it on sale for $40...I've seen the same size on sale many times at different places.

I bought a 20 gallon stockpot at bayou classic and got it outfitted to do boils for my 18 gallon batches...and I have one of these from my LHBS I use for a lot of stuff:

http://bayouclassicdepot.com/1036_stainless_steel_pot.htm

 

[switters]

Thanks for your reply, Deathbrewer.

What about mashing/sparging in one pot? This is actually what the instructions for my Organic Oatmeal Stout (from Seven Bridges Cooperative) say to do:

First, heat your sparge water (1 to 2 gallons, depending on your recipe) to 170 oF. Open the top of the grain bag and hold it up so that the level of the grains inside the bag is slightly higher than the level of water in your brew pot (see picture, left). Using a ladle or a measuring cup, slowly pour the sparge water over the grains inside the bag. Try to pour most of the water as close to the center of the bag as possible; this will extract the highest possible amount of sugars. Allow the sparged grains to drain for a few minutes, then squeeze the bag gently to extract more of the remaining liquid. If the bag is too hot to handle, set it aside to cool- you can squeeze the bag into you brew later in the brewing process.

It is important to not try and wring out every last drop of liquid from the grains, as this will add too much solid matter to the brew and can affect the taste and clarity of the finished beer. The spent grains are no longer needed for the brew, as the flavor and color have already been extracted.

What do you think? It seems like utilization might not be as high with this method, but I don't really know.

 

[DeathBrewer]

That will work fine. If you have two smaller pots, you could use a pour-over sparge of more than just two gallons (heat up water in each pot to ~180°F and pour over grains.) A colander that fit over your 5 gallon pot would be useful.

However, I misunderstood earlier...I thought you already had a 7.5 gallon pot. You will need a bigger pot if you intend to do all-grain. You just will not be able to hold enough water in the 5 gallon pot to do a proper sparge (pour-over or dunking) and you will get low efficiency.

Personally, I think squeezing the bag could result in tannin extraction (many would disagree with me) and is altogether unnecessary if you can use enough water.

 

[switters]

I need to buy a 7.5 gallon pot but I'm trying to limit my expenses, so if I can do the mashing, sparging and boiling in that one pot (using two smaller pots I already have to heat water for the sparge) then that means I only have to buy one pot right now. That's the idea, at least.

 

[DeathBrewer]

You will still need to use extract, I think. Think about it like this:

13 quart mash = 3.25 gallons
10.75 * .125 = ~1.25 gallons absorption
3.25 - 1.25 gallons = 2 gallons remaining

You want at most 4.5 gallons in your pot, so that means you can use 2.5 gallons of sparge water. I don't think that will be enough to get great efficiency (probably around 60-65% if you're lucky) so you will still need to do an extract addition. You would need to do a late extract addition, as you will not have enough headspace to add it at the beginning.

What size pots do you have? You may be able to split your boil. You could use one pot for the initial sparge, and then scoop some of the wort out and boil in that pot, then do the same for the other pot. Sounds complicated, but not really a big deal...you only need to add your hops to the big pot and carefully monitor for boil-offs. Or split evenly, like I did here:

Brewing 08/08/08

Of course, I did this because it was difficult to get a full boil on my stovetop. I actually started using my cooler before I used the bag method.

 

[switters]

Sorry, I think I got a bit confused.

The recipe I'm doing is a partial mash (maybe I didn't make that clear), so of the 10.75 lbs. I mentioned earlier 6 lbs. is extract. That means I'll only be mashing 4.75 lbs. of grain, which requires 1.86 gallons of space. So would a 3 gallon pot be enough for mashing the grains?

I get that I'd still need a larger pot for boiling the wort, but if I do a partial boil I wouldn't need anything larger than a 5 gallon pot, right? I could take the wort from the mash (5 quarts after mashing?) and add maybe another 1.5 gallons of water to the boiling pot along with the extract, and then add enough water to the carboy to bring it up to 5.5 gallons?

If that's true then I could probably get by with the 5 gallon pot I have now.

 

[DeathBrewer]

Ahh, perfect! Yes, a 3 gallon pot would work great with that.

I would go with 1.50 qt/lb (7 quarts) for the mash. That will give you more headspace and make for great efficiency than the thicker mash.

And yes, a partial boil will work fine.

So you're looking at:

7 quarts (1.75 gal) - ~.75 (absorption) = 1 gallon

Use a 2 gallon sparge and you should be able to add your extract at the beginning of the boil without any problems.

It'll cut it close with the extract, but that's pretty much the method I originally posted here. You could even go with the standard 2 gal mash/2 gal sparge if you wanted.

Have fun and let me know if you need anything else.

 

[flagman]

Thanks for the great info, I am going to do a PM tomorrow. I to am going to do a Pumkin ale. I just wanted to clear up a couple things first.

1. I have 3.5 pounds of grain and 3.5 pounds of pumpkin that I want to mash together. Do I need to figure additional water for the pumkin? I was thinking 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain, so roughly 1.5 gallons? So would you also add 1.5 gallons for the pumpkin?

2. My brew kettles are 4 gallons and 7 gallons. Whatever water I use in the mash kettle can I use the remainder of the five gallons in the 7 gallon kettle for sparging and to do a full boil so that I do not have to top off. My kettle from doing extract kits loses apprx. .6 gallons in one hour.

Thanks

 

[Dirt101]

Great post, I cant get my head around the numbers though. If I wanted to do this recipe in two 4 gallon pots what would it look like?, Its a version of Edworts Haus Pale Ale..


Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: Partial Mash


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size:
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 7.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 32.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 67.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 65.79 %
2.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 26.32 %
0.60 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 7.89 %
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 25.5 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (45 min) Hops 5.0 IBU
0.25 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (15 min) Hops 1.3 IBU
0.25 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (5 min) Hops 0.5 IBU

 

[DeathBrewer]

2.6 lbs of malt x 1.5 quarts/lb = ~1 gallon of water

I would sparge with 1.5 gallons of water, add your extract, and top off as needed afterward.

That's not your only option, tho...you could use up to 6.5 pounds of grain in a 4 gallon pot, according to the "can I mash it" calculator:

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

Of course, the more you mash, the more you need to sparge and boiling in a 4 gallon pot means you don't want more than 3-3.5 gallons in there, including mash water, sparge water and displacement from the extract.

 

[knappster]

Of course, the more you mash, the more you need to sparge and boiling in a 4 gallon pot means you don't want more than 3-3.5 gallons in there, including mash water, sparge water and displacement from the extract.

How much water can you count on losing on account of the grain soaking it up? I was expecting to lose a little bit more than I did when I tried this method using your Dunkelweizen recipe. I had about 3.999 gallons in my 4 gallon brewpot and miraculously avoided boilover.:rockin:

That was 2 gallons of mash water, 5.25 pounds of grain, & 2 gallons of sparge water. I haven't figured out how I am going to improve this for next time....

 

[DeathBrewer]

The general consensus is 0.125 gallons per pound of grain.

You could use 7 quarts of water for mash and sparge, instead of 8. That'll save you a little space, but might lower your efficiency.

Or you could split the boil between your two pots. Or buy some new pots

 

[knappster]

Maybe I did my math wrong then, because that meant I should have lost well over half a gallon of water, and I don't think it was close to that. Or maybe I'm just really bad at estimating volumes...

I actually bought a 3 gallon enamel pot for the mashing, then I sparged in the 4 gallon stainless steel pot. I would rather not boil in the enamel pot, so I either need to get a 5 gallon pot or like you said, cut back on the sparge water... or learn to live dangerously, lol.

BTW, I hope to bottle that dunkelweizen soon. I used Danstar Munich yeast and it started off slow, so I hope it doesn't end up ruining the brew like all those people are having with the Notty I'm just trying to get enough bottles freed up!

 

[DeathBrewer]

Did you account for extract displacement? I don't have a formula for that, unfortunately, but you will get a lot of volume when you add your extract. Late extract additions can help with this.

I've used the Munich yeast and it's turned out great. I wouldn't worry about it...give it a swirl to ensure the yeast are still busy.

 

[knappster]

I got a gravity reading a week and a half after I pitched and it was good. It's just that the surface was smooth and placid for 72+ hours before anything really happened that has me concerned. Just the fact that it is manufactured by the same company and packaged similarly that makes me think it might have the same problem. I've done few brews, but when I used Munich before it got off to a quick violent start (less than 12 hours) just like Notty normally does.

I hope to do a PM english brown ale soon with this method too. Maybe I'll let it mash while I'm bottling the dunkelweizen...

 

[Dirt101]

One more quick question about the sparge, Beersmith tells me to batch sparge round 1 with .96 gallons of water, then batch sparge round 2 with 1.63 gallons of water? This is with 4 lbs of grain. Maybe because im using a 4 gal pot?

 

[DeathBrewer]

One more quick question about the sparge, Beersmith tells me to batch sparge round 1 with .96 gallons of water, then batch sparge round 2 with 1.63 gallons of water? This is with 4 lbs of grain. Maybe because im using a 4 gal pot?

I don't understand your question, but that's pretty much what I suggested. You can round those numbers off. 1 gallon for mash, 1.5 gallons for sparge.

 

[Dirt101]

This is after the mash..Its telling me to mash in 1 gallon for 45 minutes at 158 deg, then sparge two diff times..I just didnt know why it told me to sparge twice?

 

[RandalG]

I'm pretty sure it's because rinsing twice helps get more fermentable sugars out of the mash than if you just did it once.

 

[Dirt101]

Ah, that makes sense..thanks for the help.

 

[DeathBrewer]

I wouldn't mash at 158°F. That's WAY too high.

My only conern is if you use as much sparge water as they are suggesting, you'll probably end up with too much liquid for your 4 gallon pot.

 

[snail]

Deathbrewer,

I will be making 5.5gals of beer this weekend with the method you outlined. I have 6lbs of grain for my recipe & 4lbs of dry extract. I figured it to be 9qts of water for the strike water (6*1.5=9). Would I heat up an additional 2gals of water for the sparge? How will I get the final water volume of wort to 5.5gals? Do i need more water?