I've made some reference to this method in other threads, perhaps it should have it's own.
Many of us love all grain brewing, but sometimes we lack the time for a full brew day. Extract, steeping grains and partial mash can make great beer in less time. Often partial mash beers are done with a modest mash, then boil and late extract addition. My method reverses that, but requires two vessels. I generally mash for about half of my gravity points. First I heat the whole water volume to strike temperature. At the same time I grind my grains and put them in a bag inside a cooler. Then I add enough water to the cooler to reach mash temp and cover it. The flame is off at this point, so I add the extract and stir well. Then continue to a boil. After hot break, I start my hop additions. I only boil for 45 minutes, so that's the time of my bittering hop. Half an hour later, I mash out right into the kettle. The mash was also about 45 minutes because of the time to get up to boil and past hot break. Return to boil and get a second hot break, complete hop additions, flame out and chill as normal. This whole process takes me about 2-1/2 hours for a five gallon batch. If you are particular you can adjust your hops for your lower volume, but I don't. The point of this method is to make a quicker brew while still mashing. Have fun!
Many of us love all grain brewing, but sometimes we lack the time for a full brew day. Extract, steeping grains and partial mash can make great beer in less time. Often partial mash beers are done with a modest mash, then boil and late extract addition. My method reverses that, but requires two vessels. I generally mash for about half of my gravity points. First I heat the whole water volume to strike temperature. At the same time I grind my grains and put them in a bag inside a cooler. Then I add enough water to the cooler to reach mash temp and cover it. The flame is off at this point, so I add the extract and stir well. Then continue to a boil. After hot break, I start my hop additions. I only boil for 45 minutes, so that's the time of my bittering hop. Half an hour later, I mash out right into the kettle. The mash was also about 45 minutes because of the time to get up to boil and past hot break. Return to boil and get a second hot break, complete hop additions, flame out and chill as normal. This whole process takes me about 2-1/2 hours for a five gallon batch. If you are particular you can adjust your hops for your lower volume, but I don't. The point of this method is to make a quicker brew while still mashing. Have fun!
