First partial mash question

[foreman1063]

I've brewed 7 extract kits since November and have had good success. Now it's time to move on to partial mash kits en route to eventually doing AG brews.

Looking over the instructions for the Red Ale I just ordered, brought up a question. Mash water + sparge water = 2.5 gallons, instructions say to add make up water when going to the fermentor. I normally do full 5 gallon boils, I assume this is no different. Should I just add the other 2.5 gallons at the beginning of the boil or should I sparge enough water to get to the 5 gallon mark?

 

[BobC]

on average you will boil off 1.5 gallons of water during your boil. so you'll want to have at least 6.5 gallons for the boil to end up with 5 gallons. So it should be mash water + sparge water = 6.5 gallons.

 

[foreman1063]

Right, but the instructions call for 1.125 gal of mash water and 1.5 gal of sparge water, boil, then add cold make up water at the end to get to 5 gallons. So to do a full boil should I just dump the make up water in at the beginning of the boil (to get to 6.5 gal), sparge with it or does it just not matter?

Thanks

 

[bleme]

You can do whichever way works best for you. I

usually use 2 pots. Mash in one and sparge in the other, then combine and boil.

 

[BobC]

If you have a pot big enough to handle the full 5 gallons then mash with a full batch. I agree with bleme do whichever way works best for you. How ever IMO I would boil with 6.5 gallons in order to reduce the chance of caramelizing the DME/LME on the bottom of your pot, I think adding that much water after the boil tends to make the beer taste watery. Even with 6.5 gallons remember to remove it from the heat before adding it and keep stirring it. Also most don't add it till the last 15 minutes of the boil or even at flame out.

 

[nealizm]

If you have a pot big enough to do a 6.5g boil you could be doing ag biab.Cheaper and more true to the art.

 

[cluckk]

With partial mash, you will be adding more extract to the wort you get from the mash. Use the amount of water called for in the mash and sparge. To that wort, add the rest of the water to get up to about 6.5 gallons. Steep your specialty grains. Boil the wort and do the hop additions. I usually added extract (back when I did partial-mash or the occasional times I use it today to beef up second runnings from a parti-gyle) to the last 15 minutes of the boil. If you do this keep in mind that the lower gravity during the lion's share of the boil will make your hops utilization more efficient, so the hops would need to be reduced.

You can also add the extract at the beginning if that is what the recipe calls for--or if you prefer. Check your hops level anyways, because if the recipe calls for adding the extract early along with the hop schedule and then topping off after, it is assuming a much higher gravity in the boil--so less bitterness than you would actually get from a full boil.

 

[foreman1063]

Thanks for the replies, I think I'm on the right track now.

 

[RIC0]

You can do whichever way works best for you. I

usually use 2 pots. Mash in one and sparge in the other, then combine and boil.

Exactly and 1.5 qt of water for every pound of grain you use.

Last night I did a partial mash for a belgian white. I had 4 lbs of grain.

One 5 gal pot with 1.5 gal of water to mash with.

One 7 gal pot with 1.5 gal of water to sparge with.

Once sparging is complete add the 1.5 gal of water from the smaller pot, bring to a boil add the rest of the ingredients as needed. In the end I top off the cooled wort with whatever amount of water I need to bring it to the correct OG.

 

[unionrdr]

I use 1-2 quarts of water per pound of grain. My partial mash pale ales use 5lbs of grains in 2 gallons of water now for better wetting of the grains. I do BIAB partial boils as well. After stirring the mash,I take it off the stove & lay out my winter hunting coat with two pot holders on top of that. Set the MT/BK on that,& wrap it up in the coat. Since it's thinsulate lined,I gain 1 degree over the 1 hour mash instead of loosing temp.
So while it's mashing,I take my 4 gallon kettle & heat 1.5 gallons of sparge water. After the mash,I pull out the bag & let it drain through a SS collander on top of the MT/BK. After that,it goes back on the stove & sparged to 3.5 gallons for the boil. Extract gets added at flame out,since in my case the fresh wort is about 50% of the fermentables. Chill down to about 70F & top off in fermenter with very cold water to 5 gallons. Gets it down to about 64F.