Partial Mash - First Stupid Question!

[matt____]

Hi everyone!

I started off by brewing beer kits, these were always no boil versions complete with all hops etc, you just dissolved the can of LME in hot water and then topped up to 5 gallons with additional water.

I moved straight from here to AG brewing and generally brew small 5 or 8 litre batches due to the lack of space for larger equipment.

My question is, if I do a partial mash, do I need to add LME to the boil at any point? In my head I figure I should be able to mash the speciality malts and then boil these as usual with the full amount of hops, then add LME and top up water in the fermenter to come all the way up to 5 gallons/19 litres filling my fermenting bucket but only using my smaller 12 litre/3 gallon kettle.

Is this actually feasible, or should I just stick to my small batches...?

Thanks!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Is this actually feasible, or should I just stick to my small batches...?

If I'm reading your approach correctly, it looks like you are doing a partial boil with late additions of DME/LME and water.

This is feasible for many styles, generally mid-range on ABV and on bitterness. For "bigger" (hoppier or higher ABV) styles you may get better results with full boil.

If you have access to the 4th edition of How to Brew, it is an good resource (and a single voice) for learning more about it.

 

[tektonjp]

I would put in about half the LME at the beginning. Extraction of the hop oils is help with wert (that's why you don't boil hops all by themselves). Then add the second half before chilling so it gets dissolved well and sanitized. Then top up your water wafter chilling and transferring.

 

[kh54s10]

It really sounds like you are talking about an extract with specialty grains recipe. In this you would steep the grains. Add 1/2 of the LME to the beginning of the boil for hop utilization, then add the rest late. Then cool and top up.

If you are doing a true partial or mini-mash. You will have some base grain in the recipe and need to control mash temperature much better. Then the same, add a 1/2 of the LME at the beginning for hop utilization then the rest at the end. Then cool and top up.

 

[matt____]

Thanks everyone!

If I'm reading your approach correctly, it looks like you are doing a partial boil with late additions of DME/LME and water.

This is feasible for many styles, generally mid-range on ABV and on bitterness. For "bigger" (hoppier or higher ABV) styles you may get better results with full boil.

If you have access to the 4th edition of How to Brew, it is an good resource (and a single voice) for learning more about it.

That's pretty much was I was thinking yes. I'm just brewing a fairly standard English Ale so no crazy high alcohol or bitterness.

I have How to Brew, not sure which edition but I'll have another look

It really sounds like you are talking about an extract with specialty grains recipe. In this you would steep the grains. Add 1/2 of the LME to the beginning of the boil for hop utilization, then add the rest late. Then cool and top up.

If you are doing a true partial or mini-mash. You will have some base grain in the recipe and need to control mash temperature much better. Then the same, add a 1/2 of the LME at the beginning for hop utilization then the rest at the end. Then cool and top up.

Thanks, still getting my head around the terminology. Doing a true partial/mini-mash should be fine, my only constraint is that I only have capacity to boil 10 litres of wort and I'd like to end up with 19 litres (liters ) of beer.

I have an existing recipe (AG) so I'll have a go at converting it.

 

[Lefou]

Doing a partial mash is a great way to do higher ABV beers that might be beyond your all grain mashing or boil capacity.
I do all grain for session beers using a 7.5 gallon kettle to boil 3-4 gallons of wort, then dilute with water to get the desired gravity and volume. I will add liquid extract near the end of the boil to do heavier beers greater than 5% ABV, then use chilled water to dilute to the desired volume. Full boils are a bit beyond my stove's ability to heat wort, so using a well-planned partial mash with extract is a good solution.

 

[Sard Brew]

My cooker can't handle a full boil either so I messed about with brewers friend and made a 3 gallon partial mash (first time ever) gave me around 2g @ 1.055 wort then added 1.5 LME to the fermentor topped up to 5g with water, total OG was 1.050 which I'm pretty happy about.
Seemed like the best way to get the most from my cooker Oo, lets hope it tastes alright.......

 

[Sadu]

I'm an all-grain brewer but have been doing some partial mash brews lately and loving it. Doing 30 min mash and 30 min boil to save time.

I generally use around 50% extract 50% grain and just add the extract at flameout so it dissolves nicely. If you were using a higher proportion of extract you might want to add some at the start of the boil.

 

[matt____]

Thanks all,

I guess I'm never going to get the same exact beer, but not sure that matters, I'll have a play around with the recipe soon so I can get something ready for over Christmas!

 

[matt____]

Hi everyone,

I've had a play around in Beersmith (I'm not entirely sure I know what I'm doing!) and have come up with the below. I was intending on still doing a full mash, and then adding the liquid extract at the end. At the moment the recipe calls for building the LME, is this a necessary step bearing in mind, the reason for doing things this way is that I don't have the ability to boil large quantities of liquid.

I'd love to hear your opinions - all the gravity, bitterness, IBUs etc all match my original, smaller batch AG recipe, so how bad can it be?!

 

[matt____]

Forgot to say, I'm intending on trying to get 20 litres out of this.

 

[kh54s10]

I think that you will want to boil about half of your malt extract for the entire boil for hop utilization although it looks like you are getting plenty of bitterness, maybe too much?

 

[matt____]

Thanks for the advice, I'll have to work out how much liquid I can cram in the pot I'll be boiling in.

It does look like too much bitterness on paper, but I brewed this as an AG and it tasted great....