Is Partial Mash a viable step?

I've been doing a little research into my "next step" with my brewery. I've got some AG experience from working with a buddy of mine and his rig, but thus far my own brewing capacity is limited to extract & steeping grain.

I'm not in a position yet where I'm willing to consider a move to AG; I've had a few unexpected, large expenses that are going to take some time to catch up from. However, the little I've been able to read up on partial mash brewing sounds intriguing, and within reach with my current budget situation.

The problem is, most of what I've read here on HBT regarding partial mash is, well, dated... Most of the active threads on the subject appear to be a couple years old. Searching through the recipes here, there are only a very few partial mash recipes, and the only vendor I can find that carries a reasonable range of partial mash kits features, in most cases, only a savings of $1-$4 over comparable extract kits.

So, I'm faced with a relative lack of recent information on the technique to help form my own recipes, and very small savings if I use kits. So, my question is, is partial mashing considered a viable step in one's progression as a brewer, or is it more of a novelty thing?

 

I would look into the BIAB methods, there are a couple. Deathbrewer has a method on here called "easy stove top all grain brewing" or something like that.

 

What are you looking for. I just kind of created by own large partial mash recipe by reducing the extract and adding more 2 row. I did a blue moon clone that was 6lbs grain(in a 5 gallon paint strainer bag $3 from lowes), 3 lbs extract then with recipes hops and spices. I just had one 2 days ago and it was great. Still has a very little "extract twang" but not too bad. I think it was a little over $20 for the ingredients at my lbh. It worked well but my next brew hopefully in the next couple of days is going to be a Brew In A Bag all grain. Check out deathbrewers write up as it is pretty easy and not very expensive at all. All you might need is a larger stock pot and a mesh bag. Good luck.

 

Yes yes yes absolutely yes.
I made a VERY good maibock (a "clone" of Rogue's Dead Guy Ale) doing partial mash. Mashed 5 lbs of grain in an igloo "beer" cooler using a large mesh bag (held temps just fine). Pulled out the bag, sparged into water in my brew kettle, added the mash wort into the 5 ga. kettle, topped off with more water, then added the extract ie. typical instructions you would follow doing "steeped grains" and extract. It turned out so well that my non-beer geek boyfriend (who pretty much only drinks Bud Light, Blue Moon, and Sam Adams) loved it and was sad when we ran out.

My first PM was a Belgian Dubbel I brewed in August - that too turned out very good (it's a heck of a lot better now in February - getting better with age).

You most certainly can do partial mash using "Brew in a Bag" and 2 kettles or a kettle and a small cooler. You don't need to do anything fancy

 

I'm one of those rare AG brewers who still does extract and partials on occasion. Doing partial mash well can be as complex as AG brewing or more so. It used to be seen as an "intermediate step" but really it's just like AG brewing at smaller volumes which you then build up with extract and water to full volumes. I still use a 5G mash tun so any time I do a beer bigger than 1060 I am effectively partial mashing. I also do stovetop partials when I don't feel like breaking out my mash tun or when weather is bad and I want to minimize my time outside (summer in Florida!)

Almost any AG recipe can be converted for partial mash by replacing a large chunk of the base grain with LME (especially given the variety of extracts available today.) You will need to make sure you have enough base grain left to convert the other mashable grains. For most beers with a 2-row base I plan on matching the amount of non-crystal specialty grains with 1.5 to 2 times the amount of 2 row to get a good conversion. This is only a starting place, there are some good resources for calculating diastatic needs of a recipe but you should be safe with those amounts. I would suggest for the first few that you post a request for help doing the conversion from AG to partial and the resulting conversations will get you moving in the right direction to do your own conversions. It will also probably net you a half dozen people saying you should just go AG but as I said above I think partials are a very useful method.

As for a process to use when starting out I agree with the above poster that Deathbrewer's threads are great. His stovetop AG method works well - I did my first AG brew using it. You can use all the same methods for your partials using the grains portion of your recipe and then adding your extract and water before (or late into) your boil depending on your druthers. I think this topic is discussed in that thread IIRC.

 

I'd move to Brew in a Bag... Extract in general seems too close to just buying a six pack to me. Once you start into all grain, most likely you'll wonder why you didn't from the beginning.

 

It's also kind of nice to do a PM when you want to make a beer with a grainbill bigger than what your equipment can handle. Mash the specialty grains and enough basemalt to convert it then you can add extract to get to the gravity you want. I've been doing the BIAB method too it works great. Maybe someday I'll move up to bigger gear but for now this does what I want it to.

 

This is why I do partial mashes. I don't have a place to use a propane burner, so I can only do partial boils anyways. I follow Deathbrewer's stove top partial sticky and it works quite well (basically you use a paint strainer bag to mash in your boil kettle, then sparge in a second pot). If you're already doing full boils, I'd look into BIAB as a nice cheap upgrade to AG. Otherwise, PMs are definitely a good way to go, and all it cost me was the $5 paint strainer bag plus some pots I already had around from my extract batches.

 

I did one partial mash as an interim step from extract to all grain... Basically, I did an all grain brew, but had some DME on hand so that I would hit my target OG... Things went well enough that I switched to all grain for the brews following that.

I do agree that BIAB is a really good method (for 5 gallon batches)... I've made some decent OG brews with that method. I find it's more limited by your pot size than anything else. My next time brewing, will probably be BIAB so that I can keep things simple. That is, unless I can get the 70 quart MLT to not leak...

With BIAB you can keep your brewing hardware to a lower amount, plus be able to store the gear more easily. It's a bit harder to store a 10 gallon, or 70 quart, cooler, and/or 60 quart pot... If you already have some decent sized pots (at least mid-20's through 40 quart) then you're ready for full batch sized boils and can do BIAB rather easily. At least for 5 gallon batch sizes.

 

You can also get some reflective insulation and wrap your brew pot in it... Pretty cheap at Lowe's, and I'm sure at HD, for more than enough for a 32 quart pot.. Don't think I would rap my bottling bucket in it, though, since that would obscure the graduations on it... You'd almost need a sight glass on it, with a ball valve, in order to get measurements with it with insulation adhered to it...

I like the brew kettle (pot with ball valve installed) as a mash/sparge pot better... Basically, you can use smaller pots, or buckets, to hold the runnings from each step, get the grain bag out of the pot (once your sparge is finished) and combine both runnings for the boil. I do plan on testing this method in future brews, since I have what I need... That is, unless I manage to fix the MLT leak issue (have a few ideas on how to fix it, one of them was posted on here about using a cut PVC coupler inside the cooler wall)...

IF you already have a decent sized cooler, you can use that to mash/sparge in, with the grain bag... You don't need to install a ball valve, if the cooler is the right size/shape... Of course, a valve, of some kind, will make things easier on you.

 

Getting my feet wet with PM batches was a really good way to get some techniques down a little at a time. I was able to concentrate on one part of the process or another with each batch. With each batch I made the grain bill larger and the DME less. Everything worked well, and when I made the AG jump, I wasn't panicking over confusing instructions and techniques. My AG results have been great. The PM was a good confidence builder.

 

I did one PM batch (a Widmer Drifter clone...one of my all time favorite brews!!! Better than the original :rockin and then jumped straight into AG. The savings from ditching the DME has paid for my MLT many times over...and I'm still using the DME from my last PM recipe I ordered online from Brewmaster's for starters!!!

You won't regret having the option in the knowledge bank, it will make AG a whole lot less scary, and you can always turn to it when the weather is bad, you are short on time, or are teaching a new brewing friend the ropes

 

OK, here's another, equipment-related question: I found one old thread regarding using a 3-gallon beverage cooler as a MLT for PM batches. It seemed intriguing, and not hard or particularly expensive to put together - until I started looking for 3-gallon coolers that is. I can find them online relatively inexpensively - until you look at shipping!

However, I've found a ton of 5-gallon coolers at Target and Wally-world, and I believe they're only $20 a pop. Are those viable for PM, or do they leave you with a grain bed that's just too shallow? I figure if they are viable, then my next step (a few months later - must take baby steps so as to not alarm SWMBO!) will be a second kettle, and I can probably start doing lighter AG batches!

I've pretty much made up my mind that my next batch will still be extract and steeping grains - but primarily because I'm going to have a couple complete noobies riding shotgun and I want to make it as gentle an intro as possible. Your answers here will help me determine at what point I can make the step.

 

I think MLT size for you depends on how much you are able to boil. According to this sticky, the 5 gal cooler can hold 12 lbs of grain and 3.75 gal of water (at a 1.25qt/lb ratio). If you figure your grain is going to soak up about 1/10 of that water, that leaves you with a little under 3.5 gal. Throw in a sparge and you're getting pretty close to 5 gal and can actually do an AG small beer (<1.060) if you can boil that much.

Now a lot of the PMs I do are about 6 lb of grain with BIAB, which would fill it up about halfway and leave you with about 1.75 gal. I've got a 3 gal pot for my stove, so I sparge with another gallon and watch for boil overs. As long as you've got a 2.5-3 gal boil kettle, it should work fine. If you're boiling less than that, you might start running into trouble because you've just got too much air space in the cooler making it tough to keep temps, but I've never used a cooler so don't take my word for it!

 

So, from the sounds of it, I could pull off PM with the equipment I have on hand and a 5 gallon cooler - but it also sounds like that might be a big large for most of the PM kits that I've been seeing at AHBS and NB, that seem to run closer to 4-5lbs of grain...

Maybe it's close to time to take the training wheels off and stop brewing from kits.

 

Time to "Man UP" as they say...

I did just one PM batch... Although when I show people the recipe I get some funny looks... 11.125# grain, 3# DME... 10# of the grain bill was base malt... That was enough to convince me that I could do an all grain batch (it wasn't from a kit either)... I only did three batches from kits, all of which I altered. Yeah, I can't leave well enough alone... I'll typically even tweak a published recipe (like a clone) I'm planning to follow...

Try a clone all grain recipe (have some DME on hand, just in case) and see how that goes...