10 gallon batches into 2-5 gallon batches

[balto charlie]

Hey folks: I like 10 gallons batches of some brews but often prefer 5 gallon batches. What are some of your techniques for turning a 10 gallon brew into 2 different 5 gallon batches. I figure dry hopping could accomplish this a little, different yeast would also work. Do some of you make a separate mini mash to turn a brown into a porter?? How about a pale ale into an IPA? Hop teas? Any input appreciated.

 

[tdogg]

i just did this on my last batch of pale ale. i used two different yeasts and dry hopped the one with the "drier" yeast. all other variables were identical. im hoping to get 2 very different beers, but we'll see.

 

[corncob]

Look up the word "parti-gyle." I have decided this method is not a mysterious antiquated novelty, but tailor-made for the home brewer. Multiple beers from the same mash, smaller boils, high-efficiency. They did it for the same reason we should all be doing it.

I have two partigyle brews in the hopper. One is for the 12-12-12 Wee Heavy. Basically, my recipe is for a 16-gallon (pre-boil) batch of 1.060 ale. No big deal. The first runnings (8 gallons) will end up as 4.75 gallons of the 1.100 Wee Heavy, and the second runnings gets a pound of british crystal (steeped--to bring some unfermentables back to the party after the Heavy's long, low mash) and becomes a best bitter (1.040 or so), plus some frozen starter wort.

Since the first and second runnings are boiled separately, they can have entirely different hop schedules. You can also add other grains and mash in-between. You can blend the two (or three) gyles to produce anything you want, and ferment with different yeast. I blend the two gyles 50/50 for Porters, for instance. You only need turkey fryer size pots to boil a 10-gallon batch. You can brew a huge beer plus a normal beer from the same mash and still get efficiency in the 80s.

 

[tdogg]

Look up the word "parti-gyle." I have decided this method is not a mysterious antiquated novelty, but tailor-made for the home brewer. Multiple beers from the same mash, smaller boils, high-efficiency. They did it for the same reason we should all be doing it.

I have two partigyle brews in the hopper. One is for the 12-12-12 Wee Heavy. Basically, my recipe is for a 16-gallon (pre-boil) batch of 1.060 ale. No big deal. The first runnings (8 gallons) will end up as 4.75 gallons of the 1.100 Wee Heavy, and the second runnings gets a pound of british crystal (steeped--to bring some unfermentables back to the party after the Heavy's long, low mash) and becomes a best bitter (1.040 or so), plus some frozen starter wort.

Since the first and second runnings are boiled separately, they can have entirely different hop schedules. You can also add other grains and mash in-between. You can blend the two (or three) gyles to produce anything you want, and ferment with different yeast. I blend the two gyles 50/50 for Porters, for instance. You only need turkey fryer size pots to boil a 10-gallon batch. You can brew a huge beer plus a normal beer from the same mash and still get efficiency in the 80s.

im going to have to try this someday. im guessing you have 2 burners and a refractometer to check the gravity of the runnings?

 

[corncob]

I have 2 craigslist turkey fryer "kits" with burners and 8-gallon aluminum pots. I have a keggle MLT, which I place on a 4-ft stack of blocks to gravity drain, and cover with an old blanket. I have a keggle HLT with a pump on the outlet, so I don't get scalded trying to lift 40 pounds of 200-degree water over my head. The HLT goes on one burner to start with, and the kettle for the second runnings takes its place after the sparge water is all in the MLT. After boiling and chilling (with an immersion chiller) each kettle goes up on the blocks for whirlpool and siphoning into fermenters. I try to time the two boils about 20 minutes apart.

For about the last 5 batches, the ratio of the gravities of the first and second runnings has been always very nearly 2:1. That is, between 67%/33% and 70%/30%. This assumes the gyles have equal volumes. I mashout with just enough water to make my first runnings come out right.

You will have to do separate bitterness calculations for them. The color is very hard to predict, but I'm sure it can be done.

I wish I had a refractometer. I just chill a sample with frozen ice packs and use the hydrometer, then it goes back into the boil.

 

[balto charlie]

parti-gyle sounds good but it still is brewing 2 different batches. Will look into it though, thanks. Looks like a great way to max out your grain.

Tdogg did what I was suggesting, let us know how it goes.

I was wondering if there were other single batch plus additions that could easily create a different brew.

 

[corncob]

Oh I misunderstood. You are looking for two different beers out of the same fermentation.

I have no idea about that. But thanks for the opportunity to get up on my soapbox.

 

[Poobah58]

I did a 10 gallon batch of Pumpkin beer just recently. Sparged 10 gallons into a kettle and mixed. I then drew off half into another pot. In the second pot I added some DME, brown sugar and steeped a little dark crystal. Hopped both batches differently and used two different yeasts. I was left with a Pumpkin Ale and a Pumpkin Saison...

 

[corkybstewart]

You can steep grains, boil and add to one fermenter-your pale ale becomes a hoppy stout in one fermenter. As you said different yeasts and dry hops work. If you want to give one beer more hops, boil different hops in a little DME and add to the fermenter. Your choices are limited only by your imagination.