Easy Partial Mash Brewing (with pics)

[tx-brewer]

Thank you for this! I already used this method and it worked great! I have dumb newbie question though, will this work for all grain as well?

Of course. I have been doing 3.5 gal batches this way. Only.thing is you have to have a pot big enough if you want to do full boils

 

[jkendrick]

So is kettle size limitations the only reason someone would do PM vs. AG using this method?

 

[tx-brewer]

I'm still early in my brewing days, but i think think you can do ag and add water post boil but it is not recommended. So to your question I would answer that yes, the only variable would be kettle size.

Pm and ag are essentially the same thing except with partial you add lme or dme and usually add water at the end. Ag you do not add lme or dme and generally do not add water at the end.

Adding water post boil can affect your use of hops and your original gravity. So if you do pm either use a recipe made for that, or use a brewing software to be able to account for hop usage and gravity.

Just search around and do a lot of reading, it can be overwhelming at first but its really no big deal once you figure it out.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong

 

[TANSTAAFB]

You pretty much have it but don't let the naysayers keep you from brewing 3 gallons of high grav wort and top off your fermenter with water like you do extract batches. I have done it, Revvy's done it, and a whole $h!tload of other brewers have done it. And it makes damn fine beer too!

Sure, it is preferable to do full boils. Lots of things I do now are better practice than what I did when I started. But if you don't have the gear yet what the hell are you supposed to do? Stick with extract until you can afford the big kettle? No way! I made a ton of great beer with what I had on hand, learned a lot about what works and what doesn't, and had a MUCH better idea of what I wanted when it was time to upgrade equipment. Brew what you like with what you have. Rant over!

 

[tx-brewer]

You pretty much have it but don't let the naysayers keep you from brewing 3 gallons of high grav wort and top off your fermenter with water like you do extract batches. I have done it, Revvy's done it, and a whole $h!tload of other brewers have done it. And it makes damn fine beer too!

Sure, it is preferable to do full boils. Lots of things I do now are better practice than what I did when I started. But if you don't have the gear yet what the hell are you supposed to do? Stick with extract until you can afford the big kettle? No way! I made a ton of great beer with what I had on hand, learned a lot about what works and what doesn't, and had a MUCH better idea of what I wanted when it was time to upgrade equipment. Brew what you like with what you have. Rant over!

I wasn't naysaying, just telling my experience. I suggested it doing smaller ag because it allows you to learn the process with less risk of larger batches, and eliminates having to compensate of hop utilization and other things that can create more things to think about in a situation that you are trying to learn and grasp the ideas.

Had a few beers, sorry for the poor grammer. Isn't that what this is all about though, haha

 

[TANSTAAFB]

You make good points my friend. And I wasn't calling you a naysayer for suggesting that folks work smaller and within the confines of their equipment as they learn. But there are plenty of folks out there who will make statements regarding what you can and can't do and still make good beer and much of it is so much bull$h!t! Cheers!

 

[unionrdr]

I've done 4 partial boil/partial mash BIAB's with my 5G SS BK/MT. The same equipement I've used since my 2nd or 3rd batch. The only thing I added was a 5G paint strainer bag for the mash. I mash 5lbs of grain in 2 gallons of water & sparge with 1.5 gallons. This gives 3.5 gallons of fresh wort that I do all hop additions with. Then add 3-3.3lbs of extract at the end. Makes good beer,but I had to get some super moss (5 star) to get it clearer next batch. I get lighter colors & clean flavor this way.
So if you have a 5 gallon (20 QT) pot,you can do it easilly.

 

[Zoidberg]

I basically do this method. I do Partial mashes with somewhere around 3-4lbs of grain for a 3.5 gallon batch. I could do AG but only do 2.5gallon boil since I don't have a wort chiller and adding near frozen distilled water is my best method to cool so far. When I add a decent amount of water for mashing and a sparging at the end it ends up being too much water for a partial boil. I use Beersmith and adjust bittering hops according to pre-boil og to match IBUs.

I've gotten 75% efficiency measured every step of the way on my latest brew this morning of a Centennial IPA.

My only addition in what I do, which may have already been though of or discussed, is I put the kettle in my oven preheated around 154. I only pull out to confirm temp holding and to stir it a bit. I sparge by hopefully having a friend hold the grain bag while I pour 2quarts per lbs of grain at 168F over it into my fermenting bucket, then strained back into the kettle to remove any grain debris.

 

[jenkinsw]

Great writeup and pics! I'm just about to bottle my first partial batch, partially thanks to your input!
I did modify the steps a little and used snow instead of ice to chill my wort - gotta use what is available!

 

[Zoidberg]

I just tried my first batch does this way. My first partial grain recipe. I did a variation on BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde. I cracked the first one last night and it was by far the best beer I've made.

 

[HokieHomeBrewer]

Amazing thread. Quick question though. I'll be doing a 5 gallon PM Zombie Dust clone, I'm still very new to brewing and have only done a few extract brews, I generally start off with 3 gallons pre-boil and then top up to 5 gallons in my primary once the wort is chilled etc. The recipe I'm using calls for 2.5 lbs of grain so here's my question.

So with the partial mash....2.5 lb grains @1.25 quarts (water) = 3.125 quarts which is roughly .78 gallons correct? I'm going to be doing a 3 gallon boil and then top it up to 5 gallon post boil. How much wort can I expect that 2.5 lb of grain to absorb?

I just want to make sure that when I add my "first wort" to the my other wort which I'll be steeping with my bag of grains that it ends up around 3 gallons.

Thanks

 

[unionrdr]

3 quarts to 1 gallon of water would be fine for the mash. Sparge with 1 gallon at 165-168F. That'd give about 2 gallons of wort. Or sparge with 1.5 gallons to get 2.5G for the boil. That'd allow for a lil boil off.

 

[willy_mugobeer]

I cracked the first one last night and it was by far the best beer I've made.

Yeah, I've now used this method successfully for about 10 batches ... definitely better beers than the extract batches I was doing before, just a more complex flavor overall. Thanks for this awesome thread that originally convinced me I could do it!

 

[Malty_Dog]

Is it just me or are the pics not showing up in this thread anymore?

 

[MDBrew69]

No, not only you - I don't see the pics any more either.

Is it just me or are the pics not showing up in this thread anymore?

 

[briannauta]

Looks like the domain hosting the images has expired.

 

[DeathBrewer]

oh noes! Renewed it. Should show up soon. Sorry folks.

 

[briannauta]

Thanks! I used these instructions a couple of weeks ago and I can't wait to taste how the beer turned out. I really appreciate this tutorial.

 

[fosaisu]

Thanks for the extremely helpful thread, DeathBrewer! Did my first PM this week and it went pretty smoothly.

 

[Peppers16]

Thanks for the tutorial! It's refreshing to see clear instructions that aren't unnecessarily pedantic.
BIAB partial mash actually seems like such a sensible compromise, I can't honestly see why I'd want to upgrade to all-grain (at least for a number of years).

 

[BrettV]

I'm brewing an IPA tonight, and it calls for mash hops (which I've never done,) but many people using the recipe say they throw the hops in as FWH addition. Now, since we're "teabag sparging" in a separate pot, to which pot would I add the hops and when? Into the sparge pot when I add my bag of grain to let it sit for 10 mins, or into the hot wort in the mash tun from which I just pulled the grain, where I will eventually pour the sparged wort into for the boil?

 

[JRapp]

My wort is chilling in my deep sink right now!

I tend to over analyze and make things entirely more complicated then they have to be, so naturally something that if you want it to be can be extremely complicated such as brewing I was getting my self all stressed out over my 1st PM/BIAB.


This tutorial is perfect for my setup or any set up coming from extract, all you need is a bag. Thanks much for making something that in books looks complicated absurdly easy, because of this my 1st PM/BIAB went real well, everything looks spot on!!

So stoked for what doors in brewing opened up now that I know how east BIAB is

 

[motownsailor]

Deathbrewer, you are the man! I ordered a mini-mash kit by mistake and this will save the day. Thanks for posting!! +1 all day.

 

[mpc88]

Nice. I will try this after I get a couple more batches done,

 

[mrbeerdotca]

What type of bag is that??

 

[unionrdr]

I love the nylon paint strainer bags. Rolls over the lip of the kettle to allow stiring the grains & washes out quick-n-easy.

 

[skidoobrewer]

that's how I did my first batch, I also filled up some water bottles the night before and let them freeze for the cool down.

 

[Trail]

Adding my thanks here as well. I've been doing AG BIAB for the last six batches since I read this guide... I've only done two partial mashes, but without this guide I might not have realized how simple mashing could be.

 

[MrSpaz]

Just did my first partial and used this method. It worked perfectly! Not totally sure what my efficiency was, but everything worked great.

 

[SatiricalPuma]

This was hugely helpful and has taken all the fear out of breaking the extract barrier for me. Thank you!