EdWorts Haus Pale Ale - Gonna do a Partial Mash

[bigben]

Got my ingredients today!! I am trying to to EdWorts Haus Pale Ale, but with a partial mash as my brew kettle is too small. Here are the goods...

Grain:
Pale Malt (American 2-Row) ....... 4.0 lbs
Vienna Malt ................................ 2.0 lbs
Crystal 10L Malt ......................... 0.5 lbs

Extract:
Alexanders Pale LME .................. 3.0 lbs

Hops: (LHBS didn't have enough Cascade so...)
Amarillo ... 8.9% ... 1.0 oz ... 60 mins
Cascade .. 6.9% ... 0.5 oz ... 30 mins
Cascade .. 6.9% ... 0.25 oz ... 15 mins
Cascade .. 6.9% ... 0.25 oz ... 5 mins

Yeast:
Danstar Nottingham Yeast
--------------------------------------------------

Now for the questions. I have a 4 gallon pot. I plan on mashing with 2 gallons of water and sparging with another 2 gallons.

1. What will my runoff be? I am estimating around 3.25 gallons.

2. I have a 5 gallon round Rubbermaid cooler with a SS braid. Is this too big for a 2 gallon mash?

3. Since I'm going to have extra room in the cooler, Should I heat my sparge water and just dump it into the MLT and then drain everything? Or should I stick with the method of collecting the first runnings then adding the 2 gallon sparge water?

4. Can I ferment in a 5 gallon carboy as long as I use a blowoff tube?

Thanks!

 

[Thalon]

1. See #2 below.
2. That's big enough to do the original recipe all-grain. I can testify because that's exactly what I just got done doing tonight, and I have a 5 gal Igloo cooler from Home Depot - basically the same as what you have. Go for it!
3. See #2. Also, definitely drain the first runnings into the kettle before adding the sparge water. You will get more sugars that way. If you do it as you first suggested, you would basically be doing the no-sparge method and crippling yourself by not adding the sparge water at the beginning so the sugars have time to dissolve. Definitely do the sparge separately from draining the mash water (first runnings).
4. Yessir, works like a charm.

Good luck!

 

[bigben]

1. See #2 below.
2. That's big enough to do the original recipe all-grain. I can testify because that's exactly what I just got done doing tonight, and I have a 5 gal Igloo cooler from Home Depot - basically the same as what you have. Go for it!
3. See #2. Also, definitely drain the first runnings into the kettle before adding the sparge water. You will get more sugars that way. If you do it as you first suggested, you would basically be doing the no-sparge method and crippling yourself by not adding the sparge water at the beginning so the sugars have time to dissolve. Definitely do the sparge separately from draining the mash water (first runnings).
4. Yessir, works like a charm.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info. The problem is I dont have a burner, chiller, or a pot big enough to do all-grain. I know the cooler is big enough for all grain. However, all-grain is out of the question this time around.

I'm wondering if it's too big to effectively mash 6.5 lbs of grains. I'm worried about the grain bed being too shallow with 2 gallons of mash water.

Thanks!

 

[Thalon]

Whoops, sorry I guess that would be a consideration going AG. I'll try and help out as much as I can but I'm new to AG and BeerSmith (brewing software) so someone else back me up on this here.

Using the Water Needed tool, setting brew type to Partial Mash, put in total grain weight as 6.5lbs and it calculates grain absorption to be 0.78 gal. So your guess of 3.25 is just about right on. I don't know if any other parameters would affect this or not, but I changed a bunch of others and didn't see the grain absorption value change.

You should be just fine mashing 6.5lbs of grain in the round 5 gal size cooler. Basically you want to avoid a dimension ratio of greater than 2:1, either horizontal or vertical. If the depth of the grain bed is more than twice the width, it will compact the grain bed and possibly lead to stuck sparges. If the width is more than twice the depth, the depth itself may not be deep enough and you won't get the good grain bed filter. But in the round 5 gal cooler you can't go wrong. To get the width more than twice the depth in that thing you'd have to mash about 1/4lb or something. I would estimate with 6.5lb grain bill you're probably going to be right around 1:1 on the ratio so you're golden.

 

[bigben]

awesome man, thanks for the info. One more day till brew day!!!

 

[bigben]

anyone have any comments on the recipe? Will the Amarillo hops make it much more bitter? Also, when would be the best time to add the extract? Should I do it at the beginning of the boil or with 15 - 20 minutes left?

 

[Thalon]

There's a lot of comments on the thread where Edwort posted the recipe.

BrewSmith says that Amarillo has about 8.5% alpha acid content, whereas Cascade is only 5.5. I replaced the first Cascade with Amarillo in the recipe and it says you're looking at 40.5 IBUs as opposed to 27.8 IBUs with all Cascade. So yes, it will be a good bit more hoppy.

I like to do late extract addition (last 10-15 min, basically just boiling it to sanitize it) with extract brews. Search the forums for 'late extract addition' you should come up with quite a few results explaining all the pros and cons.

Happy brewing!


EDIT: Hmmm.... I used BrewSmith to automatically convert Edwort's AG recipe to PM, and it jumped the Vienna malt up to 4.41lbs, dropped the 2-row to 5lbs and did away with the Crystal Malt altogether. I guess the LME will produce a lighter beer than the full AG grain bill would, so they step up the Vienna to compensate. Hope that helps.

 

[bigben]

actually that makes no sense at all. Why would the partial mash have almost the same amount of grain plus the extract??? I don't think it converted the recipe correctly.

 

[Thalon]

You're right, that makes no sense. Dunno what to tell ya, I skipped PM and went straight to AG so I have no experience with PM recipes.

 

[McTarnamins]

I'd put the amarillo late for flavor and aroma and move the cascade up. I did a split mash with one brew cascade and one amarillo. The amarillo aroma, flavor, and smooth aftertaste kicked the crap out of cascade.

Amarillo is my new cascade. Don't hide that amarillo at 60 min. Put'em at 15 and zero.

Just my $2.50 (inflation)

cheers.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Got my ingredients today!! I am trying to to EdWorts Haus Pale Ale, but with a partial mash as my brew kettle is too small.

Don't let that hold you back. I started doing AG with a 5.5 gal kettle, and they've turned out fine. Of course a larger kettle is my next upgrade, but if can be done with an undersized kettle, you just have to top it off before you pitch.