First Parti Gyle in the Fermentation Chamber

[MikeDelta1]

Yesterday I took my first shot at a Parti-Gyle surprisingly I got lucky and it worked out in the end. I nailed my volume on the first runnings and went over on my second runnings (still not sure why but it worked out in the end).
I used Tom O's Parti Gyle ciphern sheet but I'm glad I didn't do what it said to do, but it was more than likely operator error on my part. It said to swap 3 gallons of wort to achieve the gravity I wanted in each, luckily I went a little conservative and swapped two gallons and stole a half gallon from the small since it's volume was more than it should have been, that is where I got lucky I inadvertantly got both of the OG gravitys that I wanted. My only concern with the swap was it was almost impossible not to splash the wort while transferring so I do have some hot side wort worries, not sure if that is a concern pre boil. This might be an area where one of those decoction ladels would come in handy.

Starting gravity and volume:
IPA 1.072 7.75 Gallons
APA 1.034 8.25 Gallons
After Blending
IPA 1.061 8.25 Gallons
APA 1.043 7.75 Gallons
After Boil
IPA 1.069 5.25
APA 1.049 5.25

I got a little more trub yesterday and more boil off than normal from both pots and ended up a quart short on both final volumes but close enough. I think it had to do with using a pre chiller, the protein dropped out like egg drop soup. I do wish there was a easy calculator that would let you start with two volumes of differing gravity and you punch in what you want and it will tell you what to do, sadly my math skills and my excel skills are lacking. I will let you know in a few weeks or so how the beer came out.

Here a a couple of Pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62288477@N05/5696425966/
Mash in, I think 27 pounds of grain is pretty close to the max of my cooler. I also learned the hard way 27 pounds of ground grain doesn't fit in a bottling bucket, I couldn't figure out why my barley crusher wasn't working, duh the grain in the bucket was pushing up from the bottom.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62288477@N05/5695849069/
I off set the boils by 40 minutes, I only have one pre chiller, ended up working out pretty well.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62288477@N05/5696427072/
First shot at washing yeast, I took the yeast from a brown and a blonde both US05 gave them a spin in this jug and this is what I got after an hour of settling. The jar did not work for decanting so I just added about 8 turkey baster injections to each fermentor from the yeast layer. Seemed to work they were bubbling away nicely at 60 degrees about 5 hours later.

Here is the recipe I used:

Parti Gyle I
Brew Type: All Grain Date: 4/6/2011
Style: American IPA/American PA Brewer: Michael
Batch Size: 11.00 gal Boil Time: 60 min
Boil Volume: 14.78 gal IPA: IBU:69.7
Brewhouse Efficiency: 68.00 % APA: IBU: 39.3

Check Time Step
-- Prepare Ingredients for Mash
Amount Item Type
20.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (1.8 SRM) Grain
4.00 lb Vienna Malt (2.8 SRM) Grain
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (1.3 SRM) Grain
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain
1.00 lb Munich II (Weyermann) (8.5 SRM) Grain

-- WARNING: Preheat Mash Tun - No equipment adjustments made!
2 min Mash In: Add 44.00 qt of water at 160.9 F
60 min - Hold mash at 152.0 F for 60 min
-- Drain Mash Tun
30Min Prepare Ingredients for Mash
Amount Item Type
8.00 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (1.3 SRM) Grain
8.00 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain

Mash In: 7.5 Gal of water at 155.0 F Hold at 154 for 30 Minutes.
-- Pre Boil Volume: IPA: 7.75 Pre Boil APA: 6.96
-- Estimated Pre-boil Gravity is: IPA: 1.061 APA: 1.043
Pre-Blend: Actual: _______ Actual: _______
Actual: _______ Actual: _______
Boil for 60 min IPA
60 min 1.00 oz Nugget [12.20 %] (60 min) Hops
20 min 1.00 oz Centennial [11.60 %] (20 min) Hops
15 min 1 tsp Irish Moss/Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
5 min 1.00 oz Centennial [11.60 %] (5 min) Hops

Boil for 60 min APA
60 min 0.50 oz Falconer's Flight [10.50 %] (60 min) Hops
20 min 1.00 oz Falconer's Flight [10.50 %] (20 min) Hops
15 min 0.26 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
5 min 0.50 oz Falconer's Flight [10.50 %] (5 min) Hops

4/8/2011 OG: IPA:________ (Est: 1.070 SG) APA: ________(Est: 1.049)
4/8/2011 Batch Volume: IPA: _______ (Est: 5.5 gal) APA: _______ (Est: 5.5 gal)
21 days Ferment in primary for 21 days at 63.0 F
4/29/2011 Final Gravity: IPA: ________ (Est: 1.016) IPA: ________ (Est: 1.016)
-- Keg beer at 38.0 F at a pressure of 9 PSI
Notes
After first runnings, cap with 8oz Cara-pils/8oz Crystal 60. Blend first and second runnings to get preboil 1.061 Big/1.043 Small. Adjust hops as necessary.

 

[beerspitnight]

Great detail! I would love to be able to get my head around doing a parti gyle at some point in the future. Let us know how they turn out.

 

[McCuckerson]

Nice job! I want to do a barley wine, and I think the only way to do it is by Parti Gyle........ Your success gives me hope

 

[MikeDelta1]

Just an update on this beer. Wow they came out very good, the IPA is very smooth and easy drinking, with a great malt profile. The APA is very good also but would be fairly easy to reproduce without the Parti Gyle set up. I'm not sure I could have gotten the taste that I got in the big beer with out it though, the malt character is that good, nicely balanced with the hops. You might be able to do it with a no sparge batch, but then you might as well do a parti-gyle. The only thing is, I wished it had more aroma, but I'm sure that is my fault. The dry hops were only on the beer for 2 days before I crash cooled it to 34 then racked off the hops and into the keg 4 days later so I don't think the dry hops hade enough time on the beer, lesson learned. I will do a parti-gyle again, easier than I thought, I just wish there was a program that could help with the blending of the preboil worts, that would make it much easier.