Full Mash-Partial Boil Question

[WhitDragn]

First and foremost, many thanks to the excellent posters here at HBT!

I've gotten back into brewing this year (partial boils due to space/equipment -Irish Red from extract with steeped grains, PM Kolsch and PM Oktoberfest Ale - thanks to EdWort for the AG template on these PM versions).

Now, onto my question: After some searching and lurking here for 3 months I've not run across a fixed answer to doing a brew in this method Full Mash, Partial Boil. Is there any reason why this can't, or shouldn't be done? I undertand the hop utilization will need to be accounted for in the boil, but if I can mash the full grain bill why not? In my mind this should be pretty much the same as the other partial mash-partial boils I've done except without the late extract addition.

For those inquiring minds who want to know, i'm planning this for a SMaSH.

 

[kuphish]

I am limited to boiling on my stove in the kitchen, so I use this method all the time. It works great for me and for a beer of about 1.050 strength (5 gallon batch), I achieve about 75% brewhouse efficiency. If you have any further questions, please let me know and I'd be happy to give you some pointers.

 

[WhitDragn]

Kuphish, thanks for the response. When using this method what water-grain ratio are you using for your mash and sparge?

For my partials with late DME i've been doing something simlar to Deathbrewers stove top method. I have a 4 gallon pot for the mash, then transfer the bag of grains to my 5 gallon pot for batch 'sparge' dunk. I've been using 1.33qt/lb (for both mash and sparge with this method and getting pre boil efficiency around 80-85% with 6lb grain mashed. For the SMaSH I was thinking of using 1.0 or 1.1 qt/lb to keep from overfilling the kettle.

 

[kuphish]

I mash in a 5 gallon cooler and, after trying many different approaches, I settled on the Hochkurz mash discussed by Kaiser. I try to end up with the mash as thin as possible, up to 2 qt/lb of grain, as I find that this allows me to maximize my conversion efficiency. I then sparge with whatever volume of water I still need to fill up my boil pot (5 gallon) to 4.75 gallons.

If you want to keep it simple, I see no reason that you can't use Deathbrewer's approach. If you want to see what mash thickness you can realistically get in your 5 gallon pot, you can check out this mash thickness calculator. For example, with 12lbs of grain at 1.25 qt/lb, you need 4.71 gallons of space. Beersmith or similar software may also be useful.

Also, your brewhouse efficiency will most certainly go down compared to what you get with your partial mashes. You might plan on something around 60-65% for your first few batches until you can start tweaking things.

 

[WhitDragn]

Kuphish, again thanks for the comments. I'll probably stick with the thick mash, equal sparge volume technique I was planning to use this time around so I can compare my efficiency to the previous partials i've done. But I will put some thought into the Hochkurz method, it sounds interesting, just not sure I'm ready to dive into revamping my mash process yet.

 

[kuphish]

Kuphish, again thanks for the comments. I'll probably stick with the thick mash, equal sparge volume technique I was planning to use this time around so I can compare my efficiency to the previous partials i've done. But I will put some thought into the Hochkurz method, it sounds interesting, just not sure I'm ready to dive into revamping my mash process yet.

Good idea - I would keep it simple and stay with what's familiar to you until you've got a few batches under your belt. Really, there's no reason to try a different mash schedule unless (a) you're unhappy with your results or (b) you feel like tinkering around for fun. Good luck!