High Gravity Split

[jeremybrown9]

O.K. This may sound simple, but for some reason it is really make me second guess myself. I want to make 20 gallons of Pale Ale. I only have equipment to make a 10 gallon batch at once. Is there any reason I wouldn't be able to make a "10 gallon batch" by doubling the ingredients and then adding water after the boil to make 20 gallons, essentially bringing the OG down to the correct level?

 

[Dynachrome]

I highly recommend doing two mashes.

What do you have for fermentors anyway?

If you want to try and make 20 gallons of homogenous beer, mix the wort in your fermentors after you do your boils.

I use 6 gallon HDPE buckets from Menards. If you are interested - there are threads on this subject here - Google HDPE.

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[DustyTheBrewer]

If you have a mash tun with the capacity for the extra grain, it will work. I wanted to do a 15 gal batch with a 15 gal boiler (obviously too small). So I used beer Smith for the recipe and grain bill based on a 15 gal batch. You will lose some efficiency on the mash out (less sparge water to rinse the grain, etc) but will yeild a high og.

Take a gravity reading post boil and use the simple formula concentration1 x volume1 = concentration2 x volume2 to find out how much water to add.
Concentration is the last two digits in your gravity reading (ie, for 1.063 use "63") and volume can be whatever unit you brew with.

Like I said, I did this once and it worked but it was only to add 50%. I imagine it will work for a double batch too but anticipate lower efficiency.

 

[jeremybrown9]

@Dynachrome--I have four 6.5 gallon carboy's that I will be using. I am doing an experiment on four different yeast strains.

@DustyTheBrewer--thanks for the formula. That should help. I am hoping it will go pretty much the same as if you were unable to do a full boil and just top off with water in the carboy's. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Dynachrome]

@Dynachrome--I have four 6.5 gallon carboy's that I will be using. I am doing an experiment on four different yeast strains.

Four carboys, nice!

I did a split batch once on a wheat. It is very educational.

I would think you would still want your wort to all be the same/well mixed. Star-San some buckets and pour it back and forth before you place it into the carboys. It aerates it while you are doing this.

I have three Stainless Steel pots I sparge into. I pour their contents 1/3 equally into the HDPE buckets.



I just got a carboy for an early Christmas present. I have to greatly rethink my fermenting area. I have a four foot by ten foot closet that is narrow and deep. I have traditionally placed my buckets way in the back. I don't know if l be able to lift a full carboy all the way to the back of the shelf. Five gallons of wort in a 2lb bucket is pretty heavy already. ...and unless I go get another carboy - I'll be making smaller batches.

I'm looking forward to being able to go into some longer fermentation times though.