Partial Mashing worth it?

[BBKing]

Hey guys,

Been brewing extract for 2 years now. Kind of getting old knowing I could have more control over my beer for a small investment.

I'm just wondering if Partial Mashing is worth it in your opinion. Is there a huge difference in the beer or should I skip that step and go 100% AG?

Just curious to hear what you guys have to say.

 

[Sean]

I did one partial mash, then went to AG. I think it is good if you have a space limitation, but if you are tending toward AG, I think you should take that step.

 

[binaryc0de]

It is worth it in my opinion... Partial is how I eased into AG and I still do it especially with big beers.

 

[Yooper]

Partial mashing is necessary if you want to make some beer styles that use adjuncts. Like oatmeal stout, or cream ale (corn or rice). Some great malts don't come in extract, like Vienna malt. A partial mash gives you the chance to make beers that use those ingredients, and still use extract for the bulk of fermentables. It also makes a better tasting beer. I don't see any downside to partial mashing.

 

[BBKing]

Partial mashing is necessary if you want to make some beer styles that use adjuncts. Like oatmeal stout, or cream ale (corn or rice). Some great malts don't come in extract, like Vienna malt. A partial mash gives you the chance to make beers that use those ingredients, and still use extract for the bulk of fermentables. It also makes a better tasting beer. I don't see any downside to partial mashing.

Yes, this is another reason for me stepping up from Extract.

I've found a handful of Rye IPA recipes that I wanna try. And oatmeal stout is another good argument.

 

[BBKing]

I did one partial mash, then went to AG. I think it is good if you have a space limitation, but if you are tending toward AG, I think you should take that step.

Yes, I do have a bit of a limitation on space for the time being. Looking at moving soon though.

I could make it work, but probably not worth SWMBO threatening to shoot me every couple of weeks :fro:

 

[BBKing]

It is worth it in my opinion... Partial is how I eased into AG and I still do it especially with big beers.

This is what I'm thinking also.

Ease into AG using the PM method. Figure out what works for me and then I'll be roaring and ready to go when its AG time.

And like you say, I could still use it from time to time.....or hand it off to an aspiring brewer.

 

[ArcaneXor]

It's worth it for three simple reasons:

1.) It's a lot cheaper than extract
2.) It allows you to make more types of beer than extract
3.) It allows you a greater degree of recipe, moutfeel and fermentability customization.

 

[sudbuster]

Hey guys,

Been brewing extract for 2 years now. Kind of getting old knowing I could have more control over my beer for a small investment.

I'm just wondering if Partial Mashing is worth it in your opinion. Is there a huge difference in the beer or should I skip that step and go 100% AG?

Just curious to hear what you guys have to say.

You can make some dam good beers partial mashing. No question about that. If you are wanting to go all grain, that's your decision. But if you are brewing all grain, and your beer sux, ain't nobody left but you.

 

[Yooper]

The investment to do PM is negligible, by the way. sure, you could convert a cooler and get a bigger boil kettle, but my first forays into partial mashing were much simpler than you can imagine! I have a few very large mesh grain bags from my winemaking. The actually are big enough to line an "ale pail". I lined my bottling bucket with this bag, added the grains, and mashed right in the bottling bucket. I wrapped it with a sleeping bag to help hold the temperature. Oh, it lost about 8 degrees over an hour, but it worked very well! I would mash in at 154-155, and then drain the wort after an hour. Then, add the sparge water, stir well, and drain those runnings. It wasn't any harder than doing extract with steeping grains.

 

[Sean]

You can make some dam good beers partial mashing. No question about that. If you are wanting to go all grain, that's your decision. But if you are brewing all grain, and your beer sux, ain't nobody left but you.

Heh, I like that!!

 

[msa8967]

I did three PM brews before going to all grain and this really helped for me to understand the mash process and build confidence to tackle all grain. It also will take less than time than all grain but more time than extract brewing so you can learn how long each process will take for you to complete. It takes me 6 hours to do a 5 gallon all grain recipe whereas it may have been just 2-3 hours for extract brewing.

 

[kanzimonson]

Yeah, PM is totally worth it. I definitely think its greatest benefit is priming you for all-grain. That way you won't be one of these n00bs posting a "first all grain - horrible brew day" thread. You'll already understand the concept of adding extract to fix a mash that didn't turn out as expected.

I think the easiest way to get into it is build the Zapap lauter-tun. Use your BK as a mash tun so you can easily add heat if something goes wrong. When mashing is done, just pour the entire mash into the Zapap buckets. Rinse the BK, and then lauter and sparge to collect in the BK. The pouring and transferring is a little annoying, but with a partial mash it's not a big deal, and I think this method requires the least investment in equipment.

 

[marcycaulkins]

I think it is worth it from a "practicing for all grain" perspective. I found that I jumped pretty quickly to all grain, because partial mash was pretty much just as much work and clean-up as ag, but with the *joys* of still using extract. It did, however, give me the confidence I needed to make the jump to ag.