Same Grain Bill For Different Beers

[IdahoBrewing]

I have recently made the leap from a 15 gallon system to a 1 bbl system. This upgrade has been great but it was a little fast (growing pains) and now I am left with more beer than I can get rid of. For efficiency sake and to make the best use of my equipment...

Can anyone think of a grain bill, boil schedule and hops that can be used for 2 different beers. 1 bbl with the same grain, hops, boil schedule, etc... but then split into 2 different fermenters. With different Yeast and Dry Hops can I get 2 very different beers from the same boil batch?

Off the top of me head I am thinking...

1. Two different IPAs with 2 different yeasts and different dry hops.
2. Maybe a Pale Ale and an IPA from the same boil batch... no dry hops for the pale ale but a ton of dry hopping and different yeast for the IPA.
3. Or maybe an Ale grain bill and after the boil I pump 15 gallons out into a fermenter, then whirlpool different hops into the remaining boil for a different flavor?

I am just trying to figure out how to get 2 entirely different beers out of the same batch/boil. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

 

[pvpeacock]

I sometimes make a 10 gallon batch and split it between two fermenters. Sometimes I make 2 IPA's and just use different yeasts and add different hops to each fermenter post boil/pre-yeast pitch to get different flavors. However, if want two very different batches, I will make an IPA in one fermenter and a Saison in the other. I will ferment the IPA in the mid-60's F and heavily dry hop it. I will ferment the Saison in the 70's F and lightly dry hop it. I have also made two IPA's with one using a traditional Ale yeast fermented in the 60's F and the other using a Kveik yeast fermented in the 90's F which come out very tasting very different.

 

[IdahoBrewing]

I sometimes make a 10 gallon batch and split it between two fermenters. Sometimes I make 2 IPA's and just use different yeasts and add different hops to each fermenter post boil/pre-yeast pitch to get different flavors. However, if want two very different batches, I will make an IPA in one fermenter and a Saison in the other. I will ferment the IPA in the mid-60's F and heavily dry hop it. I will ferment the Saison in the 70's F and lightly dry hop it. I have also made two IPA's with one using a traditional Ale yeast fermented in the 60's F and the other using a Kveik yeast fermented in the 90's F which come out very tasting very different.

Interesting... I never thought about the Saison before. Great idea. Two IPAs is probably the easiest to do mixing up Yeasts and dry hopping differently. Did you just use a very basic grain bill for that?

 

[pvpeacock]

Yes, I keep the grain bill very simple and avoid using much if any Crystal Malt. Also consider making an IPA and Kolsch with a split batch.

 

[Sammy86]

I've been doing split 12 gallon batches the past 3 brews...most recent was Jovaru Farmhouse Ale Yeast and 34/70. One fermented at 85 the other 60°.

100% Pils and Hallertau Mittlefrue hops at 60,30,10 and 5...completely different beers and both are excellent!

 

[TheMadKing]

you could also do a split batch with some aging differences too

For example you could do a 1.090 big double west coast IPA, then split half of it off into an oak barrel or a secondary with oak chips and age it a year and call it an American barleywine, meanwhile you take the other half and dryhop it and drink it relatively fresh and it's a (very strong) west coast ipa.

The biggest cold side difference makers I can think of are:

-Oak
-Fruit
-Dry hops
-other flavorings like bourbon, vanilla, coffee (blonde stout vs blonde ale?)
-Belgian yeast vs English yeast vs lager strains vs Chico derived strains (belgian vs Chico will give you the biggest contrast IMO)
-another crazy option is to cold soak some roasted grains to extract the roast flavor, brew an amber ale, add the boiled roasted grain juice to half of it and make a stout

Edit.. Totally forgot about a partigyle! You could easily get 3 different beers from the same grain, a barleywine, an amber ale, and an English mild for example. Three different strengths, different yeasts, and some dry hops can make 3 totally different beers

 

[shoreman]

Saison-Kolsch or Dry hopped Blonde

Belgian Table beer - dry hopped session ale

It’s easy to go with a Belgian yeast on one beer and American or British on the other to get two different beers. I used to do it a lot to get variety on a 10 gallon batch.

 

[ejf063]

With grist of 80% brewers malt (pale, 2-row, MO, etc) and 20% adjunct (wheat, oats, corn, rice or rye) you can do a simple blonde ale, or even a lager by pulling half the batch after your final kettle hop addition then add a ton of no boil, whirlpool hops and make a pale ale. Use a clean yeast (wlp001, W1056, s-05, Kolch or lager yeast) for the blonde then add a completely different yeast for the pale ale, like wlp008, s-04, yorkshire (so many to mention) or even toss in a belgian strain with low ester production like wyeast 3787 or Belle Saison yeast. (* I would watch the late hop additions with a belgian yeast, however since the hops and the yeast can get somewhat muddled if they aren't appropriate or compliment each other nicely).
If you really want to work, you can mini mash some caramel or specialty malts like caravienne, special b, cara munich plus some brewer's malt for extra gravity points and add that to the remaining wort after you've pulled off the initial blonde. Then ferment with one of those -or any other- belgian yeast and drop some candi syrup up-in-there to really change the flavor, color and texture. Hell if you're really up for it you could make a stout just with the mini mash wort added to the initial wort.
There is a lot you can do with this setup and it doesn't have to get too crazy or complicated. Sometimes just doing the exact same thing and adding two completely different yeast strains can produce completely different beers. Or as mentioned, use the exact same yeast but completely different late kettle or dry hops. You can't go wrong... what is the worst that can happen? You have two of the exact same beers? Doesn't sound like a problem to me....

 

[IdahoBrewing]

These are some really great ideas... and getting 2 beers out in a single batch will really help me utilize my new equipment efficiently. The testing is almost more fun than drinking. Yeah right, who am I kidding? There are a lot of options here and I appreciate the input. This weekend I will plan this out and drop a few recipes on here. This is going to be fun.

 

[Dog House Brew]

I do up to 25g a brew. I split every batch. Sometimes I do 4 fermenters and 4 yeasts. I make the base fit my original thought, and make variations from there. Pretty easy to make beers that are drastically different with the same base. I just keep the base simple and the SRM on the lower side usually.