Splitting 10 gallon batches

[Lodovico]

I just got my Brew Magic system and now I'm trying to come up with creative ways to split 10 gallons and get different beers.

Right now I have a smack pack of WY 2308 Munich Lager and WY 1214 Abbey Ale. So I'm thinking of doing the recipe for my Dubbel and using the Abbey yeast obviously, but then cooling the other 5 gallons and pitching the Lager yeast.

The Dubbel recipe also has dark candi syrup and cane sugar. How do you think that Lager would turn out?? Worth a shot?

 

[Skyforger]

Well, what's your grist like? If it's like a classic Belgian dubbel, it could be good - like a bock or kellerbier. You could even add the sugars after to boil, to exclude them from the lager. But I don't know if that would be exactly necessary.

Yeah, splitting a batch over yeast strains is the most obvious way to go here. I mean, if you're making a ten-gallon batch up to the boil, fermentation is the only major thing left. It's that or a)flavoring additions - spices, cherries in the secondary, whatever; or b)testing the impact of certain procedures, such as using a secondary or starter or something like that - not things that make different beers.

You could also age one with oak, or put souring bacteria or lambic cultures in there or something.

 

[Scooby_Brew]

Using a lager yeast for a dubbel is a bit of a stretch and I don't think it's worth the risk. But if you like the idea, then go for it.
I do 10-gal split-yeast batches a lot, mainly using American ale yeast and English ale yeast on beers like nut brown, stouts, IPAs, wheat etc. This works for me, I get quality batches that are a little different in taste from one another.

 

[Lodovico]

Yea some good ideas here. I was planning on adding the cane sugar at high krausen with the dubbel. I don't think I would want that in the Lager. I don't have the recipe on me but I've done it several times and I like it a lot.

Obviously Pils for base malt, munich, aromatic, special B, caramunich. Tettnang for bittering (around 24 IBU) and 1.070 ish OG.

Could be interesting I guess.

 

[heywatchthis]

The obvious thing for me here is to make 10 gallons, ferment 5 clean and sour/brett the other 5. This depends on your comfort level with wild fermentations, but its the way I'd approach it.

The other thing you can do is test out different dry hops or combinations of dry hops in an APA/IPA style beer.

 

[Skyforger]

That grist is a bit more American dubbel. It could still work, it'd just be a bit more of a roasty/biscuity/caramel forward flavor. The Belgians usually use a grist quite similar to the German darker lagers - Pils malt, bit of dark crystal, maybe some munich - making the major difference between their beers the yeast. And the sugar, naturally.

So splitting that batch with lager yeast would make two good beers. One would be an American-inflected dubbel, like Ommegang; the other would be an interesting lager.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Experimentation is a wonderful thing. I have a hard time not experimenting. So yeah, I would just go for it. Great way to learn how yeast strains effect beer is by splitting batches up and pitching differant yeasts.

One key thing to keep in mind is strains are also influenced a lot by pitch strength, oxygenation on pitch (up to 24 hours in) and temperature.

IMO beglian strains are meant to be under-pitched (ask theTrappists).

They can also be influenced by vessel shape. That has to due with osmotic pressure, and is more relevant to micro sized batches and larger though.

 

[theonetrueruss]

I've done a split batch of an amber ale once where I did half with S05 and the other half I added a couple pls of sugar and used WLP500. Both turned out nice and clearly were different beers. I like the idea of doing a dark strong and a triple at the same time. I figure the same base wort and add some dark candi syrup to the dark and just sugar to the triple. Could use the same yeast even in those. mmmm... now that's on my list

 

[Lodovico]

Thanks for all the responses. I have a different idea now though. I was bummed that I didn't do a holiday beer this year, so I'm going to try that. I'm either going to draw off 5 gallons from the kettle and then add all of my spices to the boil for an additional 2 or 3 minutes, or just split the batch and add a spice tincture in the secondary for the one that I don't use the Abbey ale yeast in.

I'll probably just use S-05 for the X-mas type ale. I think that will work nicely. Both beers will get the D2 syrup, but I'll only add the cane sugar to the Dubbel at high krausen. I think the grist bill could make a nice holiday beer with the addition of spices and orange peel. What do you think?

1.066
24 IBU



MALT OR FERMENTABLE PPG °L

77% 20 0 Pilsner (2 Row) Bel 36 2

8% 2 0 Munich Malt info 37 9

4% 1 0 Caramunich Malt 40 33 40

4% 1 0 Cane (Beet) Sugar 46 0

3% 0 12 Aromatic Malt 36 26

3% 0 12 Special B Malt 30 180

2% 0 8 Belgian Dark Candi Sugar D2 32 160