Partial Mash: The best home brew technique! for most home brewers!

Delicious Cream Ale.

What if I told you there was a method that produced beer that was nearly indistinguishable from all grain home brew.  A method that made competition worthy beer.  A method that allowed you to hit your numbers almost every single time?    What if I told you this method was easier than all grain?  The beer on the left is an amazing cream ale that we make partial mash.  It is one of my favorite beers.  Perfect for watching a football game.

Well there is.  The method is called partial mash.  And it is by far the best method for everyday brewing.   We field lots of questions and comments on this blog.  Not all of which are public.   The questions are almost always about all grain, and the comments are almost always related to efficiency, attenuation, and consistency.    We used the exact same grains, we treated the water the exact same way, we used the same hops... our numbers weren't even close.   Well yeah, there are so many factors that can effect the extraction of sugar from grains.  Factors like pH, temperature, freshness of the grains, consistency of the mash temperature, attentiveness of the brewer, mechanical manipulation of the mash... the list is long.   So long in fact that many brewers are spending thousands of dollars on all grain wort production machines.  These machines handle a lot of those factors for you.

All you need for Partial Mash!

But what if you didn't need to spend that kind of money.  What if learning some basics was all you needed to do to make great beer?   That is what partial mash does for you.  Partial mash allows you to make beer with real all grain flavor, and to make it nearly identically every time.  Understand some of the techniques associated with partial mash are different than the techniques you use with all grain. Please notice I didn't say lesser, or inferior.  Just different.

Partial mash in a nut shell:  A portion of the sugars come from a mash of grains and the other portion comes from malt extract.  It is that simple.   You perform a mash of grains, then you supplement with malt extract to achieve your final gravity. I have done up to 75% of my sugars from grain.

Now there are some challenges of working with malt extract.  First of all, the ferment-ability of malt extract wort can be lower than that of all grain wort.  This isn't a huge issue when we do partial mash, because most of our sugars 50%-75% come from the grains.  So you need to use very light colored malt extract, it is more ferment-able.  The ferment-ability has to do with the drying process, and the production of the wort.  The darker the extract the less ferment-able the wort.   And we adjust for the ferment-ability of the wort on our software by lowering the attenuation by a couple of points.  Having said that we are able to produce crisp dry lagers with partial mash.  We had a champagne lager go from 1.056 to 1.012.  That is crisp enough for me.    Second,  Malt extract wort will be darker than all grain wort.   So you need to account for that.     We never get color from malt extract (except in our BDSA where we want some sweetness).   We always try to use Pilsen, Maris Otter, or Extra Light extract.  In the recipe below you will note that there is no crystal grain at all. There is no need for it. The wort will be a point or two darker than your software indicates any way.  Again, the key is to get your color from the grains, not from the malt extract.  Finally,  freshness matters.  if you are not ordering from a very busy home brew store, you should probably use dry malt extract.  It  has a much better shelf life.

Fresh Light LME is highly
ferment-able!

But what extract should I choose.   The answer is always the same.  If you can get fresh LME (truly actually fresh) then it is more ferment-able than dry malt extract.  But in 27 years of brewing I have seen truly fresh malt extract at a LHBS maybe 2 or three times.  So I usually use extra light DME.  Listen to me on this point it is very important you will hear people say that malt extract leaves your beer sweet... and ... wait for it... they are right and wrong.   Modern extracts are from 65% to 75% ferment-able.  They should not really be the sole source of sugars in your beer.   The production and manufacturing process does leave some un-ferment-able sugars in the wort.  But so does your current process.  If you can get to 80% fermentation with an all grain (no additional sugar) wort, you are a true hero.   Most of you don't get that close.  Most of you don't take a truly representative gravity reading before pitching yeast.

I know this because I have fielded this question at least a dozen times. We undershot our gravity but we still didn't get truly great attenuation.  The yeast manufacturer sad we should be at 75% and we only got to 70%, what can we do?  Uh, well you can transfer prior to taking a gravity reading to make sure that your wort is homogeneous.  You can take samples at different depths in your boil kettle.  And or you can accept that to make a truly ferment-able all grain wort you need to really learn to pay attention to your mash.  Or, you can just learn to use partial mash.

So how do I make clean well attenuated crisp beers with partial mash?   It is simple really.  I use a lot of grain, I use some extra light DME and then a portion of my ferment-ables comes from sugar.  Every time?  you use sugar every time?  Yes, just about every time there is a sugar addition at high krausen in order to get the yeast rocking again and to make them finish strong.  Yes this is different than all grain.  Usually in all grain I set it and forget it.  But hey, you should be watching your fermentation like a hawk anyway.

Here is an example. (by the way for fun, add 1 # of wheat, change to Pilsen DME and use Saison yeast sometime with this recipe, trust me you will thank me when you try it)

Wheeler Street Cream Ale!

Wheeler Street Cream Ale
Classic American Cream Ale
5 Gallon
Partial Mash
1.048 OG
1.007 FG
3 SRM
17-19 IBUs

5.0 # Pale Ale Malt
1.5 # Flaked Corn
2.0 # Extra Light DME added in last 10 minutes pre dissolved in other water
0.5 # of Corn Sugar added at high Krausen dissolved in a quart of preboiled water.
.2 oz of Magnum - at 60 minutes or any neutral bittering hop to give 2.6 AAUs to the boil
.5 oz of Liberty - at 30 minutes
1 tsp of yeast nutrient at 10 minutes
1 tsp of Irish Moss at 10 minutes
.5 oz of Liberty at 5 minutes

US 05 yeast.

In a brew bag, mash your grains in 3.75 gallons of water at 150 F for 60 minutes. (I use 5.2 stabilizer when I brew partial mash.  In another pots, dissolve the DME in 1.7 gallons of water. And very slowly bring it to 190 F.   In yet another heat 1.75 gallons of water to 168 F,  this is your sparge water.

At the end of your mash pull the grains and set them on a rack or a colander above the kettle.  Add the dissolved DME to the kettle.  Sparge the grains with the 168 F water until you reach pre boil volume.  From here on it is just like any other batch of beer.

Other recipes that work great with partial mash... any dark semi sweet beer.   BDSA, sweet stout, bock, dopple bock, porter, RIS, barley wine...  Any beer really, just another learning curve.   But a process that is faster and more consistent than all grain brewing.

So there it is again a defense of partial mash.

The end is near. .. la fin du monde clone

My first "la fin du monde", I remember it like it was the other day.   Not a clear perfect memory, like a memory from yesterday.  More hazy and romantic, like the memory of your first kiss.  We were sitting in a friends back yard comparing beers.  It was a cool summers evening,  there was a gentle breeze stirring the leaves on the patio.  The light from the candles reflected back off the underside of the outdoor umbrella made a golden halcyon cloister for our beer tasting.  My buddy Mike had brought a "Dragon's Milk" (which I knew and loved already) and a weird tripel from a Canadian Brewery.  Being a fan of Belgian Beers, and never having had one made in North America that I though was up to snuff (other than home brewed efforts)  I begrudgingly took a sample.   Boy were my misconceptions erased.  Erased with one sip of that flaxen honeyed elixir.  I was hooked.

I am a fan of Unibroue and especially of La Fin du Monde (the end of the world).   But I am not a fan of the $13 price tag for a 22 oz.  Here in Kansas City.   The solution... make it myself.    On Saturday, the brew crew and I set out to do just that.  Opting for a partial mash version of this beer.   We all love partial mash.  It is really an excellent method for home brewers.  It eliminates many of the variables that can screw up your beer.  I have already written several posts on partial mash.    Check them out if you want to learn more about it.

• My partial mash process
• What the heck is partial mash?
• Advances in partial mash

I ground the grains early brew day morning hoping for maximum freshness from our grains.  This batch of beer featured all Cargill Grains.  IdeaPils, and Wheat Malt.  Cargill makes some excellent malt.  But they aren't as prevalent in home brewing.  So ask your LHBS to get it for you.  I'm a fan of IdeaPils for everyday beers made from pilsner.  So I started early, but I wasn't the first one to start working on this beer.  John had already started the night before.  He started by treating 5 gallons of our needed 7.86 gallons of water with half of a crushed Camden tablet.   If you aren't pre treating your water, you should be.   High levels of chlorides can keep your yeast from attenuating completely.   Camden is an easy solution.

Taste your mash
Trust me, youll know
when it's ready!

My fledgling brew crew is really getting to be good.  The brews we are making now are better than most commercial, and reaching competition quality. ( If you're unaware, competitive brewers make some of the best beer in the world.  So find one, and learn from them. )  We have learned a lot of things in the past 90 days, now we are learning about water chemistry adjustments.   We blended our tap water with distilled water an added back in the minerals we were lacking with additions of gypsum and Epsom salts.    Our pH was perfect at 5.2-5.3.  Remember this is a partial mash, so pH isn't as big a deal, but still damn good.

One shorter, one long
We have a pretty damn
good idea of the temp

We step mashed this batch starting with a protein rest and then a saccrification rest at 154 for 60 minutes.  At the end of 60 minutes we added 1.5 gallons of 190 F water in which we had dissolved our DME.   This brought our mash to 168 F where we rested for 10 minutes.  We then sparged with a little over a gallon of water to go to volume.  We were at 1.055.  A little low, but we still had 2# of honey to add to the boil, and evaporation from the boil..  Sytrian Golding hop additions were at 60 and 15 minutes.   The color was amazing.  Our  sg for this beer... 1.084 exactly where we wanted to be.

Vitality Starters
Perform like any other
yeast starter.

At the beginning of brew day we made a vitality starter. Our new most beloved trick.  4.25 cups of water and 1 cup of DME.   Into this we pitched a package of S33 and T58.  Both Belgian strains from Fermentis.  I find the combination of the strains gives the more accurate flavor of the La Fin Du Monde yeasts. T-58 is peppery and spicy,  S-33 gives a touch of the phenolic belgian flavors. Neither is as "belgiany" as Abbaye.   The yeast vitality starter has the entire brew day to get going, and boy does it get going.   in 4.5 hours there was a .5" krausen forming in the Erlenmeyer flask.

2 coils makes chilling
so much faster.

We chilled the batch with both wort chillers, and even though it was February we were able to chill outside.  The batch chilled in 13 minutes, from 200 to 65.    We aerated heavily with the aquarium pump for 20 minutes.   Then pitched our yeast vitality starter.  And put on a blow off tube. And thank goodness, we did...

John reports that while he and his lovely bride were out for the afternoon,  The yeast took off like crazy.   By midnight he was thankful we put the blow off tube on.  He reports, on Sunday morning the following... "holy freaking blow off, bat man".


"The end is near tripel"

Jake transfering
the mead

5.2# of Cargil IdeaPils TM
2.5# of Wheat Malt
.3 #  of Biscuit
.3#   of Aromatic
3# of Pilsnen DME
2# of Honey
1.3 oz of Styrian Golding at 60 - 6.76 AAUs
1 oz of Styrian Golding at 25 - 5.2 AAUs
1 tablet Whirlflock
1 tspn yeast nutrient

1 pkg of T-58 
1 pkg of s-33

We also made some more mead.  Mead is easy to make.   And you have plenty of wait around time during your brew day to make a batch.  You really should give it a try.

2xs the fun Brewday action for you... first the BSDA...

Yup... Im officially insane... no we're not, we're enthusiastic... No quiet voices in my head!... I will write this post... not you... filthy nasty little hobbitses...   I did it again 2 batches in a weekend.   Saturday morning the brew crew assembled early (well early for us) and we set out to brew a Belgian Strong Dark Ale...  And boy did we brew one.  A monster at 1.082  Pushing the outer limits of the OG for the style.

As you can see we milled our grains fine. Special thanks to MA the malt grist machine for coming early and helping me power through the grains.   We also sampled some amazing beers.   Ill let John make a comment below to tell us all what they were.    One of them was an all bret sour, so naturally the dregs got added to my bret sour.  Which should be ready by summer.

Now this was a partial mash batch.   Hopefully many of you have read my partial mash process by now.  It uses 3 pots.  The electric turkey fryer,  a pot to dissolve the DME/LME, and a sparge pot.  I know it sounds complicated, but it really isn't bad at all.   The set up allows you to brew high og beers in the turkey fryer.

We mashed 8 lbs of grains at 154 for an hour,   We used Rahr 2 row malt.  It is awesome.   Nutty and kinda sweet.   Love this malt.  We also used some biscuit, and some Cara 75.   Yes w used pale ale 2 row not pilsner.  But we did use pilsner LME. Then added the water in which the extract had been dissolved (3.3 pilsner liquid and 2 lbs of light DME, and 1 lbs of wheat malt DME)  Then we sparged to volume.   See?  Simple.  We nailed our gravity.   We were shooting for 1.080 and we came in at 1.082 after boil.     I'd love to tell you that the boil was uneventful but we kinda forgot to add the candi syrup.  So when we were transferring to the fermenter we stole some wort, brought it to 165 added the d180 to dissolve, then added more wort to temper it down to temperature, then into the fermenter.   There is always a solution when you screw up.  You just have to think your way through things.     We also removed a couple of cups of wort and used it to puree 6 oz of dried prunes.... yes prunes.  If you want a super raisin taste in your BDSA try prunes.   But put them in a bag and use them like a hop.   You don't want all that prune fiber in your final wort. I know it sounds crazy, but give it a try.

We chilled the batch using the 2 coil 50' set up.   We went from 212 to pitch temps in about 12 minutes.  Awesome.   But I have to say if the jaded chillers can do better... I still want one.

We pitched 2 different Belgian yeasts.   We pitched Wyeast 1214 Monastery yeast, and a pint of WLP 500 that I had on hand.   As of Sunday morning the batch was bubbling away nicely with a beautiful krausen.   Cant wait to taste this beer.

Bonus photo for you.  Starsan does some cool stuff.  in this photo we are sanitizing the aeration stone and the fermenter.   This weird star san snake just kinda formed itself.

And by sunday morning before church, the Belgian Dark Strong Ale was bubbling away.   Love that air lock action.  I don't ever trust it for determining if a beer is ready to bottle or transfer but it sure is cool to get some tactile confirmation of success.   Right?

This one is fermenting in the kitchen.  It is a Belgian after all.  I want those temperatures up at the high end of the fermentation range.   That is a real key to getting the belgian notes.  The color is spot on.  It is now Monday morning and it is still bubbling away nicely.  It is too dark to see much of the party the yeast is having inside but with the flash light on my cell phone, I can see things moving all over the place.

Thats all for now sports fans.  Prost!

UPDATE: 1/29/16  The BDSA fermented to 1.008.  French oak chips were soaked in bourbon, and then added to a secondary fermenter.  The BDSA was transferred onto the chips.  That was about a month ago.  The beer is ready for bottling.  It is oaky, but not very bourbony.  But it is delicious.

What the heck is Partial Mash?

First of all thank you for all of the questions and comments.  You all keep me on my toes.

Recently there have been a lot of questions about partial mash.   If you read this blog, you know partial mash is my favorite style of brewing.   there are so many advantages to partial mash for the home brewer.

Advantages of PM

• More fun than extract - you still get to mash grains and sparge and the fun stuff.
• It feels like brewing. Sometimes when I do an extract batch, it doesn't feel like brewing. I'm just heating up some stuff on the stove and throwing hops into a boil, for me mashing is the difference that feels like real brewing.
• Better Taste than extract  - Real all grain flavor -
• I defy anyone to tell the difference between a high percentage grain partial mash and an all grain brew. I think only industry people and BJCP judges might be able to pick out the differences.
• More recipe options than extract, you can brew anything.
• Less cost than extract - extract is expensive.
• More reliable than all grain or BIAB -
• The extract (DME) is an insurance policy that protects your needed gravity.
• You don't have to stress over pH levels water chemistry etc…
• Affordable equipment - electric turkey fryer is about $100.00  All in equipment is about $250.00
• Decotion and step mashing are available to you.
• It’s reliability is repeatable you can brew the same beer with the same results more easily.
• You control the amount and % of grain that you are using.  I have recipes that are 75% grain.   The DME is there as a buffer, an insurance policy if you will.
• Takes way less time than all grain. It’s about the same as BIAB

But what is partial mash?

There is a lot of confusion over what is partial mash.  Often brewers (especially on the internet)  define partial mashing as extract with grains.   And guys... that isn't partial mash.   

I would define partial mash as a brew where a significant portion of your fermentables come from a grain mash.  What portion?   Well that is up to you.  I have recipes where 75% of my fermentables come from a grain mash, with the rest coming from dry extract.   I always prefer dry, but sometimes you need a variety that isn't readily available as a dry extract, such as Maris Otter, Pilsner, or even Vienna.  

Does Partial Mash take special equipment?

No, not really.  You don't even have to have a brew bag, but it sure makes life easier.  You can use your extract set up for partial mash.   But if you want to make truly excellent beers, you will need to be able to boil full volume batches.  If you can't brew full volume, you will need to increase your hops.  How much?  depends on how much you are boiling. But at this point you need to get a decent brew calculator like brewtoad.com,  or brewersfriend.com

So how do I partial mash?

Well every one does it a little differently.   Basically, you need a way to mash your grains, and a way to boil your wort.  Chris Colby, the editor of beer and wine journal, uses a couple of 2 gallon beverage coolers.   He still does a vorlauf, and a sparge.   This takes him to full volume.   He tends to add his extract late.  With this method, you only need one big pot and one smaller pot for the sparge.

I do things a little differently. I have multiple mash tuns, after 25 years in brewing. But once, I started BIAB small batch, I realized that BIAB and partial mash could be the very best compatible processes.

So I soak my grains in a paint strainer bag in my electric turkey fryer.   After a 60 minute mash I pull the basket and set it on a grate above the turkey fryer to let it drain.   I then add 2 gallons of water in which I have dissolved my DME.   Then I sparge to volume. It is that simple.  

I hit my numbers or barely exceed every time.  I never have issues related to water chemistry.  I can make nearly the exact same beer every time I brew a recipe.   The flavor is as good as all grain (better than when all grain doesn't go very well).   And, most importantly it is a blast.  I still get to do the fun stuff, mashing, full volume boil, chilling, aerating, etc...

Where do I find partial mash recipes?

Here is one for you...

and here is what to avoid when looking for a partial mash

not a partial mash recipe

Partial Mash recipes are readily available on the internet,  but beer and wine journal is a great source.   I have many of them posted on brewtoad.com.   And, if you'd like, I am happy to convert any recipe for you.   But remember it is much easier to go from all grain to extract than the reverse.   As you search for recipes look for recipes that have a base grain in them.  Look for recipes that require a temperature controlled mash.  If they don't they are probably just an extract with grain recipe.

Give partial mash a try. It is fun... and I think truly a better process for homebrewing great beer.   This technique is fighting to find it's place in the post BIAB era.  Many brewers just jump to BIAB, which is fine.  Heck I brew as much small batch BIAB as any one.  Over 70 batches this year. But I have been brewing a long time.   I know how to adjust my water.  I know (or have a good idea) what is going on in my mash/wort.   So if you want to crank out consistently great beer... give this awesome method a try.

Answering a question... "do any breweries use partial mash? " Yes. Several brewpubs that I am aware of, but they do it because they don't have space for the grains.  But primarily it is a home brew method.

Answering another question... "can I do large volumes of partial mash?"... yes the largest I have done is 1BBL.  But to do 10 gallons of PM on a 5 gallon BIAB set up is easy.  Just adjust your hops to account for the partial boil

McClouds Kilt Brew day

Well SWMBO was out of town, at a charity softball tournament in Wichita, Ks.   So what else would I do... time to brew.  Scottish Export Brew.  I know I had promised an all grain small batch brew day, but well... I changed my mind.   The decision to change to a 5.5 gallon partial mash was motivated by two factors.  First,  I have a friend who loves 90 shilling, and I wanted to see if I could make it up to his standards.  Second,  when I went to bottle the Oktoberfest, it became clear that it was going to need to be cold crashed for a while.  So, when life hands you lemons... make a 5.5 gallon partial mash batch of beer, and put the lemons on the counter in the fruit basket. (really put them in the fruit basket or you get in trouble...she means it)


Began by organizing my stuff.   As you can see I was using Safale S-04.  One of my all time favorite yeasts.    I also used 5 star pH stabilizer for the mash and for the rinse water.  Thank goodness I had it because something funky is going on with our local water.  The pH out of the tap is very inconsistent.  If you are going to do a lot of all grain brewing, you need to learn a little bit about water chemistry.  You don't have to learn everything.  You don't have to nerd out over the water  book from brewers publications.   But you do need to know what to do when the pH is too low or too high.  The easiest way to handle your water chemistry is to down load Bru'N Water, or EZwater Calculator.  (I actually use EZ). Get your local water report, input the variables.  For each batch you should put it into the calculator and see what adjustments you need to make.  If you are doing a partial mash you need to treat the water adjustments like a BIAB with rinse.  My initial mash pH was coming in at 6.8... what the what?  never seen that before.  I didn't have gypsum, or calcium chloride.   So... I tried 5.2 pH stabilizer.  Now, where I live the water is nearly perfect for brewing.  So I usually use a 1/3 dosage (1/3rd of a teaspoon) of 5.2 as an insurance policy to make sure things stay good, and I don't have to use acidulated malt every time I brew. But today a full teaspoon.  Fortunately, it worked, my pH came up to "5.25ish".  But this week I will go buy some gypsum and some calcium chloride.

The mash was misbehaving.  Had to regulate temperatures a lot more than I usually do.  Think it is time to fill the cavity of the electric turkey fryer with expanding foam.  Fortunately I am a contractor, and I have access to a foam rig.  Should take about 10 seconds to do that this week. Normally, I set it at 150, and it stays at 150.   (Remember for partial mash I don't worry about mashing at any temperature other than 150, if I think it needs more body... I add wheat malt,  more silky texture...oats) You get the picture.

In two other pots I got my rinse water, and my DME water ready.   This procedure is great.   And with it I almost always hit my numbers spot on, or slightly exceed them.   Today was no exception my post mash gravity was 1.035 I knew that the DME,  2 # in 2 gallons was going to be 1.044 Plus rinse water of a gallon. So I would be at about 1.035 pre boil.

Please notice that the pot is off the stove when I add my DME.  It has been heated to about 130 F.  But it is off of the stove.   The DME gets mixed in thoroughly. Nothing is stuck to the bottom.  Normally I bring it very slowly to 190 so that the color is not darkened.  Today I was a little more aggressive with my heating, hey its a dark amber colored beer...  at the end of the mash, I added the DME solution, and rinsed the grains.  This created 6.75 gallons of wort.

So here is the Cajun Injector at maximum capacity. 6.75 gallons of wort.  For a 90 minute boil, at 12.5% boil off rate, I ended up with 5.5 gallons of wort.   I used  Kettle Defoamer 105 from 5 star chemicals.   I knew boil over was a real threat. And I'll tell you, 1 drop was not enough, but 3 drops kept everything kosher.   If you are having troubles with boil overs, this is a great product.   The photo is right after it has started it's boil.

From here on pretty standard brew day.  Hops at 90, 45 and 0 all cascade, the recipe is posted in the previous post.  I rehydrated the safale S 04. Fermentation had started up with in a couple of hours, and is still going strong this morning. Fermenting at 68 F.   This yeast is rated for optimum performance up to 68, so I'm probably on the high side, but I want some of the fruity esters with this scottish beer, so I'm not worrying about it.

Chilling took forever,  I have to get my big chiller back from the knucklehead who currently has it.... I chilled this batch with my 25 lft stainless chiller, and it took 45 Minutes to chill... ouch. Think the next 5.5 gallon batch I'll be heading back to using ice to chill, it is so much faster and I have yet to have a problem with it... but like I said when I posted about it, "check back with me, I've only been doing it for 20 years." But the color was perfect for this style of beer.

Seriously though,  I know there is risk of some microbe getting into my beer when I chill with Ice, But until I can afford a Jaded brewing Hydra... or Talos wort chiller I will probably just chill 5.5 gallon batches with Ice.

Upcoming priorities,  Build the new fermentation chamber.   I'll post all about it.  Then it is time to get a couple of tap a draft systems.   If you, like me are primarily a small batch brewer, the tap a draft is perfect.  Just doing a little quick math.  1.5 gallons fits in each tap a draft.   I brew 2.25 gallons, and generally get 2 gallons to package.  So I'll fill 1 tap a draft and 1 two liter bottle with every batch, perfect.  And with the tap a draft system there is no need to modify anything.

Next up on deck is Raspberry Wheat.  The holidays are coming and I know the family will put down the beer.  Need to have their favorites ready.

Illustrated Guide to my Partial Mash...a practical approach for excellent beer. Give partial mash a try!

What is the point of brewing beer?  The answer is different for different people. Some people love the biology of brewing. They want to understand the metabolic pathways and chemical reactions that creates great beer (their beer tends to be awesome).  Some guys want to make complicated brewing systems and really understand the engineering of brewing.   For me, the point is two fold; having fun, and making excellent beer.   Now, if you read this blog, you know that I have been brewing for a long time.   I have accumulated a lot of equipment over 20+ years of brewing. I have a gravity system, 3 five gallon pots, an electric turkey fryer, and countless fermenters etc... I also have all of the fun gear for brewing... hydrometers, refractometer, pH meter, pH strips,  2 wort chillers,  seemingly endless tubing, valves and bottling equipment. So I can really brew any style of beer in just about any way you want me to brew it.  Save super high tech HERMS or RIMS... systems.  I haven't made that leap yet, and probably wont.  I enjoy doing the process by hand. I don't want push button beer.

So for me brewing the way I do is because it is the most fun way for me to brew excellent beer, not because of any limitations on my equipment or experience.  

I choose to brew partial mash in my kitchen.  It makes excellent beer every time, and because it is a lot of fun for me.   After brewing for many years I can tell you this,  if I tell you that if I've decided 3 vessel is more fun for me... Ill start doing more 3 vessel again.    Remember there is no one right way to brew, have fun, make great beer. 

I use an electric turkey fryer for my partial mash and extract (with grain) batches.  It was $80, on amazon.   I use the brew in a bag method for the mash.  My turkey fryer will hold the mash temp right at 150 F (65.5 C) for however long I want.   I usually mash in low (around 130 F 54.4 C)  I use 3.5 (13.25 L)  gallons of water and 6 lbs. (2.72 kg) of grain.   I have a large enough brew bag to do much larger grain bills in the fryer, but I have my recipes down to a science of 6 lbs (2.72 kg) and 2 - 4 lbs (.90  - 1.8 kg) of DME.

Yes you can use a small cooler, or two for mashing your grains.  Yes you can use Chris Colby's original plan of about 4 lbs of grain.   That all works fine.   Chris is a beer genius and you should all be reading the beer and wine journal.  This is how I do it.  It costs less and makes damn fine beer. I should note, I use 5star pH stabilizer.  I adjust the addition for the smaller volume.

I dissolve my DME (sometimes LME) in a separate pot in 2 gallons (7.75 liters ) water that is around 130 F / 54.4 C.  I remove the pot from the burner and stir in my extract. I take special care with my whisk to make sure that there is no extract on the bottom of the pot.  Then back on to the stove where  I let the temperature of this slowly rise during the mash to about 190 F / 87.7 C.  I find doing this keeps the colors closer to the intended SRM.   Further, it is easier to stir in a pot than in the turkey fryer

In yet another pot, I get my sparge/rinse water ready. 2 gallons (7.75 liters )  I heat it to 170 F / 76.6 C. Yes there are 3 vessels involved.   Again, fun for me, makes great beer. So if you choose to use my method, you can honestly say that you are a partial mash, brew in a bag, 3 vessel brewer.

At the end of the mash / mash out.  I add the DME to the turkey fryer. The turkey fryer has a basket.  The basket gets placed on a stainless steel bbq grate over the kettle.   My combined volume is about 4.9 gallons of wort.  I then sparge to my intended pre boil volume.  Usually 5.5 - 6.5 gallons (20.8 to 24.6 liters).  The boil off rate is not very high because I boil with the lid on but ajar... egads... aren't you terrified of DMS... again... No, No I am not.  I have covered that many times on this blog.  

The lid on but a jar.

From this point on the brew is just like any other brew, add hops, add your extras... yeast nutrient, whirlfloc, etc...I add my hops in a paint strainer bag from home depot ($1.87) This saves on Trub loss.  I will note again, I brew with the lid on but a jar.  This creates such a vigorous boil that I can not walk away for even a moment for fear of a boil over.   I get complete breakdown of the proteins.  Why is this important to mention? because some "Tommy Knowitall" will try to tell you that you have to have a 200,000 btu banjo burner, or you'll never be able to make great beer... and that person is just wrong.  With the lid on but a jar, my boil off rate is only about .5 - .75 gallon per hour.  Don't you miss your target? Almost never. 

25' Stainless is fine for
small batches.

When the boil is over it is time for the chill... there are people who believe that you have to chill rapidly or you won't get clear beer.   Hogwash.   Chilling helps with clarity, but the intensity of the boil is what really helps.  I do not usually chill batches that are not super hoppy.  I just don't like to waste the water.   Recently I have learned of some new techniques that  appear to save a lot of water, so I will probably be testing and implementing these techniques.  If they are successful, I will probably start chilling every batch. I also am inspired by the Wasp chiller by Jaded Brewing.   When a beer is super hoppy, I chill it.   But super hoppy beers tend to be 2.25 gallon batches around here.   So chilling them is a breeze.  Large batches get chilled on the back porch. a garden hose attached to the double coil 50'. I am usually to pitching temperatures in about 25 minutes.   I prefer immersion chillers.  They are easier to keep clean.  And since brewing is about fun... and cleaning a plate chiller / counterflow chiller sucks... I'll stick with them.

I always aerate my beer.  I used to be a shake the carboy guy, then I became a pour it back and forth guy.  Now I have a $9.00 aquarium pump.  My tube has a hepa filter in it.   The filters are cheap and should last about a year.   It does the job so very well.  I aerate my beers for 15 -20 minutes minimum.  Higher gravity beers, and lagers, get aerated for longer.   Fermentations have been fast and very clean ever since I got the aquarium pump.  I also usually cover the top of the fermenter with aluminum foil.  (I took it off for the picture)  You may also notice the aquarium pump is on a brew day rag.  That keeps it from sliding around while I am aerating.

Pitching Yeast.  I am a fan of dry yeast.  Having said that I have no particular preference about what yeast you use.   For most ales I use US 05 or Nottingham.  I rehydrate but, Fermentis says you don't need to any longer.  For almost all lagers I use Wyeast 2112.  The apparent attenuation (aa%) can be lower than some lager yeasts... 68-74%  but I don't really care.  I usually get about 70-71% attenuation and that is just fine.  My premium american lager is awesome.   For Belgian Strong Ales I am currently hooked on WLP500.  Something about the finished taste just agrees with my pallet.  And it is great even before aging.  I am excited to try CryHavoc yeast.  I'll admit I do sometimes get special deals and gifts because I write this blog.  Fermentis is awesome. I will be trying a lot of lagers in the next year using their yeasts.  If you are a new brewer I'd say stick with dry yeast for a while.

Fermentation Control.   I used to own an undercounter 2 door bar refrigerator.  It was awesome.  I had a Johnson controller... I say used to because after a blow off of epic proportions I took it out side to hose it out (it was a bad ass BSDA that went crazy).  I had it leaning against the minivan to drain out.   I live in a pretty nice neighborhood. But scrappers can get you where ever you are, and they got my fermentation chamber. So I am currently fermenting in the master bathtub.  I used my laser thermometer and  this was the best spot. Around 65 F (18.33 C) year round.  My next big project is constructing an ale fermentation chamber and converting a dorm fridge for lagering.  I will be using a more affordable temperature controller. This picture is what I will be building.

I currently bottle my beer.   I had to sell my keezer and keg set up when times got tough.   I actually don't mind bottling.  But I think I will probably start kegging again. I may also be getting the tap a draft keg systems.   I do so much small batch that they really look like they would make some sense for my 2 gallon batches.  I'd end up with 1 tap a draft, and a 1 liter bottle that I could force carbonate.   I also force carbonate in 2 liter bottles.  That is easy and fun, and lets me start trying my beer in a couple of hours. 

Belgian Dark Strong Ale... One of the Pinnacles...

In the world of homebrewing there are certain pinnacle recipes.  Certain beers that seem to garner respect and awe from other brewers when done well.   Certainly a ridiculously hoppy double india pale ale is one of those beers, a royal imperial stout is one of those beers, and most definitely a barleywine is one of the pinnacle beers.  But I submit that a Belgian Strong Dark Ale (BSDA) is one of those beers too. Every time I make a BSDA other brewers who try it slowly nod their head and say..."I have to try one of these someday".    sexy fermentation photos at the end....

Aerate your wort.
Temperature control and aeration
make the biggest difference.

Sunday I made my BSDA partial mash beer.   This was the second time in 2 months that I have made a BSDA, the other time was an extract kit with a "new to brew" friend.   It was a 5 gallon batch that finished at 1.067.  I know they say the beer improves with age, but I wouldn't know.  I have never successfully left my damned hands off of one of these.   The first batch was made with WLP500 Monastery yeast.  The yeast was washed using woodland brewing research's modified yeast washing protocol.  This created 6 pints of yeast slurry.  I kept 2, gave 2 to the newb, and gave 2 to another friend.

Mashing away
at 150 F.

So this weekend it was time to brew up some more... just for me.  And for any friend who can pronounce Chimay correctly, and doesn't think it is a monastery in China.

I forgot to take a picture of the grain. Sorry about that.   It was 6 lbs total of grain.  When I partial mash in my electric turkey fryer, I generally use only 6 to 7 lbs of grain.  That still means about half of my fermentables are coming from grain and half from DME.  I use DME.  It is very rare that I use LME.   I find DME is easier to control color with, and also it stores so well it is rarely stale or off in flavor.    The recipe is here. 

I have a little different approach to partial mash than most people.  I mash my grains in 3.5 (13.5 L) gallons of water at 150 F ( 68 C ).  Always, doesn't matter what the recipe.  If it isn't giving me the mouthfeel I need, I add some oats or wheat next time.   I dissolve my DME in 2 gallons ( 7.57 L) of water. I combine the two, and then I sparge to volume.  I overshot my target gravity.  I was aiming for 1.070  I ended up at 1.072.

This method works for me, I have produced quite a few excellent beers this way. Partial mash is nearly indistinguishable from all grain.  I have hosted samplings at the LHBS, where people were asked to identify the all grain, and the partial mash.   No one can ever tell, and they usually prefer the partial mash.   The advantages of partial mash are discussed in earlier blogs.  As you can see from the photo at the right, 4 lbs (1.81 kg) of DME went into this one.  Along with 8 oz of D180 (.22 kg) Candi Syrup.   The hops were Cluster for bittering, and Styrian Golding for aroma and flavor.

The boil went just fine.  AS you can see the turkey fryer will actually boil 6 gallons of wort just fine. And it will really rock and roll with the lid on but ajar.   I use a hop bag when I brew.   It is just a large paint strainer bag from home depot... $1.87. Usually I rinse it out... but sometimes.  I just pitch it.

This was a no chill batch.  When I brew 5 gallons (or more) of beer,  I never chill batches where the hops are not the predominant flavor.  Chilling uses lots of water.   When finances allow it, i will be purchasing a jaded chiller (or making a knock off).  As brewers I think we have to be conscious of the water we are using and wasting.    I am confident that an hour of steam and boiling wort has sanitized the lid and the boil kettle.  So I just let it stand with the lid on for 20 minutes.  Then I pull the hop bag and the element.  I put the lid back on and wrap it up in saran wrap. So far I haven't had any problems with no chill.  But I've only been doing it for about 20 years.  So, check back with me...By the way the Australians did not invent no chill.  They just radically improved it. People did it all the time when I first started brewing.


Photo stinks but it is at 1.072, so I overshot by .002.  With partial mash I come pretty darn close to the recipe every time.

I'm going to try like crazy to let part of this batch cellar.  The current plan is to take 24 beers to my dads house and cellar them in his basement.   And by 24 I mean 18... or maybe 12...ok a 6 pack will go to my dads basement and Ill try it occasionally when I am over there.

And here it is in my temporary fermentation chamber / master whirlpool tub.  It stays cool year round.  Bad for baths...great for beer.  You may also notice the 3 lbk Mr. Beer fermenters from the recent... You can go all grain with the Mr. Beer.... series.

Thanks for reading.
Keep on Brewing.

Prost!

Super Sexy Fermentation Updates

At 12 hours the ring of bubbles is left over from the aeration

At 24 hours a Krausen is beginning to form around the edge 

at 28 hours Krausen has formed, blow off jug is bubbling
Cant wait to see this in 8-12 hours.

At 36 hours the Krausen is rising. The bubbles
are rocking. We'll see if I actually needed
the blow off tube.
I did not need the blow off tube, or at least I don't think I needed it.
Had I put on the air lock, it may not have been able to evacuate fast enough...

Ill keep updating as we go along.

At 60 hours the Krausen has fallen but the
bubbles are still rocking 1 huge bubble every 2 seconds.
What does that mean? It means I did a good job denaturing
the proteins in the boil and they will floc out completely.
So again, ignore the Tommy Know it alls who tell you
that you need a monster BTU burner.

At 96 hours the krausen looks the same, and the bubbles are still at 1 huge bubble every
2 seconds.  This one is going fast.
Cant wait to try it.

At 192 hours,  the bubbles have slowed to 1 every 30 seconds.
It went for days at 1 bubble every 5 seconds.
Impressive,  this should be a great beer.

The closet cleaner Pale Ale and chilling with Ice.

Sunday, I had found some time to brew. Unfortunately, it was Sunday. Which means the local home brew stores were closed.  Here in Kansas City where I live, we are blessed with 7 home brew stores.   But none of them are open on Sunday.   And we had an impromptu get together the night before, so the kitchen was destroyed.   Step one of brewing in your kitchen (Counterbrew) is to clean your kitchen.  So 35 minutes later the kitchen was clean and I was ready to brew.  Now when I say clean I mean it.   I even wipe down the cabinets, clean the floors, and clean the countertops.   Being a brewer has taught me to be the fastest, best kitchen cleaner I know.   By the way washing by hand is way faster than your dishwasher... just saying.

Sunday, and the homebrew stores are closed? Fortunately, I am a homebrewer, I have some of ingredients lying around. Like you, I imagine, I always have the best of intentions for my excess ingredients, but I never quite seem to get to them.

Fridge and Closet Gold
The buckets are fruit beers
awaiting bottling. 

A quick search of the brew closet revealed the following.;

• 3 lbs of maris otter
• .25 lbs of munich dark
• .25 lbs of vienna
• .25 lbs of carapils
• 2 lbs of dry malt extract
• 2 oz of Centennial
• 1 oz of Simcoe
• 1 oz of Cascade

No yeast... hmm... Ok simple solution.  I'll bottle up the 1 gallon Cascade I made a couple of weeks ago and use the yeast slurry from that batch.  I think it was Nottingham.  

I have 5.2 pH stabilizer, Irish Moss, and Yeast Nutrient on hand at all times. 

This ingredient bill sounds perfect for a 3.5 gallon batch of Pale Ale.   So that is what I made a simple stove top pale ale with 8 hop additions 5 of which came in the last minute.   I even used ice to chill this thing down.   

Doughing in on the stove top. 3.75 lbs of grain.   Could have made just a simple 2 gallon all grain BIAB but, I decided that I wanted to use up my DME as well. I added 5.2. pH stabilizer prior to dough in. I heated the strike water to 160 and added my grain.   I came damned close to my strike temperature.   Brewtoad has a feature for calculating strike water.

 After a 60 minute mash.   I drained the grains and rinsed with about a gallon of 168F water.  Then I squeezed the bag to get to a volume of 3.5 gallons.  Wait? what the what? 3.5 gallons for a 3.5 gallon batch?  are you crazy?  yes, yes we are...I told you earlier I was going to use Ice to chill this down.  So the small boil after evaporation gives me 2.5 gallons.   8.45 lbs of ice brings me back to 3.5+ gallons of wort.  Its simple to do and chills your beer instantly.   Some are concerned about the sanitation of packaged ice.  But in truth the FDA and local health and safety carefully monitor ice machines and ice packaging.   I get my ice at Walmart, the inspection report and date are on the side of the machine.  It was inspected last Monday, and Friday.  And passed with no deficiencies. Seems pretty safe to me.  More on this later.

I broke my 4 oz of hops into 8 additions.   

Each addition was .5 oz.  Brewtoad estimates 79 IBUs.  Should be amazing. 

60 Centennial and Simcoe

15 Centennial

10 Centennial

5 Cascade

0 Cascade Centennial and Simcoe 20 minute hop stand after flame out.  

So 2.5 oz of hops in the last 5 minutes of the boil. That should give me a bit of a tongue stinger. Which I love.  My current favorite commercial beer is boulevard's "The Calling"  This is by no means an effort to clone that beer, but it should still be interesting and delicious.   I mean really, who among us doesn't love a ridiculous pale ale?  

Chilling With Ice

I sometimes chill my wort with Ice.  Yes, I have an immersion chiller. Yes, it works greatish.  (It will be better when I can add another 25 ft of coil to it.  But there is something else that works great too.   ICE.   Ice can be safely used to chill down your beer.  and using 1 gallon of ice to chill your beer is far more environmentally responsible than using. 10 gallons of cold running water.    Here's how I do it.  

• I buy my ice at an ice machine (think wal-mart)  not from a place where they deliver the ice (think gas station).   
• The machines are regularly inspected for sanitation, usually 1x a week.  
• I buy a 10 lb bag of ice,  from which I remove 1.5 lbs. 
• I am extra sanitary when working with ice.  nothing touches the ice,  the scissors are sanitary, my hands are sanitary. 
• I sanitize two 5 gallon buckets in addition to my fermentation vessel.
• I put 8.5 lbs of ice into one of the buckets
• I pour in my nearly boiling wort.  this batch had a 20 minute hop stand so it was probably only 185 F.
• I then pour the wort back and forth a couple of times between the two buckets.  
• BOOM -  75 F  Pitching temperature and aerated wort!

In 10 + years of doing this I have never had an infection.  But I'm a freak for sanitation.  I stay sanitary even during my boil. Empirical experience tells me the practice is safe.   It shortens my brew day.  And it is better for the planet.  So, the Aussies can keep their no chill methods.  I'll stick with my ICE.