My first (partial) mash

[RichK]

At the week-end, I've had a go at my first partial mash. Using BIAB method (for simplicity & cleaning up).

1.5 kg Maris Otter (pre-crushed). Steeped for about 3 hours (started at about 70 C) in about 5L of water. Rinsed through well with hot water up to about 10L total before
45 minute boil with 25g fuggles (45 min) & 50g EKG (15 min)
Added to a basic extract "bitter" kit (1.5kg) & made up to 23L.
About 300g of golden syrup (as gravity was a bit low at this point). OG ~1043 so sessionable ABV on the cards
Swapped out kit yeast for CML real ale yeast (re-hydrated). This was bubbling about 12 hours from pitching & I can see a krausen through the FV.
All done in a cheap 12L pot from Wilkinsons.

So, what did I learn?

• Apparently I missed a "mashout" step but not convinced that's critical.
• I also didn't try hard enough to cool the pan down after the boil. It wasn't until the following morning that it was down to 25 C so I could pitch the yeast in.
• I tested the wort after boiling & the online calculator is giving me a mash efficiency of about 71%, which I'm more than happy with as a first attempt. Obviously, if I could improve this a bit then great.
• The hops were put in net bags for boiling but I should have used the biggest ones I've got (or got another BIAB bag).
• Getting ~10L wort to boil took longer than I expected, as did the whole process. There will be times when I'll have to stick to just a standard kit simply for expediency.

It'll now sit there till a week Saturday before bottling. As long as the result is drinkable, I'm not anticipating anything earth shattering. This was all about the process & trying something new.

 

[Slid]

Hi RichK

Good write up on a first learning effort. I have the same 12L pot from Wilko and did a fair number of Partial Mash brews myself and worked out a process using a BIAB bag and a FV, together with an oven that fits the pot.
I wrote it all up somewhere on the Forum, but last time I looked, I could not quite find it. Here is a summary of things that may be of interest, however:

• I would suggest mashing in the pot. Put 3L of water for every kg of grain that needs mashing. 2.5kg of grain is an easy fit in the Wilko pot with the water.
• Give the water at ~ 72C and the grain a very thorough stirring before starting the mash.
• If your oven will fit the pot, then 50C (lowest setting) will hold the mashing temps of ~ 65C very well and a big stir after 30 mins will get better efficiencies.
• After 1 hour of mashing, you do the mash out by putting the pot on the stove and stirring continuously until it gets to 75C.
• After the mashout, you fit the BIAB bag over the FV and tip the whole lot into the FV, collecting all the grain in the bag.
• Then you use the pot to collect some sparge water at 75C or so - maybe 5L or so - and after squeezing the BIAB bag to drain into the FV -
• Use the 5L in the pot to do a dunk sparge, by putting the bag and grain into it and giving it all a good stirring.
• The whole wort should then fit back into the pot for the boil.

Cooling down in the sink is fairly easy in winter, less so in summer, but you do need to remember to keep the liquid in the sink and the liquid in the pot moving quite well to reduce the cool down time. 2 changes of water usually does it and using ice on the second change would speed things up further.
It does help that if you are adding 12L of water or so, it can be cooled in the fridge - say 3 x 2L bottles will make a very big difference.

This approach makes very good beer indeed and in quality it does approach AG, but it is slightly less flexible in terms of recipes. I would advise leaving the beer for TWO weeks before bottling and not just one.

If you want any specific advice, just give us a shout on this thread. I don't believe I am alone in having used this approach and it works well with fairly minimal equipment.

 

[RichK]

Thanks for the pointers Slid. I'll give some of that a go next time.

 

[RichK]

Bottled today having been stable gravity since Monday (& I had an opportunity...) First taste is that it's drinkable :) if nothing special (but that's not a problem) - a sort of stronger flavoured bitter which is kind of what I was aiming for. About 4.2%, which again is fine. Roll on a couple of weeks so I can crack a few open.

Next brew is a straight kit (for expediency on Saturday) but I'm going to try another partial mash for the one after, probably something similar to this.