Part Grain Brewing

[Ricardoslayer]

Hi, just wondering if anyone can help with this:
I have brewed 3 or 4 different part grain kits usually IPA or American Pale ale types. They always come with about 3kg of liquid malt. I want to reduce the amount of extract to only one kg of liquid malt, so how much extra grain should I use instead. And should I boil it for longer. Just want to get a lighter colour and the liquid malt dictates both colour and flavour.
TIA
Rich

 

[fury_tea]

Hi, just wondering if anyone can help with this:
I have brewed 3 or 4 different part grain kits usually IPA or American Pale ale types. They always come with about 3kg of liquid malt. I want to reduce the amount of extract to only one kg of liquid malt, so how much extra grain should I use instead. And should I boil it for longer. Just want to get a lighter colour and the liquid malt dictates both colour and flavour.
TIA
Rich

Lazy Chart For Converting - DME - LME -GRAIN -
here's my go to for easy conversions.

Sounds like you might want to move to all grain at this point though. Can't see the point in using only 1kg of liquid if you have the capability of mashing 4kg, unless you have a load of LME to use up.

Look at some SMaSH recipes or small batch recipes to keep it simple and get the process down.

 

[Fireside Ales Homebrewery]

Hi, just wondering if anyone can help with this:
I have brewed 3 or 4 different part grain kits usually IPA or American Pale ale types. They always come with about 3kg of liquid malt. I want to reduce the amount of extract to only one kg of liquid malt, so how much extra grain should I use instead. And should I boil it for longer. Just want to get a lighter colour and the liquid malt dictates both colour and flavour.
TIA
Rich

Hello,
Personally if your intent is to reduce the amount of liquid extract to that amount. I would just make the leap to all grain brewing. You then have full control over the flavour and colour of your beer. You are almost at that point anyway if you are brewing with a partial grain kit.

 

[Fireside Ales Homebrewery]

Lazy Chart For Converting - DME - LME -GRAIN -
here's my go to for easy conversions.

Sounds like you might want to move to all grain at this point though. Can't see the point in using only 1kg of liquid if you have the capability of mashing 4kg, unless you have a load of LME to use up.

Look at some SMaSH recipes or small batch recipes to keep it simple and get the process down.

Great minds think alike...

 

[Sandimas]

Sounds like you might want to move to all grain at this point though. Can't see the point in using only 1kg of liquid if you have the capability of mashing 4kg, unless you have a load of LME to use up.

That's the reason I do part-grain part-DME brews, with my BIAB setup I can only mash about 2.5kg of grain: so my AG brews would only be 10/12L but I can push that up to 18L using DME.

Suppose I could upgrade my kit but I quite like my method at the moment and it kinda works for me. And I've only spent about £30 on kit (excluding FVs) which has helped me do 170 brews over 9 years.

 

[fury_tea]

That's the reason I do part-grain part-DME brews, with my BIAB setup I can only mash about 2.5kg of grain: so my AG brews would only be 10/12L but I can push that up to 18L using DME.

Suppose I could upgrade my kit but I quite like my method at the moment and it kinda works for me. And I've only spent about £30 on kit (excluding FVs) which has helped me do 170 brews over 9 years.

One of the things I really love about this hobby is there's loads of levels to it, loads of different ways to get to the end point and you can get as technical (or not) as you like.

You can literally throw a prehopped kit into a bucket with some sugar and at the end get some beer, or you can get down into the nitty gritty and do decoction mashes and water calculations, and there's everything in between. You can just go with what suits you and at the end of it you can get ******.

 

[terrym]

I use a similar method to @darrellm i.e. partial mashes. I use an 11 litre pot which is the largest pot that will comfortably fit on my hob, and that normally restricts me to mashes of 1kg pale malt plus speciality grains. The malts are then topped up with 1.5kg DME, of which 1 kg goes direct to the FV and 0.5kg into a 9 litre hop boil. The end wort volume varies according to what i am brewing, but that is usually about 20/21 litres since my beers are mostly around OG 1.040. I used to use LME but have stopped using it since I ended up with a few twangy beers which I don't get with DME.
I use 1 Kg Pale Malt = 0.75 kg LME= 0.65 kg DME as a conversion

 

[Ricardoslayer]

Thank you all very much. I only have a large Jam pan so can't really do a full grain brew. I'll check capacity but think it's 15-18 litres.

 

[Sandimas]

I used to use LME but have stopped using it since I ended up with a few twangy beers which I don't get with DME.

Sorry to hijack the thread but I had an epiphany about LME last weekend @terrym . I think we were both involved in the discussion about unbranded LME from a certain supplier, I had a few iffy beers but one in particular was really horrible, an Amarillo pale ale. I didn't try making it again for years until recently and bottled it last weekend, and it was every bit as good as the first time I made it. It was the 2nd time brewing it, using that dodgy LME, that turned out bad: the LME was definitely at fault.

 

[Ricardoslayer]

Hello,
Personally if your intent is to reduce the amount of liquid extract to that amount. I would just make the leap to all grain brewing. You then have full control over the flavour and colour of your beer. You are almost at that point anyway if you are brewing with a partial grain kit.

Yeah pretty much could do all grain but it's just the capacity of my jam pan. I have no wort chiller either. Thinking about getting an electrim Digital mash bucket so might be doing all grain soon.
Thanks

 

[phildo79]

I am also a partial mash brewer but I only ever use DME. There are a lot more benefits to DME over LME. If it's a lighter colour you're after, I think DME will help. Obviously your choice of grain will also play a part. Another factor, albeit a small one, is how you package your beer. If you keg it, you will see the colour gradually getting lighter and clearer the longer it's in the keg and more it's pulled through.

But realistically, if you want total control, go all grain.

 

[Ricardoslayer]

Hello,
Personally if your intent is to reduce the amount of liquid extract to that amount. I would just make the leap to all grain brewing. You then have full control over the flavour and colour of your beer. You are almost at that point anyway if you are brewing with a partial grain kit.

Yeah pretty much could do all grain but it's just the capacity of my jam pan. I have no wort chiller either. Thinking about getting an electrim Digital mash bucket so might be doing all grain soon.
Thank

I am also a partial mash brewer but I only ever use DME. There are a lot more benefits to DME over LME. If it's a lighter colour you're after, I think DME will help. Obviously your choice of grain will also play a part. Another factor, albeit a small one, is how you package your beer. If you keg it, you will see the colour gradually getting lighter and clearer the longer it's in the keg and more it's pulled through.

But realistically, if you want total control, go all grain.

Cheers, I'll deffo try DME next time if I can't get the kit necessary to do an all grain brew.

 

[fury_tea]

Yeah pretty much could do all grain but it's just the capacity of my jam pan. I have no wort chiller either.

No wort chiller is an issue you will have to overcome as you scale up the amount of grain you add to your batch.
You could try no chill. I bought a 25L Jerry can from Amazon for about 8 quid, and I often use that to chill my batches overnight. I'm sure you could find one that suits your batch size. Maybe mash/boil one day, let it come down to temp overnight in a Jerry can then mix and add your DME the following day.
When I did small batches I used to freeze a % of water (which I boiled first before putting in the freezer) in ice cream tubs and put that in post boil to get my temps down.
You can buy wort chillers for quite cheap though, or if you are in the market for an "all in one" Robobrews (and possibly others) come with an immersion chiller.
Good luck

 

[Ricardoslayer]

No wort chiller is an issue you will have to overcome as you scale up the amount of grain you add to your batch.
You could try no chill. I bought a 25L Jerry can from Amazon for about 8 quid, and I often use that to chill my batches overnight. I'm sure you could find one that suits your batch size. Maybe mash/boil one day, let it come down to temp overnight in a Jerry can then mix and add your DME the following day.
When I did small batches I used to freeze a % of water (which I boiled first before putting in the freezer) in ice cream tubs and put that in post boil to get my temps down.
You can buy wort chillers for quite cheap though, or if you are in the market for an "all in one" Robobrews (and possibly others) come with an immersion chiller.
Good luck

No wort chiller is an issue you will have to overcome as you scale up the amount of grain you add to your batch.
You could try no chill. I bought a 25L Jerry can from Amazon for about 8 quid, and I often use that to chill my batches overnight. I'm sure you could find one that suits your batch size. Maybe mash/boil one day, let it come down to temp overnight in a Jerry can then mix and add your DME the following day.
When I did small batches I used to freeze a % of water (which I boiled first before putting in the freezer) in ice cream tubs and put that in post boil to get my temps down.
You can buy wort chillers for quite cheap though, or if you are in the market for an "all in one" Robobrews (and possibly others) come with an immersion chiller.
Good luck

Thank you for your advise Mr Fury. Think I'll look into buying/making a wort chiller fairly soon.

 

[Fireside Ales Homebrewery]

Yeah pretty much could do all grain but it's just the capacity of my jam pan. I have no wort chiller either. Thinking about getting an electrim Digital mash bucket so might be doing all grain soon.
Thanks

No problem,
All the best with future brews.