Have you ever brewed a large beer, say
an Imperial Stout, or Imperial IPA, or maybe even a Barley Wine, and
felt a little guilty throwing out that large grain bill when you
finished making your beer? Some people compost, some people feed
their chickens, some people put it in bread, and while these ideas
are all fine and good, I personally make more beer with it.
You may have heard the term
“parti-gyle” before, but wasn't sure what it was, or it sounded
like some new-fangled process to make all grain brewing more
complicated. Well, in fact, it is a very old and traditional way to
brew, dating back hundreds of years, and with some math and some
practice it is a great way for you to walk away from your brew day
with not one, but two beers in the fermenter(s).
Historically brewers would mash and
lauter the same grain bill several times producing a batch of wort
and subsequent beer with each individual mash. Most likely this is
where the Belgians got their terminology for their Trapist ales;
Trippel (highest alcohol first runnings), Dubbel (high alcohol second
runnings), and Pater or Table Beer (low alcohol third runnings). And,
in early American colonies beer was made for sale at taverns, but
“small” beer was made from the second runnings which was consumed
by workers and even children as to avoid drinking the water which was
often considered unfit to drink. Since the total potential of the
original grain bill was known as a “gyle”, the process of
splitting or partitioning the runnings became known as “parti-gyling”
Today, the homebrewer typically just
sparges the grain after the initial mash and combines the first
runnings (mash) with the second runnings (sparge) producing a full
gyle. So why do it differently? Well, because two beers are better
than one, and if you don't think so, you are probably reading the
wrong blog... And since you bought all that grain with your hard
earned money, why don't you get the most out of it.
Practically speaking, there are a few
different ways to use a parti-gyle brew day.
One: you can just keep sparging your
grain until your runnings hit a gravity of 1.010 rather than to a
specific volume size. Depending on the grain you are using you can
maybe pull out double the volume of beer you would have got
otherwise. But remember that if your grain bill was built for a 5
gallon batch of 1.060 beer, that will be the gravity of the first 5
gallons. If you run out another 5 gallons at say 1.020, then your
combined 10 gallon gyle will yield a 1.040 beer. As you can see, there are lots of gravity readings required. This is impractical for a hydrometer. Get yourself a
refractometer.
Two: Make a grain bill for your
Imperial Stout/Porter/IPA etc, then continue to sparge until your
runnings hit a gravity of 1.010 but make it a true pari-gyle and keep
them separate. How you split it will be entirely up to you. Maybe
split it in thirds for three similar beers but with varying alcohol,
or maybe keep one an imperial, and the other a small session beer.
Three: After one of the partitions add
some adjuncts or specialty grain to your mash for a different beer
from your second (or third) runnings. Just add some roasted barley
and flaked oats to your grain to turn what was an Imperial IPA first
runnings into a small stout second runnings.
Pretty awesome right? Are you asking
yourself, “why haven't I been doing this since I started brewing?”
Well there are a couple of reasons it can be a hassle, and it isn't
for everyone. Sorry extract brewers, I don't think your way is
inferior, but you just can't play here. The next biggest hurdle is
your ability to brew and ferment two beers (or three) at once? Two burners, two kettles, two
fermenters. Otherwise you are
looking at a tremendously long brew day. Fortunately for me I have my
old extract equipment so I usually brew a 3 gallon Imperial on the
stove top and my 5 gallons session beer on my regular equipment. The
other downside is the math. It isn't rocket science, but once you
figure out what you are doing it will still take some practice to get
the process down to something you are comfortable with. I will
provide some more detail in a subsequent post on the mathematics of a
parti-gyle, but don't wait for me. Jump in with both feet and make a
couple of beers during your next brew day. Don't worry, it will make
beer. We are happy to help you with this in the store also.
