2 run mash

https://byo.com/mead/item/1963-parti-gyle-brewing-techniques

Of course, I do this almost every brew except I go to 168 as a mash out. This de-natures all the enzymes which locks in your sugar profile.

I've done a couple of parti-gyle brew days and it's a challenge. The math can be tricky and of course you'll have two boils, two cool-downs, two fermenters . . . and twice as much to clean. If you search this Forum for "parti-gyle" you can see what others think about it.

 

No idea on a calculater, it's is more work but you get more beer. Worth doing at least one time.

 

The math isn't rocket science, but neither is it exactly trivial. It's all about volumes, concentrations, and losses. (The latter depends partly on your brewhouse configuration.) But if you're looking for "close enough," have a look at the table on this page...

https://www.morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/library/backissues/issue2.2/moshertable.html

 

Parti-gyle brewing is fun (depending on your definition of the word). I’m a huge nerd about using old-school traditional methods. But it is almost twice the work, and time, so keep that in mind!

Just some tips:

• In my experience, it is much easier to use fly sparging than batch sparging. Because you can adjust your beers in stride and you aren’t a slave to what your mash yields you.

• Keep in mind the differences between your two worts. Not just gravity, but viscosity, color, flavor intensity. Your second wort will have a stronger likelihood of pulling astringency, so don’t be afraid to cut it early if it is getting super low gravity.
• A PH meter is a great tool to have here, as you will likely need to adjust the mash for the second beer. A refractometer is even more important so you know what exactly you are getting, gravity-wise.
• Prioritize one beer (likely the first) and focus on hitting your numbers with that one, then go ‘I get what I get’ with the second one. It’s better to have one great beer and one average one that two average ones.
• The first beer will pull most of the malt flavor, so either hop the hell out of the small beer, or have a couple lbs. specialty malt ready to top off the mash. Traditionally, biscuit was used. I like crystal (Breiss DRC).
• Calculators are great...once you’ve got everything dialed in. Parti-gyle is a completely different way of brewing and you need to dial your system in to it. Treat the first attempt as a learning experience and don’t be too bummed if you don’t hit it out of the park.

Good luck!

 

I like big beers (and I cannot lie).

I also hate wasting things, like malt with fermentable sugars.

The solution? Brew the big beer to a recipe (first runnings) and just see what happens with the second runnings. My final ABV on the first runnings is usually predictable and in the 10-12% range. Second runnings have varied in final ABV from 1% to about 5%. I enjoy the big beer as intended, and I have a more crushable version for whenever.

 

I am similar, but more in the 9% range for the first and 5-6 for the second. Apparently my Texas friend has better efficiency

 

I've occasionally done parti-gyles when brewing some big beers and will strongly second adding some additional character malts for the second runnings as @JohnnyChicago mentioned. Biscuit is a nice choice, I like to use Aromatic for the strong malt character you get from it.

 

Parti-gyle brewing is easy compared to decoction brewing ...both novelties/relics of bygone eras, imho

 

Indeed, but still no harm in trying once,,,, or more.

 

Get your efficiency numbers dialed in and batch sparge everything. It's kind of fun getting two completely different beers from one brew day. For a homebrew challenge. Add a paired plate to each beer, and see what happens as a result.

 

Here's some info on a spreadsheet that will help. I've used it and recommend it.