2 for the price of 1

[okoncentrerad]

...or something like that.

Is it a bad idea to try to get two types of beers from one mash? I'm thinking, make one mash...and split in half and make two boils, different types, like one IPA and one ESB. Doesn't seem like impossible to me as a newbie, as long as I use a good generic base of malts?
Only problem I can think of is that I think I can only do one boil at time, so one of them have to wait for an hour or two, but I don't know if that's a problem or not?
Any advice on this?

Hope everyone is having a good monday btw...if there is such a thing as a good monday

 

[jmcnamara]

You could always do first runnings as one stronger beer, then add a little bit more and different malt, mash, and brew a second smaller beer. It's called a partigyle
No idea how to do that in the calculator

 

[jmcnamara]

That short a time of just sitting around shouldn't be a problem, it's eventually getting boiled after all. Just cover it, maybe wrap in a blanket. I'd be surprised if it cools down drastically by the time you'd get to it

 

[okoncentrerad]

Thanks! I'm a BIABer btw, shouldn't limit my possibilties? "First runnings" sounds like something I haven't been in contact with, yet

 

[jmcnamara]

I BIAB too.
In our case, first running would be whatever is in the pot when you lift the bag. I sparge, so that would be second runnings
Obviously you're limited somewhat in quantity of each beer, but you get more variety

 

[jmcnamara]

There's a concise description of how close some styles are in terms of grain bill at the top of the page below. Chapter 20 of that site will also give you a lot of ideas on how to vary the beer given a relatively similar grain bill

http://howtobrew.com/book/section-4/experiment/developing-your-own-recipes

 

[Nosybear]

Thanks! I'm a BIABer btw, shouldn't limit my possibilties? "First runnings" sounds like something I haven't been in contact with, yet

It's the wort you make before sparging, if you sparge. JC is describing one way of getting two beers from one mash. If you want to get two beers from one wort, simply split them and do two separate boils. Or do one boil, split them at fermentation and ferment them differently. Or split the fermented beer and experiment with different flavors and dry hops... Possibilities limited only by your imagination and equipment.

 

[Hawkbox]

I've done a few 10 gallons batches and then just pitched different yeast and/or hopped on a different schedule. The idea of small beer is interesting to me, but I don't really have the equipment for it... yet.

 

[J A]

Just do the strongest mash you can do, split it into two batches and top it up according to what you want to do with it. You may not get a full double batch, but if you can mash as much as 16 lbs (my tun is maxed out about there), you could do 2 5-gallon batches of 1.042 or so or you could do a 1.031 and a 1.052 or so. If you did smaller batches, you'd have more gravity points to split between the beers.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

..or something like that.

Is it a bad idea to try to get two types of beers from one mash? I'm thinking, make one mash...and split in half and make two boils, different types, like one IPA and one ESB. Doesn't seem like impossible to me as a newbie, as long as I use a good generic base of malts?
Only problem I can think of is that I think I can only do one boil at time, so one of them have to wait for an hour or two, but I don't know if that's a problem or not?
Any advice on this?

Hope everyone is having a good monday btw...if there is such a thing as a good monday

what you can do is mash and boil the first and while its boiling mash the second, people do it all the time

 

[okoncentrerad]

Thanks for all the suggestions above, it's all been noted!

I've been thinking of trying to make a last batch this year, and doing this one single mash to begin with and then split in half and do two separate boils: one hopped as an ESB (EKG and Fuggles) and one american IPA (Columbus, Amarillo, Cascade). Maybe none of them won't fit the description exactly, but I'm not that fuzzy about it at the moment.

However, won't be able to get to any LHBS any day now so I'm using what I have at home. My original recipe was to use something like

77% Maris Otter
13% Munich
5% Biscuit
5% Cara 45L

What I have at home though changes things, so I came up with this...it's a mix, I know...I have no idea how they blend together. It's no intention to be similar to the above, just a mix and match of what's home:

49% Pale Ale
34% Maris Otter
7% Munich
5% Crystal 10L
5% Cara 45L

So question, is this grain bill usable, the blend and to use for both an ESB and an IPA? As I said before, if it doesn't fit the description for the styles it's not such a big deal, as long as it will (in theory) produce descent beers.

 

[Nosybear]

That you have the grains at home makes a mix sensible. I think most of us questioned the blend on the basis of flavor contribution alone. Mixing pale and Maris won't change much - both are mild flavors. It could add some subtle complexity to the beer so go with it and good luck.

 

[okoncentrerad]

That you have the grains at home makes a mix sensible. I think most of us questioned the blend on the basis of flavor contribution alone. Mixing pale and Maris won't change much - both are mild flavors. It could add some subtle complexity to the beer so go with it and good luck.

Thanks, I will give it a try

 

[ACBEV]

In February this year I had a mad idea to make six different beers from two worts. They all turned out quite good. Link below to my posting...
https://www.brewersfriend.com/forum/threads/2-recipes-makes-6-different-beers-to-style.6049/

 

[chub1]

You could always do first runnings as one stronger beer, then add a little bit more and different malt, mash, and brew a second smaller beer. It's called a partigyle
No idea how to do that in the calculator

I did similar some time back. Did a stout with an expected abv of 8.5%,then added some more malt and re mashed.The second brew came out rather uninspiring!

 

[okoncentrerad]

Well I made this brew on Friday, time will tell if any of them turns out drinkable. I used the yeasts I had at home, S04 for the ESB and US05 for the IPA. These last days it's been interesting to see how different they been acting. The S04 been going yo-yo and is more or less finished now. So far for my brews I've only used dry yeasts but I'm going to be more adventurous in 2018, that's my new year resolution

 

[okoncentrerad]

I think the fermentation is done now, but a question arises. I think on my first thread here on this forum, about 2 months ago, I had a worry about getting my FG too low. I think I may have that "problem" now too, it's not as bad as those first batches (which came down to a FG between 1.002 and 1.005) but these both has a reading of 1.008. The calculated FG was 1.015 for the ESB (Safale S-04) and 1.011 for the IPA (Safale US-05). The OG was 1.060 and it would make the actual attenuation of the yeasts being 87%. Is that a possible attenuation for these yeasts or should I look for other possible causes?

I did have some problems with fermentation temps, it was a bumpy ride for them, going from 21.5C (71F) one day to 17C (63F) next day...and up again the next day. Would this matter? I should be investing in some better fermentation control...