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Author Topic: 12 Gallons, 2 beers in a 15 gallon Blichman  (Read 1623 times)

Offline David Lester

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12 Gallons, 2 beers in a 15 gallon Blichman
« on: March 16, 2015, 10:35:57 am »
I pulled off a brew day finishing with 2 beers totaling 12 gallons in fermentors. I brewed a Red Ale and an Imperial Red Ale. I have a Liquor Tank, Mash Tun and Boiler on a stand with two pumps.

I pulled if off by Lautering a base for two beers totaling 17 gallons. The first Lauter was pulled into the 15 gallon Blichman Boiler. It was up to the very edge. At this point I drained the Liquor Tun of water into the Mash Tun followed by Lautering the remaining wort to the Liquor Tun. Because I did the 2nd Lautering to the Liquor Tun, I now have two Boilers for Two Beers. Next I pulled about 12 gallons of wort from the Boiler to the Liquor Tank, mixed thoroughly, then moved enough wort back from the Liquor Tank to the Boiler so that both the Liquor Tank and Boiler had 8.5 pre-boil gallons each.

Has anyone else pushed their system, and was it worth it?
« Last Edit: March 16, 2015, 10:38:46 am by David Lester »

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: 12 Gallons, 2 beers in a 15 gallon Blichman
« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2015, 11:32:12 am »
how do you mean worth it? did you enjoy your brewday? then it was worth it!

I've had my mashtun filled to the brim on more than one occasion. And my boil kettle too. a pre-boil for a 40 liter batch in a 50 liter kettle is an excellent time to discover if a watched pot ever boils (it does).

By the way the method you used is called partigyle. it's how pretty much everyone used to brew until continuous sparge became the norm.
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Offline David Lester

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Re: 12 Gallons, 2 beers in a 15 gallon Blichman
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2015, 11:49:02 am »
I thought partigyle was a big beer and small beer through two Laughters? I used a continuous sparge and both were the same. Did I miss something regarding partigyle?

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: 12 Gallons, 2 beers in a 15 gallon Blichman
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2015, 12:14:33 pm »
I thought partigyle was a big beer and small beer through two Laughters? I used a continuous sparge and both were the same. Did I miss something regarding partigyle?


didn't you say you brewed a red ale and an imperial red ale? so there were two different gravities correct? that's really the point of partigyle. today it is common to do two runnings for two separate beers but in the past and still today sometimes, the runnings were blended to create a variety of different gravity worts which could then be boiled and hopped differently to create different beers. Perhaps I am not reading your OP though.


I pulled off a brew day finishing with 2 beers totaling 12 gallons in fermentors. I brewed a Red Ale and an Imperial Red Ale. I have a Liquor Tank, Mash Tun and Boiler on a stand with two pumps.

I pulled if off by Lautering a base for two beers totaling 17 gallons. The first Lauter was pulled into the 15 gallon Blichman Boiler. It was up to the very edge. At this point I drained the Liquor Tun of water into the Mash Tun followed by Lautering the remaining wort to the Liquor Tun. Because I did the 2nd Lautering to the Liquor Tun, I now have two Boilers for Two Beers. Next I pulled about 12 gallons of wort from the Boiler to the Liquor Tank, mixed thoroughly, then moved enough wort back from the Liquor Tank to the Boiler so that both the Liquor Tank and Boiler had 8.5 pre-boil gallons each.

Has anyone else pushed their system, and was it worth it?

"Creativity is the residue of wasted time"
-A Einstein

"errors are [...] the portals of discovery"
- J Joyce

Offline pete b

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Re: 12 Gallons, 2 beers in a 15 gallon Blichman
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2015, 12:18:29 pm »
I thought partigyle was a big beer and small beer through two Laughters? I used a continuous sparge and both were the same. Did I miss something regarding partigyle?
I think I'm missing something. You said you made a Red Ale and an Imperial Red Ale, but your saying they were both the same. Does that mean you had wort of the same gravity in both kettles? Or did you mix together in a way that resulted in wort of two different gravities. Its still considered partigyle if you mix first and second runnings to get a bigger and larger beer even if you don't literally use first runnings for one and second runnings for another.
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Offline David Lester

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Re: 12 Gallons, 2 beers in a 15 gallon Blichman
« Reply #5 on: March 16, 2015, 01:02:17 pm »
I know that typically an Imperial is bigger in everything. And, a patigyle would work great for this brew session. But this one I decided to keep the abv the same. So I Lautered the entire grain bill and mixed so that both had similar gravities. The only difference was the hop schedule, being that the Imperial got the big hop schedule. Hopefully that clarified my original post.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2015, 01:05:29 pm by David Lester »

Offline cascadesrunner

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Re: 12 Gallons, 2 beers in a 15 gallon Blichman
« Reply #6 on: March 16, 2015, 01:20:30 pm »
Jonathan in your estimation would this method be a good candiate for a DIPA and session IPA?  This thought has been rolling around in my head for awhile and has yet to collide with the other thought in there that is Denny saying just do it to see what happens.  I welcome any and all feedback.

Paper Street Palace Double
OG-1.083     Pre-boil-1.068
Hill Clan Trail Ale
OG-1.040     Pre-boil-1.033

-Initial runnings will be higher than estimate, but a put/take could be used to lower the DIPA and raise the Session.
-What would be the best way to calculate the adjustment?  Most calculators are good for adding extract or diluting with water, but what about wort? 
Run then beer.

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: 12 Gallons, 2 beers in a 15 gallon Blichman
« Reply #7 on: March 16, 2015, 02:09:14 pm »
Jonathan in your estimation would this method be a good candiate for a DIPA and session IPA?  This thought has been rolling around in my head for awhile and has yet to collide with the other thought in there that is Denny saying just do it to see what happens.  I welcome any and all feedback.

Paper Street Palace Double
OG-1.083     Pre-boil-1.068
Hill Clan Trail Ale
OG-1.040     Pre-boil-1.033

-Initial runnings will be higher than estimate, but a put/take could be used to lower the DIPA and raise the Session.
-What would be the best way to calculate the adjustment?  Most calculators are good for adding extract or diluting with water, but what about wort?

the problem with partigyle for DIPA/Session IPA that I can see would be that you want to mash low for the DIPA and high for the Session. You could cap the mash for the session with some extra munich and some crystal to bump the body.

but other than that it should work.

to work out dilutions just do simple averages 1 gallon of 1.080 + 1 gallon of 1.040 = (80+40)/2 = 1.060
"Creativity is the residue of wasted time"
-A Einstein

"errors are [...] the portals of discovery"
- J Joyce

Offline cascadesrunner

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Re: 12 Gallons, 2 beers in a 15 gallon Blichman
« Reply #8 on: March 16, 2015, 05:07:15 pm »
Well, I used to be good at math.  Definitely got too far into the weeds on that one and couldn't find my way back out.  Thanks for the insight and I'll give it a go here in a few weeks to see how it works out. 
Run then beer.