Getting Into Partial Mash

Northern Brewer General
1

Hey everyone,

I’m thinking about making the jump up to making partial mash brews with the 5 gallon rubbermaid mash tun set-ups that NB sells. However I’m wondering if my current boil kettle: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brew … ettle.html will be sufficient enough to handle the new boil volumes? Any ideas?

Thanks!

2

If you’re doing partial mash with a partial boil and topping off with fresh water at the end, yes. That will work. You’ll have to figure out your grain limitations, meaning how much you can mash in that pot. I used a 6gal pot for a while and was able to mash up to about 12lbs of grain, but that was really pushing it. 9-10lbs or less was a good fit.

So you could probably mash between 6-9lbs comfortably, do a partial boil, top off at the end and get away with it in that pot.

3

you can make your own 5 gallon cooler-mash-tun for about half the cost of our hosts…and use the savings to buy their kits.

Cooler at walmart is about $20. Hose, valve, bung, like mine from NB are a few bucks more. five gallon paint strainer bags (make great false bottoms) at HD are approx 2 for $4 and last years.

Plus, if your boiling on the stove, you can just make smaller all grain batches with that pot. I do.

Pics here.

:cheers:

4

When I do partial mashes I use a 4 gallon stock pot, large strainer and a 5 gallon pot for the boil. The strainer will give me enough room for about 5lbs of grain which I’ve found sufficient for every recipe I’ve wanted to do. 5lbs at about 1.25qts per lb doesn’t give you a massive amount so I top off and the boil is exactly the same as for an all extract recipe. I will admit the stock pot isn’t the greatest option since it takes a little work to keep the temperature even.

5

[quote=“TFrankMac”]Hey everyone,

I’m thinking about making the jump up to making partial mash brews with the 5 gallon rubbermaid mash tun set-ups that NB sells. However I’m wondering if my current boil kettle: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brew … ettle.html will be sufficient enough to handle the new boil volumes? Any ideas?

Thanks![/quote]

Partial mashing is getting some of the sugars from grain, and the rest from extract.

If that pot works for your all extract brews, it will work for partial mashing.

If you only plan to do partial mashes, you can mash 7 pound of grain in a 3 gallon container. Check you local super stores. If you plan to one day go All Grain, nothing better than a 48qt rectangular cooler.

http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/ http://brewing.lustreking.com/gear/mashtun.html

You may be able to use most of the parts from a 3 gallon water cooler on a 40qt cooler.

6

I’m preparing for PM and I’m a bit concerned about maintaining mash temps. I’m using a middle-of-the-road 5-gallon stock pot as a brew kettle. I have a gas stove/oven that does not have a “warm” feature and the lowest temperature setting is 170 degrees Fahrenheit. I was thinking about picking up a 3-gallon Rubbermaid cooler to do my partial mash. Is this silly? Does wrapping the kettle in towels hold temperature good enough for the hour rest? The 3-gallon option seems doable; however, I’m concerned about resting the mash for an hour in the cooler, then moving the mash and wort back to the brew kettle to finish. This is okay, right? I could bring my water to temp, pour into the 3-gallon cooler, insert my mesh and stir in my PM, then let it rest. Then, drain the wort back into the brew kettle, and while that’s happening, move the mesh over to the brew kettle as well. Thoughts?

7

What you described is absolutely OK. The Rubbermaid cooler will hold your temperatures. Moving the mash from the cooler to the kettle is fairly easy. Just drain about a quart of the wort from the cooler and pour back over the grains to remove some of the big pieces. The grains will act as a strainer. Drain your cooler/sparge/drain and begin the boil. There’s a BYO article that describes the partial mash process. I can’t seem to locate it or else I would paste a link.

8

I use a Rubbermaid 10 Gal cooler for my AG mash tun, and I only lose 1 to 2 degrees in an hour. I’m happy with it. Your 3 Gal should work just fine.

Paul

9

Thanks for the input. I think I’m going to give it a go!