Save Time with Partial Mashing
As a homebrewer who has been brewing for more than 30 years, and spent the last nine years as the owner of a homebrew shop, I always smile when a fellow brewer says, “I am an extract brewer now, but I want to brew all-grain because I will be able to make a superior beer.” Or, “I did a couple of kits but they were too easy. I want to brew all-grain because I want to make beer that I like using my own recipe.”
So like the generation of brewers before told me, I say to the new generation of brewers that you need to study and brew to appreciate the many facets of brewing.
The Partial Mash: Equipment
I believe this hobby loses too many brewers because a brewer will get over their head quickly or they make an undrinkable beer and decide they do not want to waste another 5 weeks of their time waiting for sub-par beer. Or the brewer will spend a lot of money to buy equipment with all the bells and whistles to brew their beer and then realize they don’t have the time it takes to use the equipment. How many times have you seen a post on an online auction site stating the seller brewed a couple of times and made great beer but they now have no time to brew anymore? Brewing all-grain batches is a time commitment, often taking the better part of a day from the time grains are crushed until yeast is pitched and the final piece of equipment has been cleaned and put away.
Looking to reduce my own brewing time requirements, my advanced extract brewing philosophy that I will lay out for readers in this story incorporates mashing a percentage of grains while also utilizing malt extract to get the best of both the all-grain and extract brewing methods. This article is intended to help brewers find their own brewing philosophy that incorporates brewing science with techniques that are easy to master, with an emphasis on good recipe formulation. Brewing beer can be done in many ways, and all homebrewers are searching for the path that is the best for them. Let’s get this out of the way up front: All of these paths can lead to tremendous homebrewed beer.
That said, let me share a way of brewing extract-based beers that I subscribe to, which can be done by novice homebrewers just getting into the hobby or those with years of experience. As I go through the steps of my brewing philosophy, I will show how recipes can be created to make beer you want to drink.
I brew beer using a beginner’s extract brewing setup with some additional pieces of equipment. In addition to the basic brewing equipment kit (a fermenter and bottling equipment), I use two 5-gallon (19-L) pots (however a 3-gallon/12-L pot will work fine for one of them), a magnetic stir plate and 2-L Erlenmeyer flask to make yeast starters, and an immersion chiller for cooling the wort.
After these rather basic homebrewing tools, the last really important investment that I believe is necessary to make great beer consistently is something to control fermentation temperature. I believe this should be one of the first investments homebrewers make because no matter what system you eventually use for brewing, you will be fermenting wort and the ability to control the fermentation temperature is the key to quality beer after sanitation of equipment. One should be investing in some form of chamber or control of fermentation temperature now.
When designing recipes I take into consideration hot break loss and the volume of trub and beer left behind at the bottom of the fermenter. I always design a 6-gallon (23-L) recipe for the beer style I want to make. This decision gives me the confidence of filling a Corny keg full of beer when I am all done, as some of the wort will be lost before the beer gets to the keg.
Recipe formulation
Before going into more depth on the specific techniques I use when brewing, let’s break down the essential ingredients that are in beer. By understanding the ingredients we are able to begin creating our own unique homebrew recipes.
Water
I plan on having on hand 8 gallons (30 L) of water for brewing. My source is my own well water that has been tested several times over the years. The water is adjusted to reduce my residual alkalinity (RA) by adding gypsum to buffer the RA to below one (read more about RA adjustments at https://byo.com/article/understanding-residual-alkalinity-ph). If you do not have a reliable water source, I would recommend using reverse osmosis water and building your water profile to your liking. All brewers, no matter their experience, need to understand a key point in brewing is wort pH. Brewers should be very conscious of water profiles of certain beer styles. For me, I concentrate on RA to get wort pH in the correct range in the kettle for the boil. I will discuss other water adjustments later in this article.
Malt
I first learned how to create recipes by studying Ray Daniels’s book Designing Great Beers. In his book, the takeaway message for me was to think in percentages of total extract as opposed to weight, as that gives the brewer the ability to create recipes to any volume using malt extracts as well as grains. When creating a recipe for the beer you are trying to create it is important to understand what malts are best suited for the style while considering how each malt should be only a certain percentage, as balance is a key component in a great beer. I try to keep my base malt percentage between 87–100% for most of my recipes. I am very conscious that more is not better when using crystal malts, roasted malts, adjuncts, or sugars in my recipes. The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) Style Guidelines are a good place to start to learn about characteristics of the beer styles, and then supplement that information with articles that are relevant to the style you want to brew.
Now armed with enough information to start putting your 6-gallon (23-L) recipe together, your first decision is choosing an original gravity (OG). By knowing the original specific gravity and volume (multiply the volume in gallons by the last two digits in OG to determine the gravity units) you can now create a grain bill using malt extracts, base grains, specialty grains, etc. By using the gravity unit (GU) methodology and knowing the Points Per Gravity (PPG) of the grains you will use in your recipe you can determine the percentages of each grain in the recipe. When designing a recipe, I start by turning to page 4 of any issue of BYO to refer to the recipe standardization information, which includes an extract efficiency reference chart (to understand the GU you should expect to get from an ingredient by the pound). Let’s illustrate this point with an example, looking at the New Old Timer’s Bock recipe below. This recipe is 6 gallons (23 L) and has an OG of 1.060. So:
6 x 60 = 360 total GU
Now, looking at the fermentables:
Pale ale dried malt extract (DME) per pound in one gallon (4 L) of water will yield a gravity of 1.045. That means every pound of DME in the recipe represents 45 GU. Since the recipe calls for 5 lbs. the equation is:
5 x 45 =225 (62.5%)
DME doesn’t need an efficiency factor because it is already factored in.
Pale ale malt per pound in one gallon (4 L) of water will yield a gravity of 1.037. Our yield from steeping is only 65% efficient, so the specific gravity is reduced to 1.024.
(1 x 24 = 24) (6.5%)
60 °L crystal malt per pound in one gallon (4 L) of water will yield a gravity of 1.033. Our yield from the crystal malt is only 65% efficient, so the specific gravity is reduced to 1.022.
(1.75 x 22 = 39) (11%)
Flaked maize per pound in one gallon (4 L) of water will yield a gravity of 1.037. Our yield from steeping the flaked maize is only 65% efficient, so the gravity is reduced to 1.024:
(3 x 24 = 72) (20%)
Added up, these four fermentables contribute the 360 GU we were after.
Hops
Once the grain bill has been created, move on to hops. Again, I let the BJCP Style Guidelines and other references guide my hopping decisions when making traditional styles; keeping the bitterness within the expected range of the style to be brewed. Many brewers think in Bittering Units to Gravity Units, or the BU:GU ratio, which will obviously range depending on the style you are brewing. Continuing our example using the New Old Timer’s Bock recipe, I am after approximately a 1:3 ratio (22 IBUs to 1.060 OG).
The next step is deciding what hops are appropriate for the style to be brewed, followed by where to place the IBUs in the hop schedule. The brewer must consider the many facets of what creates the IBUs in the beer by understanding that the utilization of alpha acids (AA) in a beer are based on when hops are added, a hop’s percentage of AA, the volume of wort to be brewed, and specific gravity concentration and temperature of wort during the boil. Then the ion concentration of the water is where many brewers key in on by looking at the sulfide-to-chloride ratio to improve the bitterness perception of the beer.
I use the calculation and utilization chart in Designing Great Beers to figure my IBUs (although there are many methods available).
Try to decide how many IBUs you want in each addition and which hop(s) you want to use for that addition. I have observed over the years that many commercial breweries do a blend of hops at many of their hop additions for a more complex flavor. Now comes even a more challenging thought, do you want to think of the oils present in your choice of hops, plus are they high or low cohumulone? There is no wrong answer, only what the brewer likes. Hops can be added at many points of the brewing process with good results — when added early in the boil they will mostly be contributing bitterness, late in the boil will add more flavor and aroma, and post-boil additions will add lots of aroma, some flavor, and less bitterness.
Yeast
Brewers can choose from an incredible number of yeast strains, including both dry and liquid strains depending on the manufacturer. Access to quality yeast is no longer an issue for homebrewers, which is one of the many great things about being a homebrewer today compared to when I got into the hobby. After picking an appropriate yeast for the style you are brewing it is time to focus on cell count, or cells per mL based on final boil volume and original specific gravity. OG comes into play once again when creating the recipe.
I have observed that many brewers do not understand there are three stages of primary fermentation; lag phase, exponential phase, and stationary phase. These phases are explained very well in Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation by Chris White and Jamil Zainasheff. The first key to fermentation is to pitch enough yeast cells based on volume and gravity, which should result in a lag phase no longer than 4–6 hours. Then during the exponential phase yeast should consume the fermentable sugar for an ale in about 72 hours, and in a lager in 7–10 days depending on strain and temperature. Now going into the stationary phase, which will last about 3–7 days, the yeast and foam flocculate to the bottom of the fermenting vessel. Once primary fermentation is done the brewer will move the beer to a bright tank (glass carboy or corny keg), or to bottles for maturation and carbonation if you are bottling your beer.
My Partial mash Brewing Techniques
Using what we’ve discussed up to this point as well as the recipes on the following pages, let me share how I brew with my system.
Before I start brewing I collect all the water I will need (and treat it all, if needed), purchase or make sure I have on-hand all my ingredients for the recipe, make sure all my equipment is clean and easily available to use, and if I plan to do a yeast starter, I have that going.
With my pre-brewing checklist all done it is time to start brewing. I find using two pots for the brewing process very helpful when using a kitchen stove. I like using a 5-gallon (19-L) pot to give ample room for the mash. The amount of water I use for mashing depends on the amount of grain, opting for approximately 1.5 qts. of water to 1 lb. of malt (3 L per 1 kg). After crushing the grains to be mashed I add them to a bag (or two if needed, you want the grains bagged loosely). While I mash the grains, I use my second 5-gallon (19-L) pot to heat 2 gallons (8 L) of water, which I will coordinate to be around 170 °F (77 °C) when it is time to rinse my grains. The remaining water that has been collected for brewing is put into a fridge to keep cool, which will help get my wort down to fermentation temperatures later.
When my bag of grain is done mashing I take it out and rinse it in the second pot with 2 gallons (8 L) of water (dunking the grain bag in water with no malt extract dissolved in it aids in rinsing as much sugar from the grain as possible for increased efficiency). I then add the wort from the mash kettle to the boil kettle and start ramping the heat up to a boil.
At this point I will have anywhere from 2.75 to 3.5 gallons (10.5 to 13.2 L) in my boil kettle as I bring my wort to a boil. I have the option to add first wort hop additions at this point if I desire. When I reach the boiling point, I can add any brewing salt additions and my first hop addition of the boil.
The next technique I recommend is keeping a lid mostly on the kettle with a space of an inch or two (3–5 cm) uncovered. I base this on trying to keep a 5% evaporation rate per hour of boiling, which is similar to what would be experienced on many commercial brewing systems. I would like to point out condensation of water during the boiling process helps keep your concentration at or below an OG of 1.050. And I do believe the Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS) compounds brewers are trying to remove during the boil occurs while using this method. I want to remind you I have not added any liquid or dried malt extract yet. I have kept this concentrated malt extract out of the one-hour boil so that it is not affected by the Maillard reaction, which would cause the wort to darken in color when exposed to boiling temperatures over time.
At the end of the boil I remove the kettle off the heat source and then add my malt extracts into the wort while stirring to dissolve. I am confident there is no risk of contamination based on the heat of the wort and the extract, which has been packaged in a sanitary container.
I cool the wort, which is at a volume between 2.5 to 3+ gallons (9.5 to 11.5+ L) with an immersion wort chiller, but this can also be done with a cold water bath or other type of chiller. The key now is to get your wort down to a temperature between 90–95 °F (32–35 °C). Once that temperature is reached, I transfer this liquid into a bottling bucket with the spigot closed (double check that it is closed — remember Murphy’s Law of what can go wrong). Then add your water that you have refrigerated to the 6-gallon (23-L) mark on the bottling bucket.
I have an LCD thermometer on my bottling bucket to verify the wort’s temperature. I stir the wort to get the density evenly distributed in the pail, which now allows me to do my specific gravity reading. In my bottling bucket that is covered with a clean dishtowel, I have 6-gallons (23 L) of cooled wort, which matches the volume of my recipe. I allow the wort to be left undisturbed for 60 minutes to allow all the hot break trub to settle. I use one gram of Whirlfloc as my coagulant.
During the hour I have time to clean up everything except my bottling bucket and the equipment I am using for yeast preparations. Another trick I do is have the bottling bucket tilted so that the spigot side of the bucket is slightly elevated so the trub slides to the opposite side of the bucket. In doing this, when I open my spigot to allow wort to flow to my fermenter, I have kept what has settled from the hot break out of my fermenter. The flow of wort coming out of the spigot can be regulated to create a fanning effect to help aerate wort.
Literature from dry yeast manufacturers indicates they have built the sterols in the yeast to a point where they don’t require adding oxygen to wort. I like to hydrate my dry yeast based on their recommendation, although dry yeast manufacturers say that for many of their strains rehydration is unnecessary. Two 11-gram dry yeast packages are ideal for my style of brewing, as I know my fermentation volume will be very close to their recommended pitch rate. If rehydrating, allow yeast to hydrate in 95–105 °F (35–41 °C) water (the water volume is 10 times the weight) for 15 minutes and then stir briskly. Allow to stand 5 minutes more before adding to wort. All this can be coordinated while the trub is settling.
I ferment in 7.8-gallon (29.5-L) wine buckets because the width allows for a greater surface area than a traditional homebrew fermenter bucket (14 inches in diameter vs. 12 inches/35 cm vs. 30 cm), reducing the worry about foam reaching or blocking the airlock.
After yeast cell count, the key to fermentation is controlling the temperature, which I do by wrapping the fermenter with a BrewJacket Immersion Pro, however there are many different ways to do this.
My brewing-style allows me to be indoors using my kitchen for less than 4 hours without needing a lot of space or equipment to achieve a quality beer. The partial mash gives me the ability to create quality, custom wort and the use of extracts saves me the need to do a full mash. By keying on good recipe formulation and simple procedures I am able to make beer that will pass as an all-grain beer, even among the most studious beer judges.
Partial Mash Recipes:
New Old Timer’s Bock
(6 gallon/23 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.060 FG = 1010
IBU = 22 SRM = 13 ABV = 6.4%
This recipe is based on the all-grain recipe by Terry Foster in the October 2019 issue of BYO called Old Timer’s Bock. It shows how I would create a partial mash recipe using malt extract in place of much of the base malt in Terry’s recipe, however keep the use of flaked maize, which Terry’s extract-only option did not do. This should result in a beer closer in flavor to the all-grain version, but allow for a shortened brew day that requires less equipment than all-grain brewing does.
Ingredients
5 lbs. (2.27 kg) pale dried malt extract
1 lb. (454 g) pale ale malt
1.75 lbs. (0.79 kg) crystal malt (60 °L)
3 lbs. (1.36 kg) flaked maize
7.3 AAU Cluster hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28g at 7.3% alpha acids)
1 gram Whirlfloc® (15 min.)
1⁄4 tsp. (7 grams) amylase enzyme
White Labs WLP820 (Oktoberfest/Märzen Lager) or Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager) or SafLager S-23 yeast
2⁄3 cups corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Several days before brew day, either do a 4-L starter, unless using dried yeast, in which case you will want to use two 11.5-gram packages. Using reverse osmosis (RO) water, treat all of your brewing water to a pH of 5.5 using phosphoric or lactic acid. Be prepared to heat two separate pots with 2 gallons (8 L) of water, adding 1⁄4 tsp. of calcium chloride and 1⁄4 tsp. of calcium sulfate (gypsum) to each. In one pot, heat your mash water to 162 °F (72 °C), then add your grain in a bag, stabilize to 150 °F (66 °C), and add 1⁄4 tsp. (7 g) of amylase enzyme to the mash. The amylase enzyme will help in converting the flaked maize within a 45-minute time period.
While your grains are mashing, the other 2 gallons (8 L) of water should be heated to 170 °F (77 °C). This is to help save time while brewing.
Take a small sample of your mash liquid and check for conversion with iodine. Once conversion has been verified, take your bag of grains out and give them a quick soak in your brew kettle to rinse the remaining sugars from the grain. Now gently squeeze your grains to remove the excess liquid. When done with grain rinsing, add the liquid from the mash pot to the brew kettle. Your volume in your brew kettle will be under 4 gallons (15 L). Bring your wort to a boil. Keep the lid mostly on the kettle with a space of an inch or two (3–5 cm) uncovered during the boil. Add the hops and Whirlfloc® as indicated in the ingredients.
At the end of your boil the volume will be closer to 3 gallons (9.5 L). Remove the kettle from heat and add all the malt extract to the wort. Stir until all of the extract is dissolved.
With an immersion chiller or cold water bath method, cool the wort to 80–85 °F (27–29 °C). Now dump the wort into the bottling bucket and add refrigerated RO water to the 6-gallon (23-L) mark to aid in the cooling of the wort. Allow to rest for one hour, with the bottling bucket tilted so that the spigot side of the bucket is slightly elevated so the trub slides to the opposite side of the bucket. After an hour, open spigot of the bottling bucket, capture the first pint of wort before allowing the rest of the wort to flow into your fermenter. Add the yeast when filling the fermenter.
Ferment at 52 °F (11 °C) and do a diacetyl rest for a day or two upon completion. Transfer and lager at 32 °F (0 °C) for three weeks. Keg and force carbonate or prime and bottle condition as usual. I would use fresh yeast if bottling with corn sugar.
Tips for Success:
I have tested my RO water and my tests show it has a pH of 6, so I do not do any adjustments with phosphoric acid to my water. The RO water you use may have a different pH, so it should be checked and brought to 5.5 if it is not already close.
Altbier
(6 gallons/23 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.052 FG = 1.012
IBU = 49 SRM = 19 ABV = 5.1%
This recipe is based on the all-grain recipe by Gordon Strong in the January-February 2019 issue of BYO and shows how I would approach the recipe as a partial mash, replacing much of the base malt with malt extract allows for a shortened brew day that requires less equipment than all-grain brewing does.
Ingredients
6.6 lbs. (3 kg) Pilsner liquid malt extract
1.56 lbs. (0.71 kg) Munich malt
0.5 lb. (227 g) red wheat malt
0.75 lb. (340 g) melanoidin malt
0.31 lb. (140 g) crystal malt (60 °L)
0.31 lb. (140 g) debittered black malt
14.6 AAU Perle hops (60 min.) (2 oz./57 g at 7.3% alpha acids)
1.6 AAU Spalt hops (10 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 3.2% alpha acids)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Spalt hops (0 min.)
1 gram Whirlfloc® (15 min.)
White Labs WLP036 (Dusseldorf Alt Ale) or Wyeast 1007 (German Ale) or SafAle K-97 yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Using reverse osmosis (RO) water, treat all of your brewing water to a pH of 5.5 using phosphoric or lactic acid. Be prepared to heat two separate pots, one with 7 qts. (6.6 L) and the other with 2 gallons (7.6 L) of water, adding 1⁄4 tsp. of calcium chloride and 1⁄4 tsp. of calcium sulfate (gypsum) to each. Heat the pot with 7 quarts (6.6 L) of water to 156 °F (69 °C) and add all of the bagged grains to be mashed. Verify strike temperature is 144 °F (62 °C) and allow to stand for 25 minutes. While your grains are mashing, heat 2 gallons (8 L) of water to 170 °F (77 °C). This is to help save time while brewing.
Take a small sample of your mash liquid and check for conversion with iodine. Once conversion has been verified, remove your bag of grains and give them a quick soak in your brew kettle to rinse the remaining sugars from the grain. Now gently squeeze your grains to remove the excess liquid. Add the liquid from the mash pot to the brew kettle. Your volume in your brew kettle will be under 4 gallons (15 L).
Boil 60 minutes, keeping the lid mostly on the kettle with a space of an inch or two (3–5 cm) uncovered during the boil. Add hops and Whirlfloc® as indicated. My use of melanoidin malt emulates a decoction-style mash.
At the end of the boil, remove kettle from heat, add all of the malt extract, stirring until dissolved. Then cool partial boiled wort to 80–85 °F (27–29 °C), move to bottling bucket and add refrigerated water to 6-gallon mark (23-L). Allow to rest for one hour, with the bottling bucket tilted so that the spigot side of the bucket is slightly elevated so the trub slides to the opposite side of the bucket. After an hour, open spigot of the bottling bucket, capture the first pint of wort before allowing the rest of the wort to flow into your fermenter. Add the yeast when filling the fermenter.
Ferment at 62 °F (17 °C) and after 3 days allow to rise to 68 °F (20 °C). Once fermentation is complete, rack beer to a secondary and lager for two months at 32 °F (0 °C). Rack beer, prime, and bottle condition (I would recommend adding fresh yeast), or keg and force carbonate.
Tips for Success:
I have tested my RO water and my tests show it has a pH of 6, so I do not do any adjustments with phosphoric acid to my water. The RO water you use may have a different pH, so it should be checked and brought to 5.5 if it is not already close.
