MikeBeer - Partigyle Brewing

Parti-Gyle brewing used to be the standard process for brewing beer, but as breweries became more modernized and the malting of grain became more efficient, the process fell out of practice. Here's a LINK to some additional history if you're interested. Basically, this process is used to make one high-gravity/alcohol beer and then one or two additional beers of lesser gravity. If you're familiar with batch-sparging, you would take your first runnings and make a high-gravity RIS/Barleywine/Baltic Porter and then use your second runnings (run into a different kettle) to make a Brown/Amber/Stout.

The first parti-gyle recipe you brew can be a little confusing. I looked at several different websites to see their process and potential ways I could estimate what my 1st, 2nd, and maybe even 3rd runnings would be based on a particular grain bill. The links below provide a little more information and helpful charts if you're planning on developing your own parti-gyle recipe.

Helpful Links:

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

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

http://hbd.org/trub/articles/partigyle.html

Brewing Equipment Suggestions

Refractometer!!! - Probably the most important tool you will use during a standard parti-gyle brew day is a refractometer, especially if it's your first time trying this technique. Taking gravity measurements at every point you can think of is a great way to get your initial process documented so you can repeat it in the future.

Larger Mash Tun - The first time I did a parti-gyle brew was in my smaller 40-qt mash tun that I typically use for my 5-gallon all-grain batches. After building my 10-gallon Brew System, I started using my larger 72-qt mash tun on parti-gyle batches. That allowed me much more room to stir grains and add sparge water than with the smaller one.

Extra Burner & Pot - Since you'll be boiling two beers at once, you'll need an additional pot and burner. If you use a larger pot to heat your mash and sparge water that's not your boil kettle, you may be able to make due. If not, you'll likely need to purchase an extra pot and burner. Even then, you'll still likely want to have a pot around that can heat 3-4 gallons of additional sparge water for your final sparge on the second batch. I typically use a 5 gallon pot that was originally used with my extract batches.

First Parti-gyle Recipe - Russian Imperial Stout & English Stout

Grains:

10 lb Rahr Pale 2-Row
10 lb Simpson's Golden Promise
3 lb Werymann Munich
2 lb Roasted Barley
1 lb Chocolate Malt
1 lb Special B
.5 lb Pale Chocolate Malt

Other Fermentables Added to Stout:

1.5 lb Carapils

11 oz Light Brown Sugar

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Russian Imperial Stout

Hops

2 oz Magnum (13%AA) - 60 minutes
1.5 oz Challenger (6%) - 10 minutes
.5 oz Challenger (6%) - 3 minutes

Yeast

2 x US-05 Slurries from Amber Ale

SG = 1.100
FG = 1.025
IBU = 82.3
ABV = 9.9%

English Stout

Hops

.75 oz East Kent Goldings (4%AA) - 60 minutes
.75 oz Challenger (6%AA) - 60 minutes

Yeast

WLP002 Slurry from Ordinary Bitter

SG = 1.052
FG = 1.016
IBU = 24.9
ABV = 4.7%

Parti-Gyle Brewing Process - 12/1/2007

- Heated 8 gallons water to 170º and crushed 27.5 lbs of grain
- Added most of the water to mash tun and allowed it to warm up
- Stirred in grains slowly until all were added
- Added remaining water and stirred more

- Mashed at 150º for 90 minutes
- Stirred mash and drained after clearing the first quart
        - Drained very slowly due to large amount of grains

- 1st runnings = 23 Brix (1.092)
- While draining, heated 7.5 gallons water on other burner
- Volume of first runnings seemed a little low, so I added 2 gallons water and drained into pot
        - This brought the pre-boil volume to around 5 gallons

- Added 2 more gallons to pot and heated
- Had a couple of boilovers with the RIS because I was running all over the place and not paying attention. This was the first time I used the burner on the left, so it took a little getting used to. As you can see below, it's going to need a good cleaning after today.

- Crushed 1.5 lb Carapils and sprinkled over the mash
- Poured about 4 gallons of water into mash tun until it was near the top
- Stirred for about 5 minutes and than cleared and drained into pot
- 2nd runnings = 13 Brix (1.052)
- Added remaining water to mash tun, stirred, and drained
        - Volume was too high (a little over 8 gallons)
- 3rd runnings = 6 Brix (1.024)
- Added about 1 gallon of wort to the RIS which had 15 minutes left in its boil
- Cooled RIS to 65 degrees in about 20 minutes and pitched yeast
- The Starting Gravity ended up being right at 1.100 which is what I was looking for

- Added 11 oz Light Brown Sugar and stirred to combine
- Brought English Stout to a boil

- Added wort chiller with 15 minutes left
- Cooled Stout to 68 degrees in 20 minutes and pitched yeast
- Put both fermenters on rack in the basement to ferment (back right 2 fermenters)

- I'll have to keep a close eye on the RIS to see that it doesn't ferment too high
- The whole brew day was about 6.5 hours long, which isn't bad considering I got 2 beers done
- My typical single-batch brew day is 3.5 hours long

Additional Recipes

Since trying out my first Parti-Gyle recipe back in 2007, I have brewed several more and really enjoy the process and efficiency of getting two beers out of one mash. Here are a list of the various Parti-Gyle brews I've tried over the years:

Russian Imperial Stout & Stout

Vanilla Bourbon Imperial Porter & Sour Apple Ale

American Barleywine & Amber

Scottish Wee Heavy & Vanilla Coffee Stout

American Barleywine & Amber #2

American Barleywine & Fruit Sour

Contact Information: MikeYoungHB at gmail.com

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