Splitting Wort Post Boil To Make Different Beers?

Does anyone have some advice on this? I was thinking about doing a blonde ale, boiling 10 gallons, and splitting the batches inito different fermenters. Then I'm thinking of fermenting one with Belgian yeast and the other with Cali yeast with some dry hopping. Does anyone have some experience with this? Maybe some suggestions on what styles would be easy to do this with.

I have never done it but have read a lot of posts where brewers have. It is a great way to see the difference between yeasts. Also you could test additions (fruit, spices, hops etc.) without risking an entire batch to something you would not like.

Does anyone have any advice on this?

I've seen people do this with a variety of different styles of beer. I did this just 2 weeks ago with a 10-gallon batch of centennial blonde, fermenting one carboy with Nottingham and one with S04. The difference in the yeasts is already very apparent. Feel free to experiment!

What advice are you looking for? It seems like you already have a decent idea. I have not looked closely enough at all of the BJCP styles to figure out if you could actually make two different styles of beer merely by making changes post boil. I'm guessing that you will not be able to make two different accepted "styles" of beer doing this because the vast majority of the profile of the beer will already be set (the grain bill, IBU, color, and hop flavor will be set). You can split batches to test different yeasts (e.g., to see which yeast you like best for a style) or to make very different beers based on yeast selection. The other thing you could do, as kh54s10 noted, is test out different additions that are typically made during secondary fermentation.

EDIT: I should add that we can't really tell you what yeasts to try or what additions to try. There is no way for us to know what yeast profiles you like and don't like (e.g., I do not like Belgian yeast flavors), so any suggestion we make could easily include a suggestion that you will certainly not like.

Ryan11 said:

Does anyone have some advice on this? I was thinking about doing a blonde ale, boiling 10 gallons, and splitting the batches inito different fermenters. Then I'm thinking of fermenting one with Belgian yeast and the other with Cali yeast with some dry hopping. Does anyone have some experience with this? Maybe some suggestions on what styles would be easy to do this with.

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I do it all the time. Works well. You cal also make 2 completely differeent beers by mashing only the base grains and do a partial mash on the side for crystal and dark grains. Takes 2 boil kettles. Add steeped grains (wort) to one of the boils for at least 15 minutes.

It's very helpful for comparing the subtleties between two similar yeast strains...i.e., two different British strains or two Belgian strains...you can really understand the nuance between similar strains.

justkev52 said:

I do it all the time. Works well. You cal also make 2 completely differeent beers by mashing only the base grains and do a partial mash on the side for crystal and dark grains. Takes 2 boil kettles. Add steeped grains (wort) to one of the boils for at least 15 minutes.

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I agree this is a possibility, but has to happen preboil. I have, for example, made a Kolsch and a Dusseldorf Alt by splitting up a 10 gallon batch. I do it pre-boil, however.

rklinck said:

I agree this is a possibility, but has to happen preboil. I have, for example, made a Kolsch and a Dusseldorf Alt by splitting up a 10 gallon batch. I do it pre-boil, however.

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I always do it pre-boil as well. I don't think it matters much though.

justkev52 said:

I always do it pre-boil as well. I don't think it matters much though.

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If you have the same hopping schedule, that's right. I just don't have identical hopping schedules for any of my brews, so I have to split them preboil.