Parti Gyle after high ABV beers, are they worth it?

[mikescooling]

Hi guys, I've been doing Parti Gyle's when I make IPA's and squeezing another 5 gallons out of brew day, but it sure does take up lots of time, propain, and hops. Do you squeeze every drop of wart from your grains or brew what you want and call it a day? And when all cost are figured in, what is cheaper?

 

[Phunhog]

I like to partigyle on occasion but it depends on what I am making. I usually brew ten gallons batches but if I am going to partigyle I will do five gallons of a "big" beer and ten gallons of lower gravity session beer. In a couple of weeks I will be making an imperial stout and a low gravity oatmeal stout. I think the key to getting it done quickly is to have a seperate kettle and burner so you can be boiling at roughly the same time. I usually try to run my batches about 45 minutes behind each other. So yes...it does take a little more time but nearly as much as if you were going to do a whole seperate brew session. Cost wise I don't think it really factors in....it costs the same but I get 50% more beer for the time spent. I hope your time is worth more than a few dollars in hops/grain....

 

[Diaperload]

Can someone explain what parti gyle is? I've never heard of it. If I had to guess it would be making a beer from second runnings? Am I close?

 

[mikescooling]

Close, 2nd or 3rd. The first beer is a big beer and the second is less abv. Phundog, I never thought of doing a 5 gallon run then a 10. I should give it a spin.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Can someone explain what parti gyle is? I've never heard of it. If I had to guess it would be making a beer from second runnings? Am I close?

Partigyle is where you brew a big beer, then re-use the grains and add some more base grains to make a smaller beer. Here is more information.

http://morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/library/backissues/issue2.2/mosher.html

 

[mikescooling]

You don't have to add more grains and mash again.

 

[GrogNerd]

You don't have to add more grains and mash again.

that's right, you don't, but you can mix in some specialty grains (called "capping") add more water, sit 20-30 minutes and drain for a totally different beer.

did this last year with a English barleywine + Irish red, this year I'm going to do the same barleywine but cap for a dry Irish stout

 

[mikescooling]

I didn't think about changing the specialty grain bill, mmmmm,, what to do? Could an IPA 3rd runnings, become a porter?

 

[GrogNerd]

I didn't think about changing the specialty grain bill, mmmmm,, what to do? Could an IPA 3rd runnings, become a porter?

do it, man!

because, YEAH! SCIENCE, MR WHITE!

 

[harrymanback92]

I'm gonna brew a triple soon and wanted to try this. Can anyone point me to a partygyle calculator?

 

[DrunkleJon]

I believe BeerSmith can calculate it for you.

 

[GrogNerd]

I use the Excel file provided at braukaiser

takes some tweaking to get it to fit what I'm getting in Brewsmith, and I have to do 3 different recipes to make it all come out right

only have done it once and had major issues, mostly stupid mistakes unrelated to braukaiser or Brewsmith

like taking first runnings into my bottling bucket because my brew kettle was heating sparge water and forgot to close the spigot. :smack: d'oh!

 

[GrogNerd]

I believe BeerSmith can calculate it for you.

doesn't quite, at least not for me.

there is a write-up here, but it's mostly a general how to calculate a parti-gyle, doesn't mention anything about how to do it within Beersmith, except to mention that the two recipes should be input as two recipes

wow... thanks.

I've had to make 3 different recipes to get it all to work out

 

[DrunkleJon]

Ah, so a case of "you can do it, but I ain't telling you how." I havent gotten into partigyle yet. Would like to but am going to reserve a whole day for it when I do make the attempt. And get an extra backup propane tank.

 

[GrogNerd]

they were my 4th & 5th batches & I split them, doing the Irish red the next day. left the wort on an electric coil that kept it around 170° overnight, back onto the burner and had it boiling in no time.

on my new burner, so I wasn't worried about running out of propane

 

[Zamial]

I have made many different partygyle brews and IMO yes they are worth it. I tend to try to guesstimate when the original grains are completely used up to the point of tannin extraction and have done well so far.

The beer I made on "Big Brew Day" was a partyglye. Specifically a no boil, no sparge, partyglye, imperial Berlinerwiess and a standard Berlinerwiess. I have the standard carbing up now for the weekend's O-fest party and will tweak the imperial a bit for mid/late fall. This went so well I plan to this every year for BBD.

I use the spreadsheet mentioned above.