Partigyle w/o RIS or barleywine?

[Peruvian802]

I'd like to try a partigyle with two full boil 5 gallon batches. I'll use a no sparge process. Every recipe/suggestion I've seen starts with either an imperial stout, trippel or a barleywine. I realize the first runnings are going to be the 'big' beer, so what other choices do I have?

 

[snowveil]

Any high gravity beer will work fine. Old ale, strong ale, belgian strongs (golden, dark, quad), IIPA, etc. The more sugar you leave in the grainbed, the higher gravity you're going to get for the second beer.

If you're targeting a lower gravity first running (I personally wouldn't shoot for any lower than 1.075 or so), keep a few pounds of DME on hand to bump up the second batch in case you wind up really low on your second running.

Also, you'll want to make sure you're using some sort of brewing software to change your second batch on the fly. The expected OG of your first batch is pretty predictable, but the second batch can really be a crapshoot. Being able to adjust bittering and gravity additions (DME) on the fly will be tremendously helpful.

 

[motorneuron]

All of what snowveil said is right on the money.

Another idea--you can add a little grain ("cap") the mash for your second beer. You can use a pound or whatever of crystal, which doesn't need to be mashed (just steeped), which will help bring the gravity up a little. (Crystal is also good in weaker beers to keep the body and head retention up.)

You can also make a weaker than normal beer with the second runnings. So for example, you could make an IPA with your first runnings (not a ludicrously strong one), and then a mild with your second runnings. This might allow you to make a type of beer--mild--that you normally wouldn't bother with, and will give you a chance to explore the wild world of low-gravity beers.

 

[The_Doctor]

You can also do something like Fuller's does, they blend the two worts post-boil to produce 4-5 beers with different gravities, but it'd work pre-boil so you could have very different hop profiles. If my math is right they use an equation similar to: (G1)(V1)+(G2)(V2)=(G3)(V1+V2) where Gs are gravity and Vs are volume. So say you wanted to get to two 5gal batches with the same gravity you'd blend 50/50 (1.080)(5)+(1.040)(5)=(1.060)(5+5). This way you can use your wort to make any beer between the two gravities with a similar grain bill (though you could steep grains in one to change that).

 

[gbx]

I do a lot of partigyle type brewing and I often mash only base malt and then steep in the specialty grain for each batch so I can do 2 completely different styles. I always take gravity readings on my batch sparges and my second runnings are always in the 1.020 range. Unless I want a 2%ABV small beer, I need to either blend in some first runnings or else pad it out with some added fermentables. Add in some malt extact, candy sugar, honey, invert sugar or whatever suits the style you are aiming for. Blending isn't hard but you will need a few extra buckets to collect wort and blending can add a bunch of time to your brew day as you can't start boiling while lautering. Blending is also the only way to do a 1.060/1.040 beer on my system.