First Attempt at Parti-Gyle Brewing

I've been thinking about parti-gyle brewing for some time now; it may be the first time I've done it but it is an age old principle where a strong beer is made from the first runnings and then a small beer is made by adding some further grain (a process known as "capping the mash").


It meant a bit of juggling with my Beer Smith recipe software; I ended up doing three recipes, a double cornie length brew to get the right grain bill and then two 19 length brews to get the right levels of bitterness. The base was mainly Maris Otter with some aromatic malt, carapils and caramunich. The total grain bill came to 10kg, 1.5 of which was kept back to cap the mash.


The first beer ended up being a slightly less bitter version of Whispering Bob with T-58 yeast instead of the usual US-05. Of course it came out a bit stronger than I originally thought with an OG of 1072. If it ferments out as low as it usually does, that'll end up being around 8.5% abv.


Guessing that the small beer would mean fewer bittering hops would be required, I reduced the bittering hops, a Sorachi/Citra combo but was slightly surprised to find a pre boil gravity of 1034 turned into a post boil one of 1048.


The whole process took a couple of hours longer than a normal brew, although having a separate HLT and a 10 gallon boiler and mash tun certainly helped, It is certainly something I'll be doing again.


Grain Schedule


8260g Maris Otter Pale Malt
620g Aromatic Malt
620g Cara-Pils
550g Caramunich


Total grist weight 10050g


Hold back 15% for small beer, 1500g.


Strong Beer - Hop Schedule


31g Centennial 10%AA (FWH, 90 mins)
27g Amarillo 8.5%AA (FWH, 90 mins)


9g Simcoe 13%AA (Boil 30 mins)
9g Cascade 7.6%AA (Boil 30 mins)


22.5g Simcoe (Flame out)
22.5g Cascade (Flame out)


Yeast Safbrew T-58
Protofloc 5 mins from end of boil.


OG 1072
Estimated ABV 8.5%
Estimated IBU 74


Small Beer - Hop Schedule


18g Citra 13.8%AA (FWH, 60 mins)
18g Sorachi 12.2%AA (FWH, 60 mins)


10g Citra (30 min)
10g Sorachi (30 min)


25g Citra (Flame Out)
25g Sorachi (Flame Out)


Yeast US-05
Protofloc tablet 5 mins from end of boil.


OG 1048
Estimated ABV 5.5%
Estimated IBU 74

Beer Porn - Whispering Bob Mark 3

Obviously there's no way I should be drinking this yet but the last lot ran out today and I just had to test it. It needs to be in the keg to develop for a couple of weeks and it should be absolutely killer by then.


I'll be getting the next batch on next weekend; I think I am going to try the same recipe with a little candi sugar and T-58 yeast and Belgianise it a bit. 

Beer Porn - Starvation Point Porter

I'm pretty pleased with this although I'm not sure I'll brew to this recipe again. The smokiness isn't too much but the beer is a little thinner than I'd like. If I were to brew this one again I think I would find a way to thicken the beer up a little and perhaps dry hop with some Fuggles. I like the First Gold and EKG combo but I think a porter needs Fuggles. 

A Quick Thank You

Mother always brought me up to thank people who have done nice things for me and my friends so a big thank you to Andrew Morgan of Bottle Shop and to Nicky Fieldwick of Easy Home Brew for supporting the inaugural East Kent Amateur Brewers.


Andrew's love for beer is well known and we're all thrilled to see Bottle Shop enjoying the success it so clearly deserves. As well as organising and hosting the monthly event (first Wednesday of the month) Andrew has registered a domain name for the society as well. 


Nicky has also weighed in with a significant discount voucher for members which can be used either in store or online. So thanks so much to you both. It was a small beginning but I feel it will soon grow.