Hey all,
I'm planning to do a new gruit brew, but did not want 10-gallons of it. So I am thinking of mashing for 10-gallon grain bill of Belgian Pale Ale and after collecting my wort, transferring half of it into the HLT kettle. Then, I'll boil the 1st half with hops and make the normal belgian pale ale. The 2nd half will get yarrow, marsh rosemary, sweet gale, etc.
I thought I might start the gruit boil 30-minutes after starting the pale ale boil, just so I would not be trying to finish both of them at the same time. That would give me 30-minutes after 1st boil to chill & transfer to the 1st bucket fermenter, before starting on the gruit boil's chill & transfer.
Any thoughts on problems in doing this? Keeping the unboiled wort in the HLT for 30 mins? Excessive transfers of hot wort? etc..
Maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way... is there a better idea to do these 2 beers from the same grain bill, but with different boils?
Any advice is appreciated!
--LexusChris
1 Mash, 2 Boils advice
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lexuschris
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1 Mash, 2 Boils advice
"A woman drove me to drink, and I hadn't even the courtesy to thank her." – W.C. Fields
Re: 1 Mash, 2 Boils advice
I don't see a problem keeping half the wort in the HLT. You are (after all) going to boil it for an hour.
Your offset timing sounds about right ... you can always whirlpool the second one for a while if you need extra time.
Dan
Your offset timing sounds about right ... you can always whirlpool the second one for a while if you need extra time.
Dan
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lexuschris
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Re: 1 Mash, 2 Boils advice
Thanks for the feedback!
I went ahead and brewed this up today. It went pretty smooth, and much like I expected. When I moved half my batch into the HLT, I overshot by a half gallon but just left it that way. Too much trouble to swap hoses around to equal it out.
I forgot that my 'time to bring to boil' would be less than my usual 10-gallon boils. (obvious when put that way .. 5-gallons heats mucch quicker) So, i was actually near to breaking a boil at 30-mins and didn't want to risk a boil-over. So, I waited until the boil got going.. a total stagger time of 40 mins.
Here are the 2 recipes I made, if anyone was interested.
The Belgian Pale Ale....
And the Belgian inspired gruit...
--LexusChris
I went ahead and brewed this up today. It went pretty smooth, and much like I expected. When I moved half my batch into the HLT, I overshot by a half gallon but just left it that way. Too much trouble to swap hoses around to equal it out.
I forgot that my 'time to bring to boil' would be less than my usual 10-gallon boils. (obvious when put that way .. 5-gallons heats mucch quicker) So, i was actually near to breaking a boil at 30-mins and didn't want to risk a boil-over. So, I waited until the boil got going.. a total stagger time of 40 mins.
Here are the 2 recipes I made, if anyone was interested.
The Belgian Pale Ale....
And the Belgian inspired gruit...
--LexusChris
"A woman drove me to drink, and I hadn't even the courtesy to thank her." – W.C. Fields
Re: 1 Mash, 2 Boils advice
Hey Chris!
Sounds like a fun experiment. I have question. Looking at your recipes, each one lists a different OG and FG. How did you account for this using the same mash for both? I hope the answer isn't painfully obvious!
Tony
Sounds like a fun experiment. I have question. Looking at your recipes, each one lists a different OG and FG. How did you account for this using the same mash for both? I hope the answer isn't painfully obvious!
Tony
California - Where the ground moves and the traffic doesn't.
Re: 1 Mash, 2 Boils advice
Like the muscovado sugar and honey added to the second batch that isn't in the first?Grande69 wrote: I hope the answer isn't painfully obvious!
Brad
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lexuschris
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Re: 1 Mash, 2 Boils advice
Yeah, its not easy to see in the little recipe windows above. Muscavado sugar & honey are added at the end of the boil (honey during cooldown).
I had 2 gruit requirements to workaround with the split-batch. More gravity points (and I like the dryness to show off the herbs) and some mash herbs. The honey & sugar took care of my gravity points. Instead of mashing the herbs, I just moved them into the FWH ( First Wort Herbs ) but removed them after the 40 minute steep.
The yeasts are different as well. I've not used the T-58 before, and thought I'd be brave and give it a go in the Pale Ale. I've read mixed reviews of it, and resolved to just keep the ferment temp really low (62-64) on it. Should keep it well behaved....
--LexusChris
I had 2 gruit requirements to workaround with the split-batch. More gravity points (and I like the dryness to show off the herbs) and some mash herbs. The honey & sugar took care of my gravity points. Instead of mashing the herbs, I just moved them into the FWH ( First Wort Herbs
) but removed them after the 40 minute steep.The yeasts are different as well. I've not used the T-58 before, and thought I'd be brave and give it a go in the Pale Ale. I've read mixed reviews of it, and resolved to just keep the ferment temp really low (62-64) on it. Should keep it well behaved....
--LexusChris
"A woman drove me to drink, and I hadn't even the courtesy to thank her." – W.C. Fields
Re: 1 Mash, 2 Boils advice
I'm really excited to see how the gruit turns out. I have been thinking about growing many of the herbs used in brewing gruits. Can't wait!
GreyWolf27
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lexuschris
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Re: 1 Mash, 2 Boils advice
Yeah, random update here.
The T-58 was enjoyable in the Belgian Pale. I got a little bit of peppery spice out of it and it tasted really good. Fermented in the low 60's, and it took a few days to start showing signs of life. Would definitely use T-58 again.
The gruit came out as I had hoped. I ended up putting some Meadowsweet into the end of the boil, which I had not tried before. I have it carbed-up pretty high, and had a secondary fermentation take off in the bottles. The caps are slightly bowed.
I've only tasted it twice now. Lots of flowery sweetness with the herbs and the golden strong ale yeast. It is a bit over-carbonated, so letting it stand in the glass a few minutes is advised.
I'm going to give it another try next week, with a little bit more of a 'test environment' in order to evaluate the impact of the herbs. Yarrow, marsh-rosemary & sweet gale were all traditional herbs used to enhance the inebriating effects of beer. More to come on that...
--LexusChris
The T-58 was enjoyable in the Belgian Pale. I got a little bit of peppery spice out of it and it tasted really good. Fermented in the low 60's, and it took a few days to start showing signs of life. Would definitely use T-58 again.
The gruit came out as I had hoped. I ended up putting some Meadowsweet into the end of the boil, which I had not tried before. I have it carbed-up pretty high, and had a secondary fermentation take off in the bottles. The caps are slightly bowed.
I've only tasted it twice now. Lots of flowery sweetness with the herbs and the golden strong ale yeast. It is a bit over-carbonated, so letting it stand in the glass a few minutes is advised.
I'm going to give it another try next week, with a little bit more of a 'test environment' in order to evaluate the impact of the herbs. Yarrow, marsh-rosemary & sweet gale were all traditional herbs used to enhance the inebriating effects of beer. More to come on that...
--LexusChris
"A woman drove me to drink, and I hadn't even the courtesy to thank her." – W.C. Fields
Re: 1 Mash, 2 Boils advice
Where do you source your herbs? Do you grow them or buy them? I'm intrigued by gruit as a concept, though I don't believe that I have ever had any. I'd like to give it a shot sometime this fall.
GreyWolf27
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lexuschris
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Re: 1 Mash, 2 Boils advice
Generally, I order my herbs online. However, I have tried to grow a few things from seeds for my 'Brewer's Garden". Yarrow is the only one I've had real success with. The recommendation is to always go with fresh herbs when you can find them, or ones that you've harvested and dried recently.
However, most of my herbs have come from these 2 sites:
http://www.starwest-botanicals.com/category/bulk-herbs/
http://www.wildweeds.com/herbs/index.html
I have links for many other sites which sell herbs which I have not yet tried, but could post them if you need those too. (i.e. I used 'bulk herbs' in Google to find many of these)
Also, a great intro to gruit is found at http://www.gruitale.com/intro_en.htm. I'm sure there are some other sites around as well.
--LexusChris
However, most of my herbs have come from these 2 sites:
http://www.starwest-botanicals.com/category/bulk-herbs/
http://www.wildweeds.com/herbs/index.html
I have links for many other sites which sell herbs which I have not yet tried, but could post them if you need those too. (i.e. I used 'bulk herbs' in Google to find many of these)
Also, a great intro to gruit is found at http://www.gruitale.com/intro_en.htm. I'm sure there are some other sites around as well.
--LexusChris
"A woman drove me to drink, and I hadn't even the courtesy to thank her." – W.C. Fields
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lexuschris
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Re: 1 Mash, 2 Boils advice
One other thought on sourcing your herbs...
Some herbs are difficult to find, or become out of stock quickly. Marsh Rosemary is one of those. I looked for 2 years before I found some at WildWeeds.com. It was well worth it! It is a very pleasent herb, and my bronze Mazer cup was for a mead with that & cinnomon in it. Yumm!
Sweet gale is my other favorite for gruit, and it used to be easily found in those little green & grey plastic pouches form Brewer's Garden all over the homebrew stores. However, lately those seem to have all but disappeared, and many online sources were 'out'.
Starwest-Botanticals.com has an amazing selection and excellent quality! All herbs come in vacuum sealed foil bags. They source from all over the world, and offer many herbs in cut & sifted, as well as powder forms. Nice!
--LexusChris
Some herbs are difficult to find, or become out of stock quickly. Marsh Rosemary is one of those. I looked for 2 years before I found some at WildWeeds.com. It was well worth it! It is a very pleasent herb, and my bronze Mazer cup was for a mead with that & cinnomon in it. Yumm!
Sweet gale is my other favorite for gruit, and it used to be easily found in those little green & grey plastic pouches form Brewer's Garden all over the homebrew stores. However, lately those seem to have all but disappeared, and many online sources were 'out'.
Starwest-Botanticals.com has an amazing selection and excellent quality! All herbs come in vacuum sealed foil bags. They source from all over the world, and offer many herbs in cut & sifted, as well as powder forms. Nice!
--LexusChris
"A woman drove me to drink, and I hadn't even the courtesy to thank her." – W.C. Fields
Re: 1 Mash, 2 Boils advice
And this is why I love this board ... everyone shares information. Thanks Chris!
Dan
Dan
Re: 1 Mash, 2 Boils advice
Thanks Chris! I'll have to do some research.
And thanks for the links, I'll be reading up on gruit on my business trip next week.
And thanks for the links, I'll be reading up on gruit on my business trip next week.
GreyWolf27