Split Batches...Ideas

[Salt]

Hello fellow brewers...

I have a dilemma, along with a possible solution, and would like some suggestions please.

The dilemma is that I dont brew nearly enough and that I have a list of Beers that are screaming at me to brew, but I just cant justify brewing them, when I need my standard APAs etc to get me through the year! I have plenty of 'different' beer recipes I would also like to try.

So after doing some research, my possible solution would be to do Split batches. The idea would be to increase my current brew length from 25L to 30L (my equipment should handle it and I have a 5Lt carboy from a mate to use).

I would brew 30Lts of a Beer that I want to drink and split off 5Lts into the Carboy. I then figure I can use this carboy to experiment a bit. Adding different ingredients etc. While I am not opposed to using different yeasts, due to the size of the experiment, I am not sure about the added cost, but can be swayed.

I have come across this great link...http://beerandwinejournal.com/split-batches/ which has some great ideas.

I am planning to brew a porter next and have thought I might split off 5Lts and add some oak that has been soaked in some pinot noir.

So now for the suggestions...who out there is currently doing this or similar? What things work? I will be looking at doing this with beers such as APA, IPA, Porter and Stouts.

Thanks in advance
Mark

 

[Not For Horses]

How about splitting pre boil? Sure it's another pot but it's only a small one.

That way you could produce all your wort in one hit but try two completely different hop schedules.

You could also use other ingredients in the small batch boil that you might not use normally or want a full batch of (citrus peel, spices, honeys etc etc).

Trying the two different yeasts in the same beer (as you've already mentioned) will give you a great idea of what each one brings flavour wise.

You could also try fruit beers in a small batch. My personal favourites for fruit beers are dark ales and wheat beers which is a bonus because they are also great on their own.

Coffee Stout could be another one to look at.

You could also find a commercial beer brewed with brettanomyces that has been bottle conditioned and add the dregs to a 5L batch.

Many, many options are available to you!

 

[Salt]

You could also find a commercial beer brewed with brettanomyces that has been bottle conditioned and add the dregs to a 5L batch.

Really like this idea...I could brew a saison as standard, or a belgian IPA and then add dregs to the 5Lt batch...wonder how long I would need to leave it in the carboy?

Cheers for the advice...as you mentioned, many, many ideas really!

 

[ticinglese]

I often do this and it works well, eg didn't want 20l of begian dubbel so took 8 litres at the end of the boil and boiled on the stove to reduce it by a third in volume and ended up with a nice 10% belgian strong using the same yeast. Have done the same with a standard stout and export stout and am waiting to try an oat brown ale that I split and added the runnings from cold steeped black malt to one half to make an oatmeal stout, again just splitting a packet of yeast.

 

[Midnight Brew]

What Im currently doing via the no chill method is standard brew day with FWH/Bittering addition. Then when cubing each cube gets a different flavour addition in the cube. Also done this before where the brew gets the same hops all the way through but on two different yeasts or same all the way through but different dry hop.

Many ways to go about it but consistency is the key.

Perhaps if you can get to 30L wort volume and split into 3x 10L cubes if you went that method. Just need to keep in account your losses to your FV.

Please report back with your experiments, we'd love to hear them and I'll share some of mine. (under way very soon)

 

[IsonAd]

I'm also keen to hear other people's ideas. My last two batches I've split. Last one I used same bittering hops theb with 10mins to go i pulled off half the batch into a cube to no chill with the same hops (Type and amount) I used for the last 10 mins in the other half that I then chilled. I also did a variation of this using Where I cold steeped some specialty grains overnight and added it to the last 10mins of half of a batch to make an IPA and a IBA/CDA. Keen to hear other variations

 

[431neb]

I do doubles on my 50 litre keg setup. I usually do two cubes and hop the two cubes differently but recently I stuffed up and added 5 litres too much sparge water so I drained it off to a stovetop pot, added some light malt to get the gravity up and threw a random handful of hops at it. It made 4 litres of quaffable beer. So this experiment got me wondering about brewing over-gravity and diluting it down with boiling water when I cube. Currently, I can squeeze a double batch in at normal pre-boil gravities. I'm sure I could easily do three by doing a much bigger malt bill for the mash. Water down the initial runnings and partigyle the "sparge" for a small beer? I'm not trying to create any prizewinners but if I could punch out 4 cubes of fizzy lawnmower beer for the masses then my finest work might last me a little longer.

Question: Just how far have people pushed this idea? Has anyone successfully punched out 4 cubes (20 ish litres) from a 50 litre mash tun / boil kettle?

Further reading

http://beer.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=beer&cdn=food&tm=33&f=00&su=p284.13.342.ip_&tt=8&bt=4&bts=51&zu=http%3A//brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue2.2/mosher.html

Hopefully any answers might give you some ideas too Salt.

Edit typo