Fermentivity: Partigyle Brewing: The Mash That Keeps On Giving

Brewing uses an economy which places the brewer in the intersubjective space between ingredients, process, creativity, and the various groups and individuals that will become its consumers. It was a similar economy which propelled the production of beer centuries before the modern era. Many may be familiar with the brewing traditions of the monks of Trappist fame and lore. The process used to brew several of these beers--and a few others, including some of Fuller's beers--is known as "partigyle" brewing. Partigyle brewing is a type of all-grain brewing in which a single mash yields multiple beers. In a typical all-grain homebrewing session, the mash tun is drained/sparged only one time, thus yielding only one beer. However, in a partigyle brewing session, after saccarification the mash tun is filled with hot water and drained multiple times, yielding worts of successively weaker specific gravities. The rationale behind this technique is based on the tendency for a mash to lose extract efficiency as the size of the grain bill increases. In general, grain weight and extract efficiency are inversely proportional due to the increased viscosity of the wort that is produced. When draining a mash tun that contains a more viscous wort, more sugars will be left trapped in the grain bed. As homebrewers, we have worked hard up to this point to mash our grain to convert starches into sugars. One way to ensure maximum extract utilization is to re-fill the mash tun and collect multiple gyles, lest no fermentable be left behind!

In some applications, each separate gyle is combined to form one wort. This is, essentially, the same as batch sparging, a popular sparging technique among homebrewers. Batch sparging is also known to improve extract efficiency for mash tuns constructed from picnic coolers, but that's a blog post for another time. However, in the famous Trappist breweries mentioned above, each successively weaker gyle becomes a different beer. Often given the monikers tripel, dubbel, and single respectively, each beer's "number" signifies its alcoholic strength. In terms of economy, these beers also served the purpose of social class distinction. The strongest beers would be reserved for special occasions or for royalty. The next strongest would be designated for the abbot or feudal lord. The 3rd gyle (or runnings) would be the "single" beer consumed in quantity by the monks. There may even have been a fourth gyle, which produced a very weak beer served to everyone else, including pilgrims and peasants alike.

I recently embarked upon a partigyle brew of epic proportions. Though I have done a partigyle batch before, I had never done a partigyle batch that would produce three very different beers. Oh, did I mention that all three beers have a pumpkin theme, and that the overall mash contained 8 lbs. of roasted pumpkin that had been in the freezer since October? My plan for the batch was to use up most of my partially emptied grain bags from the previous year. I had about 15 lbs. of base malt of different varieties and bits of specialty grains here and there, so I formulated a master recipe with specialty grain additions for each gyle. My goal was for a big barleywine as the first gyle, an IPA of unknown strength for the second, and a sour, berliner-style beer for the third (perhaps I will do another post on sour mashing, but please ask if you have questions before I get around to such a post). In addition to left-over grains, I also had several ounces of Apollo hops to use up. This was fortunate because I intended to make an extremely hoppy pale ale (at least 7 oz. Apollo hops, with over 40 IBUs in the last 10 minutes of the boil) So, here are the recipes with some pics. When they are ready to drink I will give a tasting report.

Main mash (common to all beers):

12.13# Maris Otter
3.13# US 2-Row
.13 # Black Patent Malt
8# Frozen roasted pie pumpkin

Barleywine (OG before sugar: 1.086) (4.37 gal. boil volume; 3.25 gal. in fermenter):

1.00 oz. Apollo (16.00%) @ 60 min. 50.6 IBU
2.00 oz. Brambling Cross (6.00%) @ 15 min. 18.8 IBU
3.00 oz. Brambling Cross (6.00%) @ 1 min. 2.5 IBU
1 tsp. Irish Moss @ 10 min.
2+ lbs. Table Sugar (boiled w/ 2 c. water/lb. to make syrup) added in 1 lb. additions to primary
started fermentation with SafAle US-05 yeast and added large 4L starter of WLP099 Super High Gravity Yeast after second sugar addition in primary

Mashed in with 28 qt. of 157.3F water for a 60 min. single infusion rest @ 150F. Fermented at 61F-64F ambient temperature. Fermentation temperature should stay below 70F.
Use http://yeastcalc.com/ and http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html to calculate yeast pitching rates

IPA (OG: 1.053):

Added 1.5 lbs. quick grits and 1 lb. Bairds Carastan (30L-37L) to mash before refilling mash tun with 24 qt. 174F water for 40 min.
1 oz. Apollo (16.00%) FWH @ 60 min. 66.7 IBU
1.5 oz. Apollo (16.00%) @ 10 min. 33.0 IBU
3.5 oz. Apollo (16.00%) @ 1 min. 9.1 IBU
1 oz. Apollo (16.00%) dry hop 14 days
1 lb. Table Sugar @ 15 min.
1 tsp. Irish Moss @ 15 min.
SafAle US-05 ale yeast; ferment below 70F (65-68F; 61-65F ambient temp.)

Berliner-style Sour ale (OG: 1.030):

Partial mash of 1 lb. of main mash grist reserved prior to mashing, .66 lb. Honey Malt, and .66 lb. Biscuit Malt in separate vessel at appoximately 150F until converted. This partial mash is added back to main mash with 26 qt. of 172F water.
Sour mash: allow mash to cool below 122F before adding large handful of uncrushed malt (I used a combination of unmalted barley I grew last summer and leftover sauerkraut juice full of lactobacilis). Maintain a temperature range between 95F-122F for approximately 36 hrs (either with hot water additions or an internal heat source), checking for desired sourness every 12 hours. It is important to reduced exposure of oxygen to the surface of the mash as much as possible to inhibit unwanted bacterial growth. Plastic wrap may be used to cover the surface of the mash or carbon dioxide may be blanketed atop the mash surface. When desired level of sourness is reached, heat mash to 168F and drain mash tun as per usual.
Boil wort only 15 min.
1 tsp. Irish Moss @ 15 min.
.50 oz. Pride of Ringwood (9.00%) @ 10 min. 7.1 IBU
Bell's Brewery yeast cultured from bottles of Oberon
Fermented at similar temperature as the above beers

Pics:

Mash after draining first gyle. Notice the pumpkin pieces.