Partigyle is the practice of making multiple batches of beer from one grist. This means that you mash once and run the "first runnings" off of the mash and make one "big" beer. Then you run more sparge water through the grains to get a second "small" beer. The idea is that the first beer will be of high strength and high malt character, while the second beer will be a small beer that is much milder. Historically speaking, this was done all the time, as brewers would extract as much sugar solution from each grist as they could. Partigyle is responsible for many different styles of beer that we have today, including Belgian Doubles and Tripels, English Barlywines and Milds, etc., as brewers made different strengths of what was basically, the same beer.I had read about this practice in several books and heard about it on at least one podcast, so I wanted to give it a try. I was planning on brewing a big weizenbock and figured it would be the perfect time to try the technique, as there should be some sugar left in the grist, right? Well, it did not really work out as expected, as you will see below.
First, a review of the beers themselves.
Big Daddy Weizenbock
Brewed: 11/25/2008
Kegged: 12/6/2008
Original Gravity: 1.077
Final Gravity: 1.020
IBU: 24
Alcohol By Volume: 7.5%
Carbonation Volume: 2.5 (13 psi at 40 degrees F)
This beer was the real reason for the brew day. It is the color of dark brown, bordering on black, though deep red highlights show through if you hold the beer near a strong light. The weizenbock pours with a thick tan head that lasts for about 5 minutes as you drink it. The beer has a strong banana aroma, almost like banana bread. It also has a slight hint of clove in the aroma, but no bubblegum at all. The aromatic qualities of the beer are directly related to the yeast strain I used (hefeweizen ale - White Labs WLP 300), and it is fermentation temperature of 62 F.
The beer has a very pleasant taste, with a malt forward presentation on the tongue. I taste a little biscuit on the tip of the tongue, followed by a caramel and molasses flavor. The beer finishes with a hint of carbonation and hops, but they are definately in the background. There is a slight bit of molasses that stays on your palate before the next sip, but it does not seem to build too much as you work through the pint. Finally, there is a warming feeling from the beer. This is not any kind of hot alcohol, but a pleasant feeling in the throat that occurs several seconds after finishing a sip.
I am very happy with this beer, and I would definitely consider making it again. It is sort of like a dunkleweizen on steroids, and dunklewezien is one of my favorite beer styles. I would hope to have the beer attenuate a couple of points lower next time, but otherwise I am pleased with it and its yeast character after it had aged for about a month in the keg.
Baby Bock - Little Weizenbock
ObservationsThis beer was the real reason for the brew day. It is the color of dark brown, bordering on black, though deep red highlights show through if you hold the beer near a strong light. The weizenbock pours with a thick tan head that lasts for about 5 minutes as you drink it. The beer has a strong banana aroma, almost like banana bread. It also has a slight hint of clove in the aroma, but no bubblegum at all. The aromatic qualities of the beer are directly related to the yeast strain I used (hefeweizen ale - White Labs WLP 300), and it is fermentation temperature of 62 F.
The beer has a very pleasant taste, with a malt forward presentation on the tongue. I taste a little biscuit on the tip of the tongue, followed by a caramel and molasses flavor. The beer finishes with a hint of carbonation and hops, but they are definately in the background. There is a slight bit of molasses that stays on your palate before the next sip, but it does not seem to build too much as you work through the pint. Finally, there is a warming feeling from the beer. This is not any kind of hot alcohol, but a pleasant feeling in the throat that occurs several seconds after finishing a sip.
I am very happy with this beer, and I would definitely consider making it again. It is sort of like a dunkleweizen on steroids, and dunklewezien is one of my favorite beer styles. I would hope to have the beer attenuate a couple of points lower next time, but otherwise I am pleased with it and its yeast character after it had aged for about a month in the keg.
Baby Bock - Little Weizenbock
Brewed: 11/25/2008
Kegged: 12/6/2008
Original Gravity: 1.027
Final Gravity: 1.009
IBU: 14
Alcohol By Volume: 2.6%
Carbonation Volume: 2.5 (13 psi at 40 degrees F)
The small beer is a dark honey color with a thick off-white head. It has a neutral aroma, though I do detect a hint of astringency that smells vaguely of plain oatmeal. The head remains a while on this beer, as with many wheat beers.
The flavor of the small beer is definitely lacking. Thin is the word that comes to mind, though watery is also applicable. Next to its big brother it is down right plain. It also has an mildly unpleasant astringent flavor. I think this came from the fact that I tried to get all of the sugars I could from the beer. This dropped the sugar levels in the grain bed too low and I started to pull tannins out of the grain husks. There is little yeast character in the beer, but I expected that using dried California ale yeast. The hops are a little overbearing in bitterness, but otherwise clean with little herbal hop character or aroma.
The little beer is definitely that . . . little. I increased the boil time on the beer to 90 minutes with the hope of getting a higher starting gravity, but it did not happen. It seems that most of the flavor had already gone out of the grist, so the beer just tastes plain. However, it is not really bad, just uninspired. The astringency has aged a bit out of the beer, so that it is not that objectionable now.
The small beer is a dark honey color with a thick off-white head. It has a neutral aroma, though I do detect a hint of astringency that smells vaguely of plain oatmeal. The head remains a while on this beer, as with many wheat beers.
The flavor of the small beer is definitely lacking. Thin is the word that comes to mind, though watery is also applicable. Next to its big brother it is down right plain. It also has an mildly unpleasant astringent flavor. I think this came from the fact that I tried to get all of the sugars I could from the beer. This dropped the sugar levels in the grain bed too low and I started to pull tannins out of the grain husks. There is little yeast character in the beer, but I expected that using dried California ale yeast. The hops are a little overbearing in bitterness, but otherwise clean with little herbal hop character or aroma.
The little beer is definitely that . . . little. I increased the boil time on the beer to 90 minutes with the hope of getting a higher starting gravity, but it did not happen. It seems that most of the flavor had already gone out of the grist, so the beer just tastes plain. However, it is not really bad, just uninspired. The astringency has aged a bit out of the beer, so that it is not that objectionable now.
I can see how this process was used frequently in the past. I effectively got two beers out of one set of ingredients, minus some extra hops and a package of dry yeast. However, the little beer was almost not worth the trouble. I suppose that perspective comes from the fact that I don't sell beer for a living, but this is something that I will probably not do again. If I were to consider a second partigyle, I would take the following into account:
- You should not really worry about the volume of wort for the bigger beer. Just drain your mash tun and use whatever you get. I made sure to get enough wort to make a full 5 gallon batch of the main beer. This left too little sugar for the second beer.
- Start with a larger grist than you would normally. I would definitely have added a couple of extra pounds of base malt to ensure there was sugar left for the second beer.
- Pay attention to the specific gravity coming out of your mash tun on the little beer. If the SG drops below 1.008, make sure to stop so you avoid the grain husk tannins.
- Take a pre-boil gravity of your small beer and use that to determine your hopping. Seeing how you cannot predict how much sugar will be in the small beer, if you pre-plan your hops, you could significantly over hop the little beer.
- Be happy with what you get and be glad that the sale of the little beer does not directly correspond to how much food your kids have to eat.
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