Recipe: Let's Partigyle (2nd Runnings Best Bitter)

When making a beer as large as the Callen you inevitably end up with sugars left in the mash tun even after pulling 8.5 gallons of wort to boil.  Adding more sparge water to the mash and running off the additional sugars to make a smaller beer is a great way to get the best bang for your buck as well as getting another beer out of all that work.  Back in the day this method (partigyle) was used quite a bit, and some English breweries still use it to make their classic beers such as Fuller's.

Honestly I was expecting more that 16% efficiency, but then again, I did sparge with 120*F water.  Seeing that the OG was lower than I expected, I added a little bit of sugar as well as what DME I had on hand (not much), and dropped back the bittering hops drastically.  One difficulty with these beers is that the bulk of the body and flavor ended up in the main beer leaving the second beer flabby and thin.  To compensate for this I added a quart of the first runnings to the kettle as well as topping off the mash with a half pound of British Dark Crystal for a boost of body and fresh crystal flavor.  I also added 1/2 oz of American Oak to alter the mouthfeel slightly and add another layer of depth to the beer (and for a little throw back to when English beers were fermented in oak barrels).

Last year I brewed a Scottish 80- for the small beer, but this year I have been itching to brew another Bitter and I have quite a bit of Challenger and Fuggle hops so I went with a Bitter as my second beer.

Stats:

4.5 gallons

1.036 OG

1.012 Est Fg

3.5% Est ABV

39 IBUs

14 SRM

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Fermentables:

11.0#  Great Western Pale Malt

9.5#  Crisp Maris Otter
2.0# MFB Munich

0.75# MFB CaraMunich 40L
0.75# MFB CaraMunich 120L
0.75# Crisp British Dark Crystal
0.12# Crisp Roast Barley
0.50# Crisp British Dark Crystal 75/85L
0.50# Table Sugar
0.26# DME

65 Minutes @ 158*F

16% Extract Efficiency

15% Brewhouse Efficiency

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75 Minute Boil:

60 mins - 0.80 oz Home Grown Challenger ~ 7.5AA%
15 mins - 0.80 oz Home Grown Challenger ~ 7.5AA%
15 mins - 0.80 oz Home Grown Fuggles ~ 6.7AA%
2 mins - 0.80 oz Home Grown Challenger ~ 7.5AA%
2 mins - 0.80 oz Home Grown Fuggles ~ 6.7AA%
DH - 0.80 oz Home Grown Challenger ~ 7.5AA%
DH - 0.80 oz Home Grown Fuggles ~ 6.7AA%

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Fermentation:

Chilled to 65*F

5 gallon glass carboy

1469 West Yorkshire & 1056 American Ale - 1/4 pint of slurry from Brown Ale
5 Days @ 62-64*F

2 Days @ 68*F
7 Days @ Ambient Garage - Dry Hopping

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Additional:

Gypsum 5/8 t (mash), 3/4 t (boil)

Calcium Chloride 3/4 t (mash), 1/2 t (boil)

3 Taps Yeast Nutrient
0.50 oz American Oak (primary)

Fermentation took a little longer to kick off than the Wee Heavy due to the lower pitch rate and sleepy yeast.  By 36 hours signs were starting to show, and by 50 hours the beer had a 1/2" of soapy foam on top with a layer of brown sludge.  The soapy foam dissipated later that day, and on the next morning there was a huge krausen that threatened a blow off.  I am hoping that this is due to the 2 yeast strains since this is the same thing that happened with my 2 Lambics.