Partial Mash

So the day finally came. The smoked red we have been planning for months finally came into existence. We partial mashed this mother, and I think it is going to turn out rockin'.

What's a partial mash you say? This is when a good chunk of grain is used to add a more genuine feel to the beer, while the majority of the fermentables come from an extract. This is exceptionally easier than doing all-grain for those who live in apartments.

First step was to smoke the malts. We do not own a smoker and of course didn't feel like buying one for something like this, so we did a little rigging and came up with this. A turkey pan with three large holes. Foil on top with one exit the opposite side of the holes.

Result? A simplified smoker. Now for those of you who want some smokier than the bear malts, skip this and just buy a smoker, but for those who want lightly smoked... this works just fine.

I decided instead of using the classic mash tun to experiment with the grain bag method.

This is when you put your grains to be mashed into a grain bag and let them hover inside of a pot while boiling. This seemed easy, so I gave it a try.

Getting it all started was simple, maintaining temperature was simple (electric stove top), and waiting was of course extremely easy.

The difficult part came when the "sparging" step came into play. The bag of grain was heavy as hell, and to sit there and hold it and squeeze it was a pain in the ass.

Of course with this method, more delicious chunks make their way through all the "well planned" filtration systems, so using a colander to filter is not a bad idea. JUST DON'T FORGET TO SANITIZE!

Either way, our small partial mash was complete, and the brewing began with the extract and hops.

The final result? A carboy full of yummy red ale.

And after about twenty hours?

We will see how it all turns out in a few weeks!