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  • Session Beer

    Does anyone do a session beer off of their second runnings? I think it would be a way to get a little extra out of the grain bill.

    Kind of like we do in the kitchen with Stocks.

    Just curious

    John

  • #2
    I do that, but only with high gravity beers like Barleywine,Imperial IPA,Imperial Stout and Strong Scotch Ale...which is typical for this format as you'll need alot of leftover sugar in the mashtun and generally these aren't highly efficient beers to brew. Some of the beers I've made off of second runnings are Espresso Stout,Southern English Brown Ale, English Pale,Chocolate Ale,Belgian Honey,Burton Ale. Depending on your mashtun and size of the first mash, you can add some additional grains as I do into the mashtun right after you've finished your transfer into the brew kettle. Typically I will take the first runnings to boil,whirpool,stand,kockout,give a quick spray down and rinse of the kettle then start transfering the second. My standard batch is about 15.5 bbls when after boil, when I do a first runnings I usually will pull off somewhere between 9.5 and 7.5 depending on the batch and boil down from there. Second runnings then are somewhere between 7-8bbls depending on what you're looking for a gravity. Typically I get between 6 and 7 bbls of finished product off a second running with about 4 hours of additonal labor, and depending on the beer no more $250 in raw materials used. This to me sounds like a bargain for 6-7bbls of beer considering we sell the first runnings at $5.00 a pint ($3.25 is our standard price). In our case by the time the 1st runnings beer is actually tapped we've already paid for it with the sales of the second runnings beer.

    Goodluck!
    Cheers,
    Mike Roy
    Brewmaster
    Franklins Restaurant, Brewery & General Store
    5123 Baltimore Ave
    Hyattsville,MD 20781
    301-927-2740

    Franklinsbrewery.com
    @franklinsbrwry
    facebook.com/franklinsbrewery

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    • #3
      Very cool ! It just makes sense to me to get as much as you can out of a batch of grain.

      Thanks

      john

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      • #4
        I suppose it all comes down to stoping the sparge when the Spec. Gravity gets "too low" . Since I haven't been able to do this.. when would those that have made this work.. when do you draw the line on the sparging... running off of thesecond runnings?

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        • #5
          Granted I have only done this on a small scale, but I shoot for my collection amount with first runnings and then go with the second runnings.

          John

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          • #6
            small beer

            havent had a small beer that I liked yet, most have an unpleasant astrigency, probably from sparging too long. I like to watch the ph as well as the gravity when deciding to stop collecting wort.

            MikeRoy mentions some beers styles, I bet espresso would hide some astringency. I, too, have heard of brewers adding grain or even malt extract (if thats your thing) to the mash so they can get a "full" batch out of the second runnings.


            One brewer I work with invited the local homebrew club to come collect the wort in 5 gallon buckets. He then organized an "Iron Brewer" competition to see who produced the best beer with the wort we gave. 14 brewers came and made some awesome beers! Good way to make friends, as they were all very appreciative.

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            • #7
              I know of a couple of breweries that do this here, and add syrups to boost... ?! I have no problem with this after a high grav run off, so the second runnings are suitable for a light mild or something... my issues is wit over extraction and the previously highlighted astringency issues - here comes the syrups...

              good idea, but please be careful.
              Founder of London Brewers' Alliance | European Craft Sales Manager for SimplyHops.com | BrewWharf 2009/11 | Writes CAMRA's Homebrew Column | Opened Breakwater Brew Co | Get me @phillowry

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              • #8
                Originally posted by tims
                havent had a small beer that I liked yet...
                You obviously haven't had a GOOD English Mild. Most run about 3-3.5%, and are quite good. They're full of body, quite malty, and you can easily have 6 or 7 in a night without losing track of the conversation or drooling on yourself.

                I wish more American craft brewers would brew session beers. Don't get me wrong, I love every style (I don't consider the American Light Lager to be a style as much as a bastardization of the German Pilsner) but I think that a lot of people just want to go bigger and bigger (both in ABV and IBU) to prove that they are more "extreme" than the next guy.

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                • #9
                  I did an English Mild (3% - 18 IBU), but it didn't sell because of one thing: the name. In my neck of the woods, "Mild" denotes weak, watery drink, thus no one buys it. Changed the name to "EZ Rider Amber" and it's selling like hotcakes.
                  "By man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world" -- St. Arnold of Metz

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                  • #10
                    Robzamites,
                    Isn't it amazing how a name will change people's attitudes toward something. I have had friends that didn't want to try a Mild for the same reason, then when they actually tried it they couldn't get enough.

                    CHEERS TO THE SESSION BEER.

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                    • #11
                      Yeah, same problem with brewing English bitters. A nice session beer that if called anything with the word "bitter" in it cuts the sales in half. Not bitter enough for the hop head extremist and too "bitter" (in name only!) for the others. Same beer with a new name sells just dandy. The power of perception and marketing of beer.

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                      • #12
                        Mike, when you say you sometimes additional grain to the mash tun just after transfering to the brew kettle, are you adding hot liquor at a mashing temperature as well? I'd be afraid of not getting a good amount of extract from the new malt sitting there in the mash tun...I'm envisioning turning on the rakes again, adding the grain, and then starting a second mash while the first runnings are boiling in the kettle.

                        Also, is ph a problem when doing this? We typically stop our sparge before the ph gets too out of whack, but I'd be afraid of the second runnings having too high of a ph and the astringency that goes with it...not nice when you're talking about a low gravity session beer for sure!

                        Very interested in this practice, and would be interested in how you're doing it in a little more detail before I try it.
                        www.devilcraft.jp
                        www.japanbeertimes.com

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