BYO's Dark Secrets of Partial Mashing

[Cosmic Charlie]

A timely article because I plan on brewing a porter then stepping up to an imperial porter for my next 2 brews.

First question - sparging dark grains. After brewing a few batches with a 2 gallon cooler, I since bought a 3 gallon cooler and made a few batches with 6 lbs grain. I plan on conducting the main mash in the 3 gal, and steep dark/crystal in the 2 gallon. A batch sparge will work well with the dark grains, right? Is there a reason to only use the first runnings and not collect a second?

Second question - water chemistry. Could I use distilled water to mash/brew and add sodium bicarbonate using their chart (the zero carbonates column), or is that a bad idea? I suppose I should try to figure out how much carbonates are in my water and go from there - as always I'm looking for an easy way out.

[gestyr]

Well I think taking second runnings from the steep grains wouldn't yield much and might actually extract some tannins. I prefer the idea of placing the grain bags from the steep grains into a strainer and letting the runoff from your mash filter through them.

[Mill Rat]

Yes, take the time to get your local water chemistry. If you're on well water, you need to pay for an analysis just to be sure you're not drinking in stuff you're even less likely to want to consume than Natty Blight. Make sure they understand you want a complete analysis, not just a hazardous substance check.

If you're on muni water, call the number of the water department from the phone book or water bill and ask for their chemist. Once you explain that you're a homebrewer, they'll probably trip all over themselves to help. Some of the larger muni waters just post the data on their web site.

There's no way of knowing how to get to where you want to be until you know from where you're starting. If you have decent muni water, then buying all that distilled water is a waste of time, money, and gas.