Mixing 2 separate batches for 1 brew

[ercol]

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience mixing separately brewed batches of wort to create different end-result beers?

I understand this was done a fair bit in the 'old' days, (possibly to allow breweries to have a wider product range while still only having to brew X amount of recipes?) And of course people still order 'black and tan' (Guinness & pale ale).

Aside from experimentation, i was just wondering whether there was any benefit to this? If there was anything that could be created that couldnt theoretically be created just by changing your mash? And if anyone had any guidelines on how to do it, in terms of compatible recipes, and also when - preboil? post fermentation, etc?

thanks,

[smeggedup]

others may have more info but i believe some breweries still do it today, but with beers they've brewed and didn't like

[lancsSteve]

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience mixing separately brewed batches of wort to create different end-result beers?

...

And if anyone had any guidelines on how to do it, in terms of compatible recipes, and also when - preboil? post fermentation, etc?

thanks,

It's still done a LOT in Czech republic with people mixing half-and-half dunkel lager and pils - and that sort of mix couldn't be done really by recipe. Personally I really like blending in the glass to create variations between different brews on tap.

Commercially most large breweries blend multiple brews to ensure consistency - which is the main call for that and not something you can achieve from mash changes as its to comenstate for variation that it's done.

There's also the historic approach to blending in some styles. E.G. Porter was traditionally a blend of aged slightly sour and oaked beer with young fresh beer (St Peter's still do this) an approach that (used to) continued with Guiness Foreign Extra Stout which had a low percentage of sour beer blended in. Then there's the truly weird beers like Rodenbach Grand Cru and Geuze which are entirely based on blending different ages of soured oak aged beer.

For more normal beers you can make something interesting mixing at the tap e.g. a little bit of a stout in your bitter or IPA can create a hint of roastiness - simulating a cascadiantype dark ale without having to get through 19 litres of the stuff. So it can make a lot of variety at the pump or be done for particular effect and to cover up failures (e.g. a stuck bock I had was very sweet, when blended with a VERY dry and bitter beer it made something awesome - so two wrongs kind of made a right!)

Parti-gyle approaches are also based on one mash multiple beers - but not necessarily blending them back together - though you might make a nice session beer by doing so.

Personally I tend to make 1 to 3 beers of one mash by splitting the runnings.
For example: split running to two boils and add different hops, add steeped crystal grains to one boil (or cold extract roasted grains).
Take half the boil off at 60 minutes and cool in fermenter to make say a german wheat beer (low IBU, cloudy no finings, german wheat yeast) while adding LOADS of hops to remaining beer for another half hour of boiling to make an american style wheat beer (lots of hops, clean yeast, protafloc at end of boil) with other half.