Split Batch

Ok so this whole thing arose out of me wanting to brew 2 single-hop IPA's with identical grain bills. Assuming this works, I could be addited to this type of brewing. Basically the same amount of work on brewday, but an easy way to fill up two fermenters with simple 5-gallon batch equipment. In fact, in the future, if I am going to brew for a specific event/party (such as my bachelor party, which should be this spring), I will DEFINITELY do this, as homebrew stashes can quickly be vaporized by a party/event..

Here's the way I did it:

1.) Figure out boil gravity. I planned on extracting 7-8 gallons of wort, with a gravity of around 1.090. I ended up using about 23lbs of grain (presented another problem, my MLT is only a 7-gallon aluminum kettle...was right at the top during mashing)

Ideally, I would have 4 gallons of wort in each collection bucket, then top off with 2 gallons of water pre-boil. I ended up having 3.5 gallons of wort in each (collected 7 gallons total). Then I topped off each (I used extra fermenting buckets) with 1.5 gallons of water, basically using the following formula:

(1.090 * 0.7) + (1.001 * 0.3) = 1.063

In other words, 70% of my diluted wort had a gravity of 1.090, and 30% had a gravity of 1.001 (water, 1.000 won't really work in the formula)

2.) I did lose a gallon or so to boil off on each, and I used BTP for each brew (still can't figure out how to effectively use BTP for volumes/sparges, etc.)

3.) After boiling/cooling the first batch (with Citras), I was exhausted and hit the sack.

4.) I left the other batch of wort in a sanitized, covered fermenter overnight and boiled it the next night. Again, same deal, lost about a gallon to boil off (used Amarillos for this one), cooled and pitched

5.) around 36 hours prior to boiling the first batch, I made a 2 liter starter with WLP East Coast Ale yeast WLP008. I swished it up really well, poured half into the first batch one night, then the second night, threw the remainder into my other batch.

The weird thing is, my first batch took off almost immediately. Wild airlock activity after 9-ish hours. The second batch didn't have activty for 36 hours. I ended up sanitizing a spoon, grabbing about a half cup of cake off the top of the first brew, and stirring into the second. It began bubbling after about 30 minutes.

The only thing I can think of is maybe the 'overnight' wort wasn't oxygenated enough, but I know I stirred real well after the boil, and I think I stirred it well after it sat for 24 hours.

In any event, this was a really solid experience, hopefully the brews will be just as solid. I want to have these ready for labor day, so assuming I am down to a decent FG this weekend, I will bottle at that point. Ideally, I would dry-hop for a better nose.

This seems like it would be a great way to mess with adjuncts/hop additions and really test the final product, particularly since I topped off the wort prior to the boil. Actually, that was a question I had, does it matter if I dilute pre or post-boil extract style?

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