On Monday, I'm brewing my partigyle ABW/ESB. What I'd planned on doing was using all first runnings for the BW, and using the sparge (plus an extra 2lbs of MO and 1/2lb of crystal 60) for the ESB.
Was discussing this with a brewclub friend, and he mentioned partitioning the main mash, rather than doing all first/all second.
So assuming an 8.0gal boil volume for each, perhaps take 2.5gal from the first runnings for the small beer, and 5.5gal of the first runnings for the ABW, then vice versa with the sparge/second runnings.
I've had a first runnings only ABW before and it is insane, but I also want to avoid having a 'thin' 'lifeless' small beer.
Any opinions/thoughts?