I'll try to brew my first all grain next week. I was wondering if I could let the mash sit for 12 hours after the mash out and before sparging. Thanks. Matt
I haven't seen anyone on here that mashes out and then waits overnight. I would be somewhat concerned about tannins at mashout temperatures, but you'll probably be fine.
I know someone who has done this for decades, and won't brew otherwise. Not that I'm a fan of his beers Isn't there a temperature range when it cools down that wild bacteria just thrive on?
More importantly than can you do it, why? Set aside 4 to 6 hours. Once you feel comfortable with the process you will get a good idea of what you need to make an all grain brew day a success. Truth is, there is plenty of time while brewing all grain to do things. Read about brewing. Post on BA... I am a bit worried that you don't have the time for what is supposed to be a relaxing long term event. You plan. You brew. You ferment. And wait. You bottle or keg. You try it for the first time. This is not a hobby you want to squeeze in between seeing the in laws and coaching little league. Cheers.
Thank you everybody. Good tips. I might rather keep the wort after sparging. It might be less impacting the beer Would you recommend that better?
If you cool it quickly, and if there's no other alternative, it would be better than letting the mash cool overnight, but don't forget that until this point, you have not yet boiled anything. Thus the wort likely still contains active bacteria. You might be lucky and get away with it by boiling it 12 hours later, but you would be at risk with possibly changing the flavour of the beer.
if you can keep the wort cold, below 50, and only for a day or two, then this is an option. not the best but possible. if you are lucky and everything is on your side. it is a big risk though, and why bother? you want good beer, right? if you can not keep the wort cold, don't bother. wort is food for yeast. if you let it be, some yeast strain will gladly help themselves. this unknown yeast is all over your home just waiting to colonize a nice 5 gallon bucket of yeast food. this wild yeast will not make good beer. not unless you live in the Lembeek Valley of Belgium. So do not chance it. Cold preserves food by slowing the activity of nasty critters. You must keep the wort cold. You will also have a very nice amount of break at the bottom of your bucket, so that is a plus. Cheers.
I've done an overnight mash once. I found it took more hours than to just brew a beer in one 4 hour sitting. The bottleneck is having to heat sparge water the following day. It takes a long time to get 5 gal of water to 190F on a stove. Longer than it takes to draw first runnings into a boil kettle. I see some youtube videos where the HERMS brewers start their liquor water the day/night before. To each their own on a cold March day. *I'll note I don't have kids running around to prevent me from blocking 4 hours out of my day off.
I took the plunge into all grain last weekend. I went small first go. I did 3 different one gallon all grains in the same day. I found it a great way to give all grain a test and see if I have a knack for it. Heating 1.25 gallons of water to a strike temp of 162 ....well that did not take long. Getting things to a rolling boil....not long. I found my 2 gallon Igloo Sport water cooler to be a great little mash tun with very little temperature loss (hope my thermometer was accurate) over an hour of mashing. Heck it was a fun way to spend the day. One drawback is that I only have the ole fashioned hydrometer so that can take up some volume.....next time I will accommodate also for that loss....but heck 10 or 11 bottles....its about creativity and drinkability. If I screwed up I can stand to drink a few marginal beers but a few cases....
I only do no chill brewing now. "Invented" by the Australians. It also allows you to make a "real wort starter" which is where you use the wort you just made, rather than dried malt extract, as the base for your yeast starter. Skipping the time for chilling, and the extra cleanup, and the (by most people) wasting of water (which is why the Aussies started doing it in the first place). Sold my chiller, don't ever need to buy DME anymore, all-in-all it works great for me.
According to this link: https://byo.com/mead/item/2445-debunking-bitterness-no-chill-brewing-mr-wizard "There are two real problems with slow wort chilling. One is the risk of microbiological contamination. The other problem associated with slow wort cooling is DMS formation after wort boiling. The precursor for DMS, S-methyl-methionine, decomposes when heated and becomes DMS (DMS smells like cooked corn and most brewers consider it a defect in almost all beer types). Although much of this compound is transformed to DMS and removed with steam vapor during wort boiling, some does remain. This means that the wort DMS concentration increases after boiling and prior to cooling, and is especially noticeable if wort is in a sealed container that prevents the volatile DMS to escape."
No chill brewing refers to not rapidly cooling the wort after the boil. This is a discussion about not boiling wort for some time after the mash. Two different things. Cheers.
Back on topic -- I did an overnight mash a few years ago due to a time crunch. I mashed Saturday evening, then mashed out and boiled Sunday morning, leaving plenty of time for an unrelated Sunday afternoon event. The beer came out much dryer than expected, but it was a Cream Ale, so that was not a bad thing (FYI, 80% 2-row, 20% flaked maize, 20 IBU, 1 packet of US-05 pitched dry, OG: 1.063, FG: 1.002). I've since incorporated that technique into my Cream Ales and also some of my bigger beers. It's all but eliminated the characteristic 'muddy' flavor (for lack of a better word) that seems to be common in so many 9%+ commercial DIPAs. I discussed this at a subsequent brew club meeting and the consensus seemed to be that, as the temp fell overnight (154F to 148F over 9 hours), the sugars continued to break down, almost as if I had done a traditional mash at 148F. It's important to note that this was not a controlled scientific experiment, only a consensus which seems plausible. I haven't researched this, so I don't know what the 'experts' have concluded.
I'd guess it wasn't as much the temperature drop as it was the effective mash length. Kai Troester's data shows fermentability increasing all the way up to 280 minutes (the longest he measured). At some point, the enzymes will have all unraveled, but clearly there are some still working up to (at least) almost 5 hours.
