Mashing overnight?

I had read in another thread about winter brewing, "avidhomebrewer" had mentioned he just starts his mash the night before in his cooler and then just finishes the next day. Does anyone else do this? This seems like a great way to break up the brew process into shorter sessions. Lately I have been having a hard time coming up with a 4-5 hour block to brew in, but 2-2.5 hrs is do-able. Might have to give this a shot.

So the questions to "avidhomebrewer" and anyone else who can shed some light: What are the drawbacks, not good for some styles, off flavors, sparge issues? How long would to long be for the grain to sit before someone finished? Would souring start to occur?
I know my current sparge water temp calcs would need to be refigured based on the cooler grain bed temps (I do 2X batch sparge).

Thanks

Check out the similar threads box below, you will probably get a lot of info and insight there.

My LHBS said they have a guy that carries his mashtun (gatorade cooler) strapped into his pickup truck with strike water already in it, will pick up his grains and toss them in, then drive to work. He drains and sparges when he gets home that afternoon.

lalnx said:

I had read in another thread about winter brewing, "avidhomebrewer" had mentioned he just starts his mash the night before in his cooler and then just finishes the next day. Does anyone else do this? This seems like a great way to break up the brew process into shorter sessions. Lately I have been having a hard time coming up with a 4-5 hour block to brew in, but 2-2.5 hrs is do-able. Might have to give this a shot.

So the questions to "avidhomebrewer" and anyone else who can shed some light: What are the drawbacks, not good for some styles, off flavors, sparge issues? How long would to long be for the grain to sit before someone finished? Would souring start to occur?
I know my current sparge water temp calcs would need to be refigured based on the cooler grain bed temps (I do 2X batch sparge).

Thanks

Click to expand...

One drawback is that the coolers lose a fair amount of heat sitting about 12 hours or so. Sure, you can insulate them more or start sooner so the break isn't quite as long. But, by the time the majority of the heat is lost, the mash has probably been finished for quite some time.

I've used it on quite a number of different styles and haven't noticed any ill-effects, off-flavors, etc. Be sure to stir your grains into your mash water very well. Also, you will want to heat your mash water up higher (for my setup, it is to about 180) than normal.

Souring would start to occur if you left it for too long, but I never found out what that time would be, nor do I want to. I usually get mine going by 9-10 pm the night before and start about 12 hours later. One thing I did notice is that when I would mash/sparge/boil all in one day, I would have to recirculate quite a bit more to set the grain bed. Mashing overnight, I originally recirculated the same amount and now I don't even recirculate because the runnings are very clear. I've made wheat beers using this method and never had a stuck mash, with any style.

Do this with Brew in a Bag technique and you won't even need to sparge. Just mash out the next morning and start your boil. I'm the Johnny Appleseed of Brew in a Bag......spreading the word. You've got to try this easy, effective method.

avidhomebrewer said:

Also, you will want to heat your mash water up higher (for my setup, it is to about 180) than normal.

Click to expand...

Are you refering to raising your strike water temp slightly to better pre-heat your cooler? My strike water temp is typically around 170.

with the cooler grain bed during sparge, you must need to add near boiling sparge water for the first sparge.

Has any one tried overnight "no sparge". I was reading the similar threads, and I believe Revvy had pondered that as well. That would be really sweet, just wake up in the morning, drain into your kettle and start the boil. You could be pitching yeast in 2 hours. I may have to read up about "no sparge", if the mash efficiency gets to low though, I would pass. I like making "cheap" beer.

McTarnamins said:

Do this with Brew in a Bag technique and you won't even need to sparge. Just mash out the next morning and start your boil. I'm the Johnny Appleseed of Brew in a Bag......spreading the word. You've got to try this easy, effective method.

Click to expand...

I guess this is really part of my answer right here. Any idea how your mash % turns out?

lalnx said:

Are you refering to raising your strike water temp slightly to better pre-heat your cooler? My strike water temp is typically around 170.

with the cooler grain bed during sparge, you must need to add near boiling sparge water for the first sparge.

Has any one tried overnight "no sparge". I was reading the similar threads, and I believe Revvy had pondered that as well. That would be really sweet, just wake up in the morning, drain into your kettle and start the boil. You could be pitching yeast in 2 hours. I may have to read up about "no sparge", if the mash efficiency gets to low though, I would pass. I like making "cheap" beer.

Click to expand...

Correct; you want to heat your cooler up and let it adjust to the proper temp when you would normally add your grains. I figure, with my setup, it is about 10 degrees higher than normal, to allow the cooler to absorb that extra heat.

For my first sparge, I heat the water up to about 180, add about 1.5 gallons and let it sit in the cooler for about 15 minutes before collecting. I haven't done the overnight 'no sparge' technique yet, but am willing to hear more about it.

i've done a cream ale this way. started it at about 160, and it cooled down to 148 overnight. I live in texas, and i did it when it only got down to 75 or so at night in the garage where i mash. very drinkable beer.

Did it once in an emergency. Beer came out just fine.

Next time I brewed I figured that worked so well I'd just leave the sparged grains in the cooler till morning and save clean-up for the next day.

DO NOT DO THAT!!.. Holy sheit.. After smelling the grains in 14 hours, I don't think I'll be doing overnight mashing unless it's anither emergency...

Ok, I did this friday night for Saturday 2 batch brew day. Not very succesfull, but I can blame that on two things, first and most importantly, My f@%$'n digital thermometer must have been on the fritz. I figured this out after sparging and taking OG reading, and saying no way, something is wrong. Checked it in boiling water, 220 something, checked it in a glass of ice water 50 something. The other issue I had was the homebrew shop was closed for some reason, and I couldn't get the additional wheat I wanted for the Wit I was brewing, so I upped my 2-row as well as a little more oats than usual, and it was oatmeal rather than the flaked oats. I precooked the oatmeal, usually I just throw the flaked oats into the mash. Anyway my batch sparge was super slow/stuck, and in trying to stir/unstick, I dislodged my mesh braid twice

So when it was all said and done, after recovering from all my problems, I consumed that 1.5 hours I had planned on saving on Saturday. I do see the merit in it now though, and will most likely give it another try with my new thermometer, and a no oats recipe. (should have started with the APA)