Collecting second runnings and storing Them??

Hey Folks. Sorry if this has been asked before, I have looked for it but cannot find it. Here is the deal. I am looking at brewing a big beer 1.100 or so, and I wanted to collect the second runnings off of the grains to brew another lighter batch of beer. The catch is, I doubt I would have time to get to brewing the second runnings for at least a day or two. Can you store the Wort and boil later?

Hmmmm why not? Your going to boil out the nasties any way. It would almost be like how the malt companies make LME, except your not removing liquid from the wort and condensing it.

If you could run it off in to an air tight sealed container hot and allow it to cool sealed it would be like canning fruit. As the wort cools it should create a vacuum in the container assuming it's air tight. Then keep it cold for a few days????

Heck give it shot ans report back with the intel.

there are loads of bacteria and other nasties in the grain you mash. If you don't boil that wort fairly soon after you collect it, there is a very good chance that it will go sour before you get around to boiling it.

The nasties and bacteria will be killed when you do eventually boil it, but any sour or other off flavors that they have already imparted will not boil away.

Now, if you want to make a light sour beer, then this might be perfect. I know there are a lot of folks that like sour beers.

I save a quart or two for starters and freeze it, but a large quantity would be entirely another story.

Walker is right. You've at least got to bring it up to a boil if you want to save it, otherwise you will quickly get a sour beer. If you're bringing it to a boil, you might as well boil it for 60 minutes and finish the batch.

Thanks for all the replies guys. The Cons don't sound all that bad, so I will have to give it a try. It is going to be a 2.5 gallon batch, so won't be that much waste if it is horrible.

I would boil it when you are finished. I have let boiled wort sit for 48 hours or more before canning it for future use. Just bring it to a boil shut it off and pick it up the next day or so.

m.

Well I brewed it last night. Wort tasted fine when I took my gravity reading. Will update again when fermentation finishes up. Since this was my freebie batched, I pitched this on the yeast cake of a pale ale that I did, so fermentation should finish out in about 10 days.

If it's a lower OG beer and you pitched onto a cake, that baby will be done fermenting before you go to bed tomorrow!

Walker said:

If it's a lower OG beer and you pitched onto a cake, that baby will be done fermenting before you go to bed tomorrow!

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Agreed, with 2.5 gallons on a cake from a 5 gallon beer it'll be done in under 36 hours. You may want to let the yeast clean up for themselves for a few days but it'll be done before you know it!

Well. All my batches that I brew are 2.5 gallon. Still new to the whole brewing thing, so this allows me to brew more, which in turn gives me more variety. I agree that it should be done way sooner than 10 days, but I figured that would give the yeast enough time to finish what they are doing and drop out.

OG was actually pretty close to the previous brew.

It sounds like you are going to spend a dime to save a nickle. If you cant brew it the same day just dump it. My 2 cents.

Mikethepoolguy said:

It sounds like you are going to spend a dime to save a nickle. If you cant brew it the same day just dump it. My 2 cents.

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How so? The only cost associated with this batch, comes from the hops. And seeing that I got them for super cheap. This brew is damn near free.
Why dump it? If the "experiment" has not real risk (money), then why not go through with it. Worst thing that could happen is I wasted my time making a crappy beer.

If you already know the answer why are you asking?

At the time of posting I didn't. With the feedback I received it sounded like it could be do-able, so I did it.

Was that less than 48 hours? Then yeah, I can see that. Any more than that and I would have dumped it or at least refridgerated the runnings. But a session beer uses so little grain, well its your beer. Happy brewing!

Yeah it was less than 48, and I did put it in the fridge also.

I've done this very thing before. Left 2 gallons of wort (for a one gal batch) in the frig in milk jugs for a week. Used some hops from my crop and turned out great. Once it’s in the frig it has a reasonable shelf life. Why waste it if you have the ambition to do it.