mash brew break help!

My work schedule for the next several weeks is not conducive to brewing so I need to stop in the middle of the process. So I was thinking I would mash, lauter, sparge into the brew kettle and then just put the lid on it and seal it with tape or plastic wrap until I could boil etc the next day. I have heard one guy where I get my supplies say to do the mash up to mashout, and then just leave it in the lauter tun with a sleeping bag wrapped around it. The next day sparge etc, etc... Thoughts?

Dave

I would think that leaving it in the tun with grains would lead to souring, but have never done it so can't say.

I'm also not convinced you'll totally denature all enzymatic activity if you mash out and leave it overnight, nor do I trust my sanitation (even though you'll eventually be boiling).

Honestly, I wouldn't go for either one of those solutions. I'd just wait until I had time to brew. But I can't say they won't work, either.

I think this should work:

day1: mash, lauter, bring to a boil for about 10min and lid-on

day2: boil, chill and pitch

I already used this scheme to get a 5h break between the 1st and 2nd part. But I think it will also work with a day in between. I don't even think that you have to seal the lid. Germs cannot crawl. The only fall or are drafted into your wort.

Kai

I have a buddy who does it this exact way and his brews are soured. Not to say it don't taste good, because this fits in with the styles he brews IMO. He don't want his brewing to interfere with his family life and this way of doing it fits in with his time.

boo boo said:

I have a buddy who does it this exact way and his brews are soured. Not to say it don't taste good, because this fits in with the styles he brews IMO. He don't want his brewing to interfere with his family life and this way of doing it fits in with his time.

Click to expand...

This was the same reason why I had to do it. But now Im afraid about souring my brews when I let the wort sit for to long.

When doing partial mashes I have once mashed on Friday night, brough it to a boil with the lid on for about 10min and let it sit covered until Saturday morning. Then I added more water and continued the boil with extract and hops. I didn't have a problem with this batch.

Kai

Ok here is my $.02

I am a cook so here is where I come at this question from. Your mash will contiue to cook after your have sparged due to carryover heat, so to stop this before the boil to insure to keep any bad bugs out of your brew you need to chill it down as quick as you can to below 45*.

I have the joy of having a walk-in cooler at work so I have somewhere to store the wort at a comfortable 40* to keep it "clean". I have left the wort overnight and had no ill effects. But I think that to do this you want to make sure your wort gets cool fast, and stays cool till you heat it up.

The "Danger Zone" for most "bugs" is 45*-140*. Now I know that there are many of you saying right now that this rule only applies to food borne illness bugs. But I would keep the same rule for off flavor bugs too.

Like I said I have boiled a day after sparging and I have also done the same thing between boil and yeast pitch.

But I also have a walk-in!

Hope this helps.

John

Here's another approach: mash thick and then mash-out to 168F. That will stop the conversion and give you extra heat over-night.

But shouldn't a boil, maybe even with lid, kill all the bugs and when you leave the lid on, no new bugs can enter the wort?

Kai

I think I will go to mashout and sparge day one, and then boil and pitch the next. Thanks to all for the input, I will advise as to how it went.

Dave