Any issues with waiting to boil the wort?

Hey, all.

So, I'm making a big batch of beer (15+ gallons) for a friend's birthday next weekend, a saison. I'd like to have a batch of this myself, but I don't have enough burner room to boil her batch and mine at the same time.

What I thought I'd do is collect the wort for my batch, but wait to boil until hers is done...either that night, or perhaps the next night. Does anyone think this is a terrible idea? I'd be boiling out any nasties that got in there, although I'd keep it covered (but probably would not be able to refrigerate it).

Thanks,

CB

um... wow you plan on brewing beer and having it carbed and ready to drink by next weekend????

If you're really only going to have it sit for an hour or two while you complete the boil for the first batch, then immediately boil it, you're probably going to be fine. You might think you're getting off flavors because of it, but if you relax, you'll probably be fine.

I'd be wary of leaving it until the next night though.

michaelm said:

um... wow you plan on brewing beer and having it carbed and ready to drink by next weekend????

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Sorry, bad sentence structure. I'm brewing it next weekend.

You might think you're getting off flavors because of it, but if you relax, you'll probably be fine.

I'd be wary of leaving it until the next night though.

Yah, there might not be a way around it. Maybe if I find a way to stick it in the fridge?

I have heard of people doing a Texas Two-Step that is spaced out over two days. They boil 2.5 gallons one day and 2.5 gallons the next day as opposed to two 2.5 gallons on the same day. It probably won't hurt your beer. Go for it. You never know unless you try.

I think the biggest potential issue would be souring of the wort if you wait until the next day. There's a lot of bugs on raw grains that could go to work on your wort if they're not boiled and killed off in a timely manner. I've heard of folks doing it without issue, but I don't think I'd try it. I'd be more likely to plan for the all-nighter to get it boiled that night.

I don't see an issue....But then again, what the hell do I know!!

I would chill the unboiled wort and dissolve a couple campden tabs into it to kill the beasties. The boil should drive off the Campden and prepare the wort for your yeast.

Never done this, its just what I would do.

I think the biggest potential issue would be souring of the wort if you wait until the next day. There's a lot of bugs on raw grains that could go to work on your wort if they're not boiled and killed off in a timely manner.

This is a very good point that I hadn't thought of. Thank you.

I would chill the unboiled wort and dissolve a couple campden tabs into it to kill the beasties. The boil should drive off the Campden and prepare the wort for your yeast.

This is also an interesting approach, which I think requires a little more research. Thanks as well.

I have heard of a case of sour wort - it was only left unboiled one night!

Piotr said:

I have heard of a case of sour wort - it was only left unboiled one night!

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I put a few pints of cooled room temp wort and put it into a couple mason jars to prep for starter wort. When I opened the jars a couple days later to pasturize/can, they were quite nasty.

brewt00l said:

I put a few pints of cooled room temp wort and put it into a couple mason jars to prep for starter wort. When I opened the jars a couple days later to pasturize/can, they were quite nasty.

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Huh. Interesting. Did you boil it at all? Did you refrigerate the cans or leave them out?

The souring argument seems to be carrying the day here.

All kinds of discussions about stretched brew days. One method is to leave your second mash going over night. High enough temps to keep the nastys at bay. Drain next day and do a boil just as you normally would. Means more cleaning the second day, but hey, you have at least an hour long boil going, there's time to clean the tun.

climateboy said:

Hey, all.

So, I'm making a big batch of beer (15+ gallons) for a friend's birthday next weekend, a saison. I'd like to have a batch of this myself, but I don't have enough burner room to boil her batch and mine at the same time.

What I thought I'd do is collect the wort for my batch, but wait to boil until hers is done...either that night, or perhaps the next night. Does anyone think this is a terrible idea? I'd be boiling out any nasties that got in there, although I'd keep it covered (but probably would not be able to refrigerate it).

Thanks,

CB

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No problem with doing this. You simply run the beer through a pasteurizer before storing it. OH, you don't have one?

Yeah, you can run into some problems here. Lactibacillus loves this kind of environment, but Obesumbacterium proteus would be something special. Off flavors of this one include phenolic, sulfur and fecal aromatics.

If you wanted to do this, here is what you'd need. Chill the wort ( like a CFC ) and store it in the fridge. You want this as close to 32 as possible without freezing. Next day, boil it. Note that it will take a hella long time to bring this to a boil.

See the May-June BYO, page 15 for more info.

climateboy said:

Huh. Interesting. Did you boil it at all? Did you refrigerate the cans or leave them out?

The souring argument seems to be carrying the day here.

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Sparged, separated a couple liters, cooled to room temp & threw the covers on. I was going to boil it right after the primary wort was in the carboy but it was too late when I finished. When I opened them later on, they were wicked nasty.

I'm going to do some starter worts with my next batch but they will be boiled on my stove while my turkey fryer is boiling the rest.