Leaving the collected wort for 24hrs before boiling

Hey all,

I already have a batched planned for Saturday, but I got the brewer's itch something bad (at least I hope thats what the rash is), and I want to try to squeeze out two batches.

I get the house entirely to myself on Saturday for about 6 hours or so, which is easily enough time to do a single All-grain, but I am not sure if it will be enough for two. Due to my current equipment setup I cannot do two simultaneous batches at once, and getting new equipment right now isn't going to happen. I have a couple hours in the AM on Sunday that would give me enough time to boil and cleanup the latter batch.

So I was considering this as a plan: Mash and collect the wort for Sundays boil first thing in the AM, leaving it 24hrs in a sanitized fermenter and freeing up all my brewing gear for Saturdays brew session. Brew Saturdays as planned.

Some reading on the site led me to believe this could lead to souring the wort, but I maintained the temperature of the wort well it could be avoided. I am curious if anyone has done this before?

I'm no expert, but I believe you are running the risk of infection without superior sanitizing. Isn't wort just something that is begging to be colonized? Then again, if you leave it un-pitched long enough you might get some Samuel Smiths spontaneous fermentation.

If you want to do that and not have a sour wort in the morning, you need to either boil the wort first and go directly to an aquatainer while at or near boiling temps like the nochill brewers do.....

OR mash overning and leave the wort in the cooler mashtun.

Mashing overnight is fine, but you need to maintain your temp within a few degrees above pasturization temps. If you let it go cool lactobasilus will take over and it will sour. You need to keep it above 140 degrees

The people who I know who mash overning wrap their cooler in a sleeping bag or other insulated wrapper and put it near the furnace or the warmest spot in thier house, or use a heating pad.

Here's some info for you http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=30815

http://www.fermentarium.com/homebrewing/brewing-beer/shorten-your-brew-day-with-overnight-mashing/

Cool. Thanks for the great info guys. I am a BIAB'er so I mash in one of my brew pots which can hold its temperature for 2+ hours very well, but I am thinking 24hrs would be pushing it.

I really don't want to sour the second batch of beer (not that I am against the flavour or style, I just don't want it for either of the beers I am planning). I will either commit my Sunday morning or wait until the following weekend.

Best to do it right, or not at all.

Complete batch No. 1 Saturday morning and start batch 2 immediately, mash BIAB, remove bag and heat wort over say 200 degrees, cover kettle and resume brewing batch 2 on Sunday when you have time.

wilserbrewer said:

Complete batch No. 1 Saturday morning and start batch 2 immediately, mash BIAB, remove bag and heat wort over say 200 degrees, cover kettle and resume brewing batch 2 on Sunday when you have time.

Click to expand...

I have done this and the batch turned out fine. But, I did it in the Winter when there were less bugs to attempt entering my covered pot.

So in the end I decided to get up an hour early and do both brews back to back.

The whole process, including conditioning/milling the grain, cleaning, mashing, sparging, boiling, chilling and doing it all over again (sometimes simultaneously when possible), took under 6.5 hours. With all the equipment ready to go, it just made sense time-wise to do them both together.

Nailed my mash temps and my efficiency was spot on with my previous All-grain batches. Its a good feeling when you have a successful brew day, but its even better when you do two in a row.