Mash Evening before...

tmm0f5 · Feb 20, 2012

Hey All,

Doing an AG Belgian Blond... have time to mash tonight, then hold the wort over night (not mash overnight) and boil & brew in the morning. I've searched and have seen that several people do this without problems.

Question is, should I put the wort into the fridge overnight or keep it room temp before the boil in the morning?

Thanks,
Tim

kable · Feb 21, 2012

After mashing I bring it up to a boil for 5mins or so to kill anything off to buy me some time. Then I just cover and walk away until the next day.

tmm0f5 · Feb 21, 2012

kable said:
After mashing I bring it up to a boil for 5mins or so to kill anything off to buy me some time. Then I just cover and walk away until the next day.

Thanks. That's what I did.... then woke up today started the 90 min boil and 25 mins in, ran out of propane....

So now its back to being covered sitting in the garage until I can get to the store later day...

It was just 25 minutes of boil without hops (to drive off DMS), think it'll still be okay? Or should I just chock it up to a failure and brew another day?

Thanks,
Tim

permo · Feb 21, 2012

I prefer mashing overnight...you get increased efficiency. Give it a whirl next time.

kerant · Feb 21, 2012

permo said:
I prefer mashing overnight...you get increased efficiency. Give it a whirl next time.

Seriously? You mean you can let her mash for 8-10 hrs? Wouldn't your beer end up starchy?

BigRob · Feb 21, 2012

The enzymes are at work cutting starches up into sugars, the longer you allow the mash to go, the more starches are converted into sugars, and the more the complex sugars get broken down. A longer mash will not result in a starchy beer, however a very short mash might. This is why we test for conversion with iodine.

weirdboy · Feb 21, 2012

kerant said:
Seriously? You mean you can let her mash for 8-10 hrs? Wouldn't your beer end up starchy?

Kind of the opposite. You are basically giving the enzymes all the time in the world to convert every last starch molecule.

As to the OP, the only time I tried to do this was a couple of months ago when I was making a wee heavy, that I knew would take longer to get through the brew day than there were daylight hours. So, I did the huge, long, complicated mash one day, boiled the wort for about 15-20 minutes, then immediately racked the hot wort into a couple of cleaned & sanitized corny kegs. I left them out on the patio to cool down, with the intention of doing the boil the next morning.

The next morning I got up, and a storm had rolled in (apparently it changed direction overnight) and was there for several days, and then with other stuff scheduled I had no time to finish the brew for another 2-3 weeks. I took the cornies and stuck them in my kegerator to keep them chilled.

2-3 weeks later I dumped the contents of the cornies into my BK and boiled it as planned, and the beer came out FANTASTIC. No off flavors, botulism, etc.

Revvy · Feb 21, 2012

It's pretty common, there's a lot of threads on overnight mashing on here and elsewhere.

Permo seems to be the guy doing it the most. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/more-overnight-mashing-243197/

You mainitain a temp above 140 to avoid souring.

permo · Feb 21, 2012

permo said:
I prefer mashing overnight...you get increased efficiency. Give it a whirl next time.

REVVY said:
Permo seems to be the guy doing it the most.

I am surely serious. Rarely do I mash for less than 2 hours. This is all so I can splity up my brew day to fit around my schedule. I prefer overnight mashing in the summer when my garage is warmer and an extended 2-4 hour mash in the winter when my garage is cooler.

That being said, I do have a fantastic, classlic, stainless steel coleman 54 quart cooler that keeps the heat in very well.

For a standard ale where I am not shooting for dry, well attenuated beer and my gravity is 1.055 and below, I mash in at 155-156 and let it sit all night. Wake up and collect first runnings while sparge water heats.

I am brewing a hopslam clone upcoming....overnight mash starting at 150 degrees...this will help get that dry final gravity that is needed for this clone.

I find that my best Kolsch beers come from a low temp and very long mash...perfect for overnighters. Sorry.....I could keep going, and going.....

Revvy · Feb 21, 2012

permo said:
I am surely serious. Rarely do I mash for less than 2 hours.

Dude, I didn't even see that you'd posted in this thread. Glad you did!!! You're sort of the yoda of this. :mug:

You should write up a really in depth post/thread about it. Go on and on. I think it would be really helpful. Start a thread to be stickified.

Stauffbier · Feb 21, 2012

permo said:
I am surely serious. Rarely do I mash for less than 2 hours. This is all so I can splity up my brew day to fit around my schedule. I prefer overnight mashing in the summer when my garage is warmer and an extended 2-4 hour mash in the winter when my garage is cooler.

That being said, I do have a fantastic, classlic, stainless steel coleman 54 quart cooler that keeps the heat in very well.

For a standard ale where I am not shooting for dry, well attenuated beer and my gravity is 1.055 and below, I mash in at 155-156 and let it sit all night. Wake up and collect first runnings while sparge water heats.

I am brewing a hopslam clone upcoming....overnight mash starting at 150 degrees...this will help get that dry final gravity that is needed for this clone.

I find that my best Kolsch beers come from a low temp and very long mash...perfect for overnighters. Sorry.....I could keep going, and going.....

So you mash in at 150F and then just let the mash cool down to room temp over night?

permo · Feb 22, 2012

Revvy said:
You should write up a really in depth post/thread about it. Go on and on. I think it would be really helpful. Start a thread to be stickified.

This sounds like a great project for me. I will work on it.

Do you mind if I PM it to you for proofreading?

Revvy · Feb 22, 2012

permo said:
This sounds like a great project for me. I will work on it.

Do you mind if I PM it to you for proofreading?

No problem! Just know if you hit me this week, I may be a little slow in responding, I'm supposed to be writing a sermon for Sunday. And as you can see I'm doing a great job of focusing.

permo · Feb 22, 2012

Stauffbier said:
So you mash in at 150F and then just let the mash cool down to room temp over night?

If you have a half decent cooler for a mash tun and cover it with a few blankets, so long as you aren't mashing outside in russia in winter, you will be suprised at how many degrees you don't lose.

If I mash in at 150 and my garage is sitting at 70 degrees. After 6-8 hours my mash will still be well above 140. Keep in mind that 140 is basically your low temperature benchmark. You don't want to fall much below that.

This will provide a very fermentable wort. I have found that by mashing in at a higher temp, you can "denature" some of the enzymes and provide a more substantial body to you finished product. I have mashed in at 160 before for an overnight mash to create this effect. Huge efficiency at that temperature.

I do 10 gallon batches, and my ultimate experiment soon enough here will be to use a 50 pound sack of pale malt, 1.5 quarts per pound in two mash tuns. Mash in at around 150 degrees for both mashes, overnight. Then collect the runnings together, sparge together and create a massive single malt barley wine strength ale with amazing fermentability. It would be more of an imperial extra pale ale or somethign though...barley wines usually are fuller in body and have some caramel character.

Stauffbier · Feb 22, 2012

permo said:
If you have a half decent cooler for a mash tun and cover it with a few blankets, so long as you aren't mashing outside in russia in winter, you will be suprised at how many degrees you don't lose.

If I mash in at 150 and my garage is sitting at 70 degrees. After 6-8 hours my mash will still be well above 140. Keep in mind that 140 is basically your low temperature benchmark. You don't want to fall much below that.

This will provide a very fermentable wort. I have found that by mashing in at a higher temp, you can "denature" some of the enzymes and provide a more substantial body to you finished product. I have mashed in at 160 before for an overnight mash to create this effect. Huge efficiency at that temperature.

I do 10 gallon batches, and my ultimate experiment soon enough here will be to use a 50 pound sack of pale malt, 1.5 quarts per pound in two mash tuns. Mash in at around 150 degrees for both mashes, overnight. Then collect the runnings together, sparge together and create a massive single malt barley wine strength ale with amazing fermentability. It would be more of an imperial extra pale ale or somethign though...barley wines usually are fuller in body and have some caramel character.

I guess I'll have to leave this experiment alone until I get a cooler to mash in. Right now I'm mashing in a sanke keg and it doesn't retain its temp so well.. A cooler is on my "to do" list, anyway.. Out of curiosity, what would happen if it did drop below 140F after a couple of hours? Would it ruin the entire process?

permo · Feb 22, 2012

Stauffbier said:
I guess I'll have to leave this experiment alone until I get a cooler to mash in. Right now I'm mashing in a sanke keg and it doesn't retain its temp so well.. A cooler is on my "to do" list, anyway.. Out of curiosity, what would happen if it did drop below 140F after a couple of hours? Would it ruin the entire process?

No it would not. I have researched it, and it looks like 130 degrees is the point at which the bacteria can begin to reproduce and take hold. I have never had an overnight mash fall below 140. I detect no off flavors from this process at all.

Part of me also thinks that the extended mash time makes me get increased utiliziation of adjunct grains like oats and rye. That's just something I theorize, no science to back that up.

One things for sure....I get a very compact grainbed!

Stauffbier · Feb 22, 2012

permo said:
No it would not. I have researched it, and it looks like 130 degrees is the point at which the bacteria can begin to reproduce and take hold. I have never had an overnight mash fall below 140. I detect no off flavors from this process at all.

Part of me also thinks that the extended mash time makes me get increased utiliziation of adjunct grains like oats and rye. That's just something I theorize, no science to back that up.

One things for sure....I get a very compact grainbed!

You've inspired me to buy a cooler and make a new mash tun!

Firebat138 · Feb 22, 2012

so... is it ok to mash the night before and then boil the next morning...?

Stauffbier · Feb 22, 2012

Firebat138 said:
so... is it ok to mash the night before and then boil the next morning...?

That's what permo is saying Firebat! Mash in the night before, leave it mashing all night long covered in blankets in a warm place, wake up next morning and sparge ( I assume?!), then commence with your brew day as per norm...

Firebat138 · Feb 22, 2012

no, what i meant was can you mash, drain and put in container and then boil next morning, but if what permo said is good, then thats cool too...

Stauffbier · Feb 22, 2012

Firebat138 said:
no, what i meant was can you mash, drain and put in container and then boil next morning, but if what permo said is good, then thats cool too...

I'm not sure about that. Maybe put the pre-boiled wort in the fridge or a very well iced down water bath to keep it cold, but I'm just thinking out loud... I'm not sure if it would be safe to let it get to room temp. I really have no idea if all of the potential bacteria that could attack it before the boil would be killed off during the boil. Common sense tells me anything bad will be killed during the boil, but I really don't know that for sure....

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