Delay in boil -any issues?

It's difficult for me to block out 5 consecutive hours on brew day, so I'm contemplating doing the mash/sparge this Friday night, then finishing the boil and the rest of the process on Saturday morning (or night?). The wort is going to sit in a covered kettle overnight prior to the boil, so am I going to get off flavors or any other type of problems?

The way to make a sour mash is to let it sit and let the lacto take over.

Boiling it kills off the nasties - but you might still have some unintended sourness & funky aromas.

I know there's one guy on HBT who said he routinely leaves his mash wrapped in blankets overnight & then goes about brewing the next day. I forget his username, or I'd point you to his thread. He seemed to be happy enough with his results. Not sure how many others have tried it.

XXguy said:

The way to make a sour mash is to let it sit and let the lacto take over.

Boiling it kills off the nasties - but you might still have some unintended sourness & funky aromas.

I know there's one guy on HBT who said he routinely leaves his mash wrapped in blankets overnight & then goes about brewing the next day. I forget his username, or I'd point you to his thread. He seemed to be happy enough with his results. Not sure how many others have tried it.

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while i'm of no help to the OP, sour mash i believe is letting the mash sit overnight, not the wort. I know there are several people on here who have done delayed boils, i think most caution of possible souring of the wort.

Due to time and SWMBO concerns - I have done this many times without any noticeable issues. I realize it isn't perfect or preferred but the choice was to adapt or not to brew.

I have done this process this reciepes that i have made dozens of times and truely no noticeable difference in the end product.

I mash the night before and get up early the next morning and start the boil.

Although not a common practice, I have heard of brewers sealing the preboil in buckets and putting it in the fridge overnight. Next day, get up and boil with no ill efects on the finished product.
Not that I have ever done this or tasted the beer of one done that way, but like I said some brewers on other boards claim to do it and have no problems. Between little ones to tend to and wives to please, you see posts of brewers doing things that you were taught never to do.

Yep sour mash is the whole mash sitting out, not the liquor after the sparge

Not ideal, but better than not brewing at all . I would keep the lag time as short as possible though. Mash at night, start the boil as early in the a.m. as you can.

Cheers!

I wouldn't do it. Devote the time...it's worth it

just dont understand the fact that you will cool the wort and boil it the next day. you will be spending extra hour just to bring it to boil. why not just finish it while you have the hot wort.

It saves on average 2.5 hrs on brew day. That is the difference of being done and cleaned up before noon and sometime in the afternoon - a big difference to the wife and kids. I don't cool the wort after I collect the runnings - I wrap in up and go to bed and then get up early the next day and fire it up. It takes about 30 extra min. to bring up to boil. When the family is out and about I enjoy brewing the more traditional way

+1 to getting it cold as fast as possible

As for the differences between wort & the mash - it's really the same IMHO unless it's been boiled. Vorlaufed & drained, or left in the mash tun w/ grains, you've still got lactobacillus floating around in a sweet, sugary solution.

The little bit of reading that I've done leads me to believe that lacto likes a temp 80-90 Farenheit, so it might be more of an advantage to keep the mash temp up around 150, rather than cooling down overnight after draining to a kettle.

Disclaimer: I'm not the expert, and I'm not a scientist. I have let my mash sour naturally at room temp for 3 1/2 days before boiling to make a semi-tart Berliner Weisse.

IIRC, if you want to postpone the boil, a mash-out is a must to stop enzyme action. Sitting there at mash temps might result in something you didn't want.

there are a number of threads on this. i have found, like a couple of other posters in this one, it can be done successfully and makes brewing AG possible for those that can't find the stretch of time possible otherwise. to those that say "i wouldn't do it", i say, "yes you would, if that's the only way you could find the time to brew".

on topic, do a mash out to a) halt enzymatic action and b) kill lacto. if you bring your wort to 180F or higher, which is probably a bit of overkill for lacto, you are golden.

keep it covered and clean until you boil; no need to refrigerate. as suggested by others, keep the lag time as reasonable as practical. who knows what the limit is...in my experience, 6-8 hours is not a problem.

brew on.

Ok, thanks for the feedback. Until I get my processes dialed in, I'll be getting up bright and early to start my brewday (5am) without any delayed boil. I want to cut down the variables, but I plan on experimenting with this down the road. "You're spending you're whole f-ing Saturday brewing that damn beer again!" I can hear it already...