How long can my wort sit before I start mt boil?

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gpd966

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So here's my deal.

I have my two sons (1 & 2 years) all day on my days off while the wife's working. I want to do my mash in the kitchen and keep an eye on the curtain climbers at the same time. Then boil later outside in my keggle when my better half gets home.

My plan is to mash late afternoon then boil after dinner. Prolly a 4 hour lag time between collecting my wort and starting my boil. Is this kosher? Do I have to worry about the wort going south? I can collect it in buckets and keep it inside in the A/C or just transfer to keggle outdoors, cover and wait.

Your thoughts...thanks.
 
So here I am replying to my own post....I just did a search (like I shoulda done before I posted) and found that some do this, even overnight. So I guess I'll be OK.

But, what's everyones input on this...Do I just let the mash sit for a few hours or should I sparge when I have the time and let the wort sit?
 
If I remember correctly, doing this would risk greater tannin extraction from the husks and souring of the mash (unless you kept it above 140*?). I don't speak from personal experience though.
 
So I guess the rule here is to not let it just sit on the mash. I think most folks that do overnight mashes are recircing through RIMS/HERMS to keep temp. So run it off into buckets or your keggle and boil after dinner. Maybe do a mashout to halt enzymatic process?

Report back and let us know how it goes.

Jason
 
No problems with collecting your runoff and boiling later. I do this sometimes when i do 5g AG batches. I mash at night and boil the next morning. There are people who leave the mash overnight with no ill effects. Find a thread called "mash for dinner, sparge for breakfast" for peoples experiences with overnight mashing.
 
Thanks guys. I think I'm going to collect in the keggle then boil later. I'll research that thread and post how I made out. Thanks again.
 
No problems with collecting your runoff and boiling later. I do this sometimes when i do 5g AG batches. I mash at night and boil the next morning. There are people who leave the mash overnight with no ill effects. Find a thread called "mash for dinner, sparge for breakfast" for peoples experiences with overnight mashing.

Yeah, the well-hung squirrel is right. I wouldn't delay between mashing and sparging. But if you cover it well, it will be fine to wait several hours or even overnight to boil.
 
I frequently break for hours between mash and boil (after sparge) and have seen no ill effects. It makes a brew day more feasible if you need to run errands etc
 
I have only done a few AG batches, the method you are proposing is what I have done because I only have one burner. (Can't start the boil until after the last sparge water is heated. I usually step away for a little while.
 
I have only done a few AG batches, the method you are proposing is what I have done because I only have one burner. (Can't start the boil until after the last sparge water is heated. I usually step away for a little while.

Using cool water for sparging is nearly as effective as hot sparging and would free up your burner earlier. :rockin:
 
Guess I have to do my homework now on cold water sparging. It just seems like I'm cheating, even if it is effective.
 
Looks like you're getting the answers you need but my view is that whatever facilitates having time to brew is worth it. I agree with the other posters, you don't want to mash all that time - the rest time should be after you've sparged out and collected your wort in your brew kettle. At that point, put a lid on it to keep out critters and debris and fire up later/the following day/whatever. Any bacteria or wild yeast that get in there during the wait time will get killed off during the boil anyway.

When brewing when my inevitable goof on a brew day comes up I adopt the view of "what would the Trappist monks do 3000 years ago?". Generally the answer is "don't worry about it, it will be fine." And for 19 years of brewing, it generally has. I've only had two batches where I either didn't package it because it was bad (and that one was awful - but after spraying it on the grass, the grass loved it!), or couldn't drink it because it was bad. The one that got packaged but I didn't like it, most of my friends still liked it . Wound up with an unintentional sour beer. Go figure.

Anyway, roll on and brew on! I'm impressed you can find time to brew with two rugrats. That's when I started my hobby. Now my sons are all drinking age! LOL
 
With young kids, I brew like this every time. Mash and sparge done by 9.30 am (just raise the temp of the boil kettle to 180f then turn off) then finish the boil after the kids have gone to bed. Works great and doesn't affect my normal day.
 
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