Letting wort stand overnight before the boil

I may not have the time to mash, boil, cool and transfer to the fermenter in one session over the next few weeks. But i will have the time for it if i do the mash one night and then the boil the next.

This means that the wort (drained but unboiled) would sit in a bucket for about 24 hours.

Is that a problem?

What's the absolute worst that could happen? You end up with an infection that sours the beer. I did that once on purpose a la papazian and it made a pretty nice lambic kriek.

Any chance you can chill it or can you heat it to a boil and shut it off before you have to leave it? If you want to retard the growth of flavor altering organisms, you have to get them above or below a certain temperature range.

I assume this is an all grain. Are you mashing out? If you don't denature the enzymes, won't they keep working on your wort and alter your profile?

Just my thoughts. Good luck.

A lot of people will pitch yeast the following day. I do this since my chiller can only get the temp down to 80 or so. Zero problems so far! Knock on wood...

J-Pizzel said:

A lot of people will pitch yeast the following day. I do this since my chiller can only get the temp down to 80 or so. Zero problems so far! Knock on wood...

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Yes but it will need to be boiled first. He's talking mashing one day and boiling the next.

In regards to that I believe you will be fine.

^^ This isn't a no chill method tho. This is a delayed boil.

I think you would prolly be alright. Not recommended of course, but likely ok. As you will be boiling everything the next day, there wont be any residual bacteria and anything that takes hold in the wort would be killed off in the boil. I would take as many steps as possible to reduce your risk.

Make sure the exposure to air is kept to a minimum.
If possible, dqr mentioned raising the temp to boil before going to bed. This is a good idea too as long as you can ensure no exposure to environment before the boil.
You could also try to bring the temperature as low as possible as quickly as possible. This would inhibit any unwanted growth in the wort. A deep freezer would be perfect for this.

Either way you do it, there is risk. Personally, I would wait for a proper brew day opportunity.

Definitely not a good idea to delay so long between mashing and boil. Even in such a short time it can result in souring of the beer.
There will surely be Lactobacillus on your grain which will produce lactic acid during that delay period. Boiling will kill the bacteria but not eliminate the acid.

Thanks for the replies, I think I will rather make a plan to do it all in one go then.

You said "next few weeks" which sounds like this time issue isn't permanent with you, and you probably won't be brewing too many batches this way I would guess. So, if you are intent on brewing during this period, could you do some partial mash brews to cut down on time? Say, 5-6lbs of grain and a little top of with DME? Should make sparging much faster and therefore prob let you squeeze the boil in? I can batch sparge 6lbs of grain with 75% efficiency in a very short period of time.

J I have already ordered the grain so can't go that option. I don't have the kit to brew in smaller batches either, but thanks for the suggestion