Extract brewing - after steeping, can I wait to boil?

[Tom_c]

So due to an extremely tight schedule involving work and child issues, I'd like to steep my specialty grains this Sunday afternoon, and then do the boil on Monday after work. All I would be doing would be steeping the grains, and would be storing the pre-wort covered and indoors in the A/C. Assume I would have to get the liquid up in temp a bit before adding my LME before the boil, so I figured on monitoring the temp as I am getting the boil up and running on Monday, and adding then.

Any problems with doing this?

Trying to get a Pumpkin Ale going ASAP, and if not this upcoming Sunday and Monday it would be about a week and a half before I could do it again.

 

[el_horno]

Should be fine, at that point you're really just making tea so I don't see any issues here.

 

[el_horno]

Oh and hey you're in Raleigh, cool! My pumpkin ale has been fermenting since Monday.

 

[Kingfish]

Fridge would be better but as long as it is covered you should be fine. You are boiling it the next day anyway.

 

[Revvy]

I'd be very cautious about doing this. The issue is that the wort has to stay above pasteurization temps the entire time, if not lactobasilus will take hold of the wort and it will sour. So that's why folk can mash in a cooler and keep it warm. You could maybe put your wort in a a cooler and leave it near the furnace overnight.

Doing what you want to do is not too different from how some folks make Guinness clones. They leave some wort to sour in their fridge overnight or for a couple of days, and after it sours add that to the rest of the wort at bottling times.

 

[el_horno]

What about room temps Revvy? say 70~F?

 

[Tom_c]

Rev, after a bit more research, it appears that there was a study done where 93% of a certain strain lactobacillus were killed at a temperature of 63 degrees Celcius, and I'm also finding 20 minutes at 80 deg C to take out the baddies, plus various pasteurization charts. Since I'd be taking the Sunday made "tea" up to 100 degrees Celcius during the 60 minute boil on Monday, wouldn't that kill off everything that managed to make it in?

 

[Revvy]

What about room temps Revvy? say 70~F?

Isn't that below pasteurization temps? Without hops and without boiling, unless it's vacuum sealed (which folks do in no-chill brewing by dumping their BOILING wort into a plastic aquatainer and sealing it while hot to let a vacuum form around the sterile wort.) Souring can occur.....

 

[gr8shandini]

You might want to try cold-steeping. A lot of people do this with dark malts and claim it gives them less harshness. Just leave the grains in cold water overnight.

 

[mredge73]

Souring can take anywhere between 12-18 hours so lots of people get away with leaving it over night and then boiling in the morning.
You are proposing to wait much longer than this, so like Revvy said you will risk creating turbid mash.

 

[el_horno]

Good to know, Rev and mredge. Thanks!