Can I split my brew over 2 days.

Hi Brewers,

I'm trying to get a brew done on a school night, what I was thinking of doing is this:

Night 1

Mash the grain, lauter the wort and leave it in covered pot.

Night 2

Finish the process, boil, add hops, cool etc.

What do you think? Will this lead to any problems in flavours etc?

Cheers all!

 

Some folks have done an overnight mash with no issue, but they lauter & boil in the morning.

I'd be uncomfortable leaving my wort in a pot at outside temps, fridge maybe? I don't know how that would affect the finished product though.

 

If you keep it cool (fridge temp) it shouldn't be affecting your beer too much, since the small growth of microorganisms that could develop overnight should be killed by the boil the next day. However, you're not saving that much time since cooling it from sparge temps and putting it in the fridge overnight will take you almost as long as boiling it anyway. Plus on the next day you're heating it up from cold to a boil...

I was short on time once, what I did was do the full boil and leaving the covered pot in cold water while I was gone. As soon as I came back I pitched the yeast, and the beer came out good. Far from being the best process of course but I guess that pretty much anything you'll do, as long as it's sanitary and well done, will result in good beer.

 

Leave it in the mash tun, toss in a handfull of two row, cover with saran wrap pushed right down onto the mash so no air gets to it, and leave it for a few days. Then lauter and do your boil.........

 

I do overnight biab for all my batches. Mash, sparge, and then heat up to about 190. Preheat oven to 180, turn off heat, put pot in oven, wait until morning. In the morning, it's sitting around 155, so no worries about nasties that could take hold below 140. Heat to boil!

If your kettle won't fit in your oven, you could try heating it higher (say, 200), and wrap a sleeping bag around it.

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I like to mash one night then boil the following morning. If you leave it over a day, you'll get some souring though. If it's going to be longer, use one of the methods masscarriers or Ilan34 suggested.

 

Nasties taking hold isn't a big concern overnight--nasties from the grain already having a hold and going all the way is a real concern. If you do a full mash out at 170 you should have pasteurized, in which case you're fine for 24 hours. If you don't, you could have souring (speaking from experience, had a full pellicle after 24-36 hours when I tried this).

SOME souring isn't the end of the world either, don't throw your wort away if it happens. But you may not want any.

 

I'm doing this on purpose at the moment........ 3 days is my plan......... Left the wort out over night to cool, tossed in a cup of two row, covered right on the surface with saran wrap.... Sour can be a good thing.

H.W.

 

3 days will be more than enough, probably. But remember that sour can be good, but I've also had wild bugs make funky rice wine flavors I don't like in my beer. I think you do minimize some of that when you're talking pre-boil, though (I'm no wild fermentation expert).

 

Cheers all,

I went ahead and did a split brew. Left it over night on the gas hob, which obviously was off. In the morning it was still quite warm. It sat in my 25c+ kitchen until I got back from work.
Boiled it for 90mins that night, and there were no funny or sour flavours from it before I put it in the fermenter. Happy Days

Lets see how it ferments out