Overnight sparge?

I'm wondering if this will cause any issues. I was going to drain the mash into a pot and bring it to a boil and cut the heat. I was also going to batch sparge at 168 in the cooler and leave this in the cooler and the first running in the pot overnight so I could drain the sparge in the morning and boil. Would this cause any issues with infection, etc?

 

It shouldn't be a problem as long as the temp doesn't drop too low overnight.

 

If you are batch sparging, why would you leave it in the mash tun overnight? Why not just drain it into the boil kettle and boil it all and leave that overnight so you can finish the brew day the next day? It would only add twenty minutes or so of time. You might get a sour flavor if you leave the sparge water on the grain for an extended period of time. What style are you going for?

 

For that matter the OP could just do an overnight mash.

 

It's a hef. I didn't want to drain the whole thing because then I have to carry out 8 gallons of wort, I usually do that in 2 parts in a bucket and also I don't have the means to boil the full 8 gallons indoors. I also didn't want to overnight mash because it doesn't buy me any time because heating the 5 gallons of sparge takes almost as long as the mash itself.

 

Fwiw, this is how sour mashes are done. There are a ton of wild yeast and bacteria (especially Lacto) on grain. Maybe overnight isn't long enough to get much souring, but I wouldn't personally risk it.

 

Wouldn't the boil kill the lacto in the first runnings and the 168 sparge temp kill it in the sparge? I hear some people mash in the 150s and are fine overnight

 

I've done it a couple of times when I knew I'd be pressed for time In the morning. Mashed at 158 it dropped to 149 if I remember correctly. The beer was so good the last time I've considered doing it again just to repeat the process!

So long as the temp is above something like 135 you'll be fine.

The mash tun was a 10 gallon igloo cooler fwiw.

Steve da sleeve

 

The boil will certainly take care of the stuff in the kettle, but I'm not sure about the sparge. 168 doesn't seem high enough for me to be comfortable. Maybe it's all fine - I've never done this...just seems like there is potential for a souring issue.

 

It won't sour if the temp stays above 135-140F. That's also because there won't be a lot of lacto left after bringing the grist up to 168F. You'd have to inoculate it with raw grain and drop the temp to about 130F or lower for it to start souring. This is why overnight mashing works. I've done it a number of times. Letting the sparge sit overnight isn't much different. My recommendation is to make sure you get the temperature of the grist up to 168F, so it will stop conversion. This means you need to infuse the grist with 180-185F water to get the grain bed to around 168-170F. If you infuse it with 168F water it won't really change the temp of the grain enough to stop conversion, and your beer might attenuate more than you want it to.

 

Just did some quick reading up on sour mashing...looks like I have been overly concerned...like Stauffbier said, Lacto can't survive long when temps are over 140F

 

Excellent thanks for the help I will try just this and see how it works!