Leaving wort over night before boiling

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Trobocco

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I have been making all grain lately but it is hard to set aside a chunk of time to do it all at once. I was wondering if after the wort is in the boil kettle can I leave it and come back for the boil. Of course I'd put the top on the kettle to prevent insects but its feb in ny so fruit flies etc are at a minimum. Basically I'm wondering if there is any issue leaving the wort and coming back to it. If no issue how long can it sit, 1 day, 2, a week?
 
I've done it overnight to split my brew day, and I've read on here that several others have as well. Keep in mind however that wort is unpreseved, fresh "food," and the longer you let it sit out, the greater the chance of souring/spoiling. I've also let my mash sit overnight successfully without souring. I don't know how long you can go on both scenarios (I guess it would be temperature dependent? ), but you should be fine overnight.
 
I can understand it would be susceptible to contamination but I would think boiling it would cure that, no?
 
I would think it would, as far as spoilage organisms go. Boiling won't remove any sourness however. Again, I've never let it get to that point, but some people do kettle-sours and sour mashes.
 
I've done it a few times, I always did it after a sparge and got my full volume in the kettle then went to bed and got up the next day and did my boil. I can't speak for how long you could let it go but personally I wouldn't wait more than 12-18 hours before boiling.
 
I understand the intent but you actually lose time and waste energy doing this since the boil now has to go from room temp to boiling instead of 155 to boiling. I would work on shortening the brew day in other ways. Shorter mash times, shorter boil, faster chilling (or no chill). Another idea would be automating the water heating on a timer
 
Leaving it in the kettle overnight does not save as much time as leaving it in the mash tun, sleep while you mash.

If you really want to neglect your wort for a long period of time, heat it to 170 - 180 to pasteurize it and put the kettle lid on, but not really needed for 10-12 hours.
 
In the cold winter months, I'll save time by doing the mash/boil at night, then sitting the hot brewpot out in the snow and go to bed. In the morning, the trub has settled nicely and I siphon off the chiled wort to the fermenter. If you want to save time you should check out Brulosopher's "short and shoddy" one hour brew day:
http://brulosophy.com/?s=short+and+shoddy
 
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