Mash for Dinner, Sparge for Breakfast - Anyone?

[Doc Robinson]

The owner of my LHBS just told me that if I wanted to cut off some time from my brew day tomorrow that I could do this:

1. Mash in tonight and let the mash sit overnight
2. Sparge in the morning and start the boil

Have any of you ever heard of letting the mash sit overnight? Do you see any reasons not to do it?

 

[Touristbob]

If you let it sit too long you will extract tanins from the grain. not to mention it will stink by morning.

 

[Revvy]

If you are doing it in your cooler and cover it with a sleeping bag, and keep it inside, where it is relatively warm so there is little heat loss, you'll be fine...it's quite common. The owner of my LHBS does that quite often.

I imagine oldschool oven mashers could do it too if their oven was on low.

 

[Revvy]

A little google action will net you with plenty of info as well.

http://www.fermentarium.com/content/view/232/58/

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=30815

http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/976331

http://www.homebrew-supplies.com/homebrewing-tips/stop-waiting-do-an-overnight-mash/

 

[Doc Robinson]

A little google action will net you with plenty of info as well.

http://www.fermentarium.com/content/view/232/58/

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=30815

http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/976331

http://www.homebrew-supplies.com/homebrewing-tips/stop-waiting-do-an-overnight-mash/

Thanks Revvy. Google is good and all, but I need to hear it come from the man [you] himself.

 

[Daddymem]

Check out O'Daniels blog on Kentucky Common. Might interest you. It's on my "to brew" list.

http://www.surrealstudio.net/ODanielsBlog/?p=53

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

That sounds like a sour mash to me. I would rather mash, sparge, and then cover the wort over night and start the boil the next morning. Maybe throw in 3-5 campden tablets to keep it from going nasty.
I have been tempted to do a sour mash myself, but I'm kind of paranoid about how to clean my MLT afterwards.

 

[andysim]

That sounds like a sour mash to me. I would rather mash, sparge, and then cover the wort over night and start the boil the next morning. Maybe throw in 3-5 campden tablets to keep it from going nasty.
I have been tempted to do a sour mash myself, but I'm kind of paranoid about how to clean my MLT afterwards.

I have done this (mash/sparge at night and boil in the morning) with my last four beers and they turned out great. I have never used campden tablets though.

 

[mikeysab]

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks to all for answering my question that I was thinking. Planning on doing 2 brews tomorrow, so mash/sparging tonight would be perfect for the first brew. Then I guess while brew one is boiling, I can be mashing brew 2, then while cooling brew one I can sparge brew 2, then while boiling brew 2 I can pitch brew one. Yeah, this looks like it's gonna go really well. With 2 kids, It's not always easy to find time to brew, but I'm sure the mash/sparge the night before will help out a lot. I don't know about the 2 brews in one day, but we'll see how it goes.

 

[khiddy]

I actually mashed and sparged last Sunday early in the afternoon, and then left the boil kettle on the floor (covered), went out to a family dinner, then came back and started the boil 3-1/2 hours later. No problems, and I think I'm gonna have beer in spite of the slight worry that I had during dinner.

Then I discovered ODaniel's discussion of Kentucky Common, as well as Kai's discussion of extended Beta conversion, and realized I could've increased my fermentability by just leaving the mash in the tun without sparging until I got back from dinner. I see a project brew in my future!

 

[Tonedef131]

That sounds like a sour mash to me. I would rather mash, sparge, and then cover the wort over night and start the boil the next morning. Maybe throw in 3-5 campden tablets to keep it from going nasty.
I have been tempted to do a sour mash myself, but I'm kind of paranoid about how to clean my MLT afterwards.

A sour mash is dropped back below 120F after conversion to allow the bacteria to be in a comfortable range. It also takes around 2 days for a pronounced sourness to emerge.

OP what you are talking about should be fine and there will not be tannin extraction. I would however at least step it up into the alpha range if not mash out before going to bed.

 

[herbler]

Bumping this because I would like to brew a Kentucky common.

If someone has tried this method in the last few months, please share your experience.

 

[swankyswede]

Unless you do a mash-out to 168, your enzymes will keep working and convert 100% to simple sugars, leaving you a super-dry brew in the end. Depending on the style, that may be OK, but just warning you...

 

[ColoradoXJ13]

Some bad info in this thread.

Mashing overnight will not leave you with a sour beer (unless it cools well below 120 and you add fresh malt or bugs, and it will not convert to 100% simple sugars (especially if you have crystal or other un-convertable malts).

I have done this twice in the past couple months for the first, strong beer of a partigyle, to save time on brewday. Wee Heavy and Barleywine both came out great, saved me about 2.5 hours on brew day.

 

[axlrose16]

XJ...Actually the post above contains GOOD information...

ToneDef said : A sour mash is dropped back below 120F after conversion to allow the bacteria to be in a comfortable range. It also takes around 2 days for a pronounced sourness to emerge.

This DOES work...quite well. He does specifically say 2 days. Not overnight. Leaving a mash for that period of time DOES render a sour mash without any additions of bugs or fresh malt.

The bad information came from swankyswede.

 

[Mateo]

I am totally doing this my next brew. I get up early so I could actually brew split by mashing in the AM before work and boil at night. I like this idea a lot.

m.

 

[CanadianNorth]

I have done my mash and sparge in the evening, then brought my wort up to 95C or so, close to a boil, and left it. the next day I would do the boil.

 

[kegtoe]

If you let it sit too long you will extract tanins from the grain. not to mention it will stink by morning.

Really, where are you getting your info from?

1. keep the temp from getting to 120 and you will be fine. (You'll be in even better shape if you stay above 135). Sour flavors develop around 120 and will not be removed with a boil.

2. Don't worry about infection - you are boiling the wort.

 

[babalu87]

If you are doing it in your cooler and cover it with a sleeping bag, and keep it inside, where it is relatively warm so there is little heat loss, you'll be fine...it's quite common. The owner of my LHBS does that quite often.

I imagine oldschool oven mashers could do it too if their oven was on low.

I'll just add to this that because of the super long mash the beers can get a bit thin, adding some cara-pils (just a few %) can really help with this.

I've done it with bitters and had good results.

Ignore the tannin remark, its just not true.

 

[Mermaid]

Yeah, I wanted to chime in here to say that I was super nervous that I had done something terribly wrong by leaving my (partial) mash in its box longer than the "suggested" 60 minutes. I had to run out to the store for more water - so it sat an extra 20 minutes.

It's all good. No harm, no foul.

I think that as long as you're in the Goldylocks zone when it comes to temperature "not too hot, not too cold") you will probably get some nice wort out of it.

I plan on trying the overnight approach next brew day - so I can start things on a Friday night before bed, and do my boil on Saturday.

 

[chefchris]

I'll just add to this that because of the super long mash the beers can get a bit thin, adding some cara-pils (just a few %) can really help with this.

I've done it with bitters and had good results.

Ignore the tannin remark, its just not true.

This is true, I had to add 8 oz of maltodextrin to the keg. Beer came out watery thin. Worked like a charm.

And also, it will not be 100% simple sugars. I actually had to add alpha amylase to mine to get it down below 1.020.

 

[Mateo]

Can anyone who has tried this comment on beer clarity?

m.