Mashing and Brewing a Day Apart?

[mopowers]

Is there anything wrong with doing a mash and sparge and letting the wort sit overnight night before brewing the next morning?

 

[RM-MN]

Not according to the people doing them.

 

[ehk089]

I’ve done an 8 hour mash because I had things to do during the day and it turned out the same as my usual...I don’t think overnight would hurt...I think there’s a brulosophy experiment on this...

 

[brownni5]

Works for me.

 

[bigdawg86]

There is a chance that you may start to sour if you leave it too long, but I don't think 8 hours would mean much as it would likely take several hours for the mash to drop sub 100 degrees anyways.

 

[SanPancho]

Depends on how well its insulated. Ive had them go from 155 down to 130s and even 120s a few times. Wort was fine, no infection even at 15-16 hours. Didnt mean to go that long. Wouldn’t push it beyond that. But most critters die at sustained mash temps in the 150s, and the survivors need quite a bit of time to multiply in dangerous numbers. So as long as its sealed well and insulated you’re good for overnight. I had the same worries, hasnt been a problem.

 

[ehk089]

When I did extended mash it was in a cooler so it stayed in the 140s, but I’d probably avoid it now since I use a keggle.

 

[mopowers]

Thanks guys. I don't think my question was clear enough. I was meaning doing the mashing and letting the wort sit over night before doing the boil. Is it okay to lat the wort sit overnight for, say 16 hrs before beginning the boil?

 

[FatDragon]

It's best if you can insulate the wort so it doesn't lose too much heat in that time period. You don't want it to drop into incubation temps for anything that will make you sick or significantly alter your flavor profile (e.g. botulinum for the former or lacto for the latter).

I'm another who has done 8-12 hour mashes and had good success with them, but I keep a thick winter jacket on the kettle and the mash temp never drops down into the danger zone. If you're going to sparge and all that and just leave the wort overnight, I'd suggest heating it up to something like 170-180 and insulating the kettle as well as you can. Leaving the grain in the wort has the benefit of increasing your thermal mass so the temp drop is slower, but I'm guessing you're pressed for time and don't want to go through the whole process of collecting the wort on day 2, or else you'd probably just be planning for a long mash anyway.