overnight mash and keeping my cool

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wickman6

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Brewed what I hope to be my house ale this past weekend. I think I'll name it Danger Zone Amber Ale.
First time attempting an overnight mash, ended up being 8 hrs.
Well, my temp dropped from 156 to 130. Hoping it didn't harm anything too much.
The rest went well, up until my I discovered my hose was frozen, rendering the wort chiller useless.
After I parked the kettle in a fresh snow bank, I realized I couldve used the washing machine hookups. Oops!
So, 4 relaxed hours later, she was down to 75 deg. Pitched onto a portion of a s-o4 cake and off she went.
1 hour later, I had a krausen to make other krausens jealous!

I felt like this was my first go at it, most setbacks I've had in one brew.

Pretty anxious to see how the beer tastes! Holding my breath....

This will be my last overnight mash with my current setup, and I'll be sure the hose is ready to go next time!
 
Sounds interesting. I hope it turns put alright. Sounds like even with the setbacks you recovered nicely.

So what does an overnight mash do for the brew? Its a full mash I assume? What kind of MT did you use?
 
Very interesting! I've never even heard of an overnight mash.. What is the advantage of doing this?
Do you do any kind of sparge or mash out the next day? Or just collect wort and start boiling?
 
I've been around for a little over a year and haven't heard of the overnight mash... Very interesting idea though. Got any reading info on such?
 
the only real advantage is that it cuts down on time spent on brew day. however, you dont want the temp to drop as low as mine did.

I knew I would only have a couple hours on sunday to brew, so I started my mash saturday night.

I used my cooler mash tun. I doughed in with 3.5 gallons on a 10 pound grain bill, mixed and closed the lid till morning.
The next morning, I simply started my vorlouf process as if I never left. I sparged as usual, I typically only raise the grain bed to about 165 or so.

I don't worry too much about mash out most times.

Tv, check this out.
Shorten your brew day with overnight mashing | fermentarium

there's also an article in BYO that I read, might try to google it.

I know others have done this, but they kept their mash temps up above the 'Danger Zone' of sub-140 degrees, hence the name of this brew. from what I understand, thats about when the uglies can make themselves known.
 
Seems like your two biggest concerns are fermentability and infection. If your mash spends a lot of time in the 140-150F range you'll get a more fermentable / dryer beer. I'd be more concerned with infection, though.

Here's a link to the BYO article: Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Techniques - Is there any reason you couldn't mash overnight and just sparge in the morning?
 
Seems like your two biggest concerns are fermentability and infection. If your mash spends a lot of time in the 140-150F range you'll get a more fermentable / dryer beer. I'd be more concerned with infection, though.

Here's a link to the BYO article: Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Techniques - Is there any reason you couldn't mash overnight and just sparge in the morning?

I have no proof to quote in backing what I say. However, if you fermented in the highly fermentable range as you did, and your sanitation was (pretty much) spot on. The yeast are going to chow down on the highly fermentable wort you made and beat the other bacteria to the punch. Great experiment, I think you'll be fine and if it doesn't work out, well you'll learn somthing.. Actually either way; successful or not you will learn.

Your wort will be more fermentable, less body, "thinner". You probably know this already. :mug:
 
Learning opportunites. Not mistakes. Several overnight mashes, due to work schedule. Some great beer. No worries you got it.
 
There was a Beersmith podcast (I think it was Randy Mosher talking) about the overnight mash. He seemed fairly unconcerned with the temp drop. So long as you give it the initial heat it needs for conversion you're good. I would try to get going on it as early as possible the next day though.
Glad it worked out for you. I may have to try this some time.
 
My mash temp, for the first hour or two should have stayed around 156, I usually drop only 2 degrees in a typical hour mash. I think after the fisrt two hours, all conversion that is going to happen should have already.
I could be wrong tho, I often am. I'm hoping it isn't too dry, but if it is, that's fine with me. This recipe is for my everyday type beer, so dryer may be a little better anyway.
I'll keep my results coming as they become available.
 
My mash temp, for the first hour or two should have stayed around 156, I usually drop only 2 degrees in a typical hour mash. I think after the fisrt two hours, all conversion that is going to happen should have already.
I could be wrong tho, I often am. I'm hoping it isn't too dry, but if it is, that's fine with me. This recipe is for my everyday type beer, so dryer may be a little better anyway.
I'll keep my results coming as they become available.

That's the attitude! I look forward to getting the updates. I bet the beer comes out great!
 
I've done a couple all day mashes now and haven't had a single problem. the beer do tend to dry out a bit but that's all. I'm actually planning one now and I'm thinking of mashing @ 158 just to see what happens.
 
a little off topic but I think 75 is a little too hot to be pitching s-04. I like to pitch it at around 60 personally
 
a little off topic but I think 75 is a little too hot to be pitching s-04. I like to pitch it at around 60 personally

I agree 100%, however my chiller was out of commision and it took me a long time to even get to 75, so I decided to go ahead and pitch.

As soon as activity started I moved the carboy to my sub-40 garage where it knocked down the temp to around 64 within a couple hours.

Brought the beer back inside and it has been low 60's since.

My main worry is if this turns out great, I'm not sure what malfunction to give credit to. A lot of variables here.

I'm not so sure I'd be excited about trying to replicate this one technique wise. Lol
 
My mash temp, for the first hour or two should have stayed around 156, I usually drop only 2 degrees in a typical hour mash. I think after the fisrt two hours, all conversion that is going to happen should have already.
I could be wrong tho, I often am. I'm hoping it isn't too dry, but if it is, that's fine with me. This recipe is for my everyday type beer, so dryer may be a little better anyway.
I'll keep my results coming as they become available.
You're correct. Especially at higher mash temps your conversion is going to be done fairly quickly.
As for dryness, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but mashing at 156* for a few hours is going to denature the beta amylase for the most part. I don't think the extended mash at lower temps has much of an effect on the wort as does the initial mash. Would love to hear some other thoughts on this.
 
This is the third time I hear of this, I like your dedication to brewing and whatever you got to do to get our beer in the fermentor is great!

There is some companies that do all night sour mashes to get their PH into range. This is done around 80F to 101F. I would be worried about the temperature dropping and getting some kind of bacteria or fungi growing in there. Though boiling will kill whatever infection is in the mash, it does little to some of the mycotoxins they produced and can result in gushing beer, hazy beers, and harmful to yeast.

If non of this is being reported though I am sure it is of no real concern, keep us updated on how this turns out.
 
Ok, I have a new name for this brew. "Tooth and Nail Amber Ale"

I kegged on sunday night, 1 week after pitching yeast. I had a FG of 1.007!

After sealing up the keg, put her under pressure and all seemed fine and well.

Monday morning I checked on it, and all of my co2 was gone! Damn. Turns out I had a bad seal on the lid, leaking ever so lightly but enough to kill a few pounds of gas.

LHBS is closed on mondays, and I couldn't get to a welding gas distributor so I waited until yesterday.

Picked up a new o-ring set and gas, went home and gave it another go. Bingo! All set, so I blasted with 40psi and shook it like hell.

Not my normal procedure at all, but this whole beer is a bit unorthodox for me so why not?

A couple hours later, I finally pull a pint and hey, its not half bad!

Green, yes but otherwise a winner. Finish is a bit bitter still, but only slightly.

I'm betting in another week it will be pretty nice. I don't think its a show stopper, but I think I may finally have found a nice winter beer with a very quick turnaround.

Considering everything that went wrong, or not as expected this one survived.

I've proven to myself that I can overcome setbacks, make a fast beer taste good that's not a wheat, and you REALLY have to try to hurt the beer!

Cheers!
 
Ok, this beer is pretty damn good. It's not complex, but that's not what I was shooting for anyway.

Very nice hop character, the bitter finish has already faded, or I'm just getting used to it.

It is actually fairly malty. The first tastes it did seem a bit dry, but now I have it carbonated properly and the malt is now shining through.

I know I said I wouldn't do another overnight mash, but now seeing the results I have to say I have changed my mind. This is a very good utility beer and I will brew it again. The benefit for me to mash overnight opens up more brew days, since the actual 'brew day' should be shorter. Family time is priority, so this method really helps me as I can dough in after kids go to bed, and by the time they wake up, I'm half done with the boil.

I will continue to take notes on this method, and I will be doing it again. Probably often.
If anyone else is doing this, or willing to give it a shot I'd be more than happy to share notes.
 
I had a good time reading this. What an adventure brewing. While reading this the overnight mashing sounded cool but the main prob was keeping the temp up. I thought a heated blanket wouldn't stop the temp from going down to far but would slow the process enough to keep so that it could go maybe 12h.

Any thermal experts around???
 
Ran out of propane tonight, so will be interesting to see if I'm OK with an overnight mash. Best case a light bodied American Amber Ale? Worse case, compost...
 
JeffNYC said:
Ran out of propane tonight, so will be interesting to see if I'm OK with an overnight mash. Best case a light bodied American Amber Ale? Worse case, compost...

Might be a sour mash amber ale if the lacto on the grain starts work over night.
 
Just curious, is this brew having trouble holding its head up? I would imagine a couple hours at ~130 would break down a lot of the body/head proteins and thin it out a lot.
 
Since responding to this post back in January I've done a few overnight mashes. If you mash at about 158F the beer doesn't dry out too bad. As far as bacteria or lacto goes, the danger zone is below 140F. My overnight mash's usually don't drop below 146F after 12 hours, so no worries with souring. Every beer I've made this way turned out great, and I would do it again any day!
 
This morning, well below 140...mash smells...off, but OK. Will continue this morning to see how this ends up. Anyone with experience if it does indeed go sour? Drinkable?
 
JeffNYC said:
This morning, well below 140...mash smells...off, but OK. Will continue this morning to see how this ends up. Anyone with experience if it does indeed go sour? Drinkable?

Yes, drinkable, but not the beer you intended. Boil ASAP to stop lacto from working.
 
I can't answer your question but do report back what you find out. This is one of the more informative threads on overnight mashing and it's a topic I've searched on.
 
This morning, well below 140...mash smells...off, but OK. Will continue this morning to see how this ends up. Anyone with experience if it does indeed go sour? Drinkable?

How low did the temp drop and for how long? It's probably fine. Boil it and taste the wort. If it's sour you'll taste it! Your MLT must lose a lot of heat if it dropped really low. I always wrap the lid (where it meets with the cooler body) of my cooler with seran wrap, which helps to retain steam thus retaining heat. I also cover it with about 4 blankets.
 
I started my mash around 7:00 p.m., was a little light on my target temp at around 150F. Was around 130F (or so) 9:00 a.m. the next morning. Wort smelled fine, the spent grains smelled a bit sour so we'll see.
 
My grains had a bit of something different than normal as well, maybe a bit sour? I think you wil be fine
 
I've done this twice (RIS and IPA) and the results were very good. No sourness noted, however my RIS was a little thin in body but that may be due to my initial mash temp, 154. I overnight mash in a Coleman Xtreme cooler. For my next brew I'm planning on mashing in at around 158 to hopefully get a little more body.
 
My interest has been peaked. I'm going to have to give this a whirl. Thank you for the idea.:)
 
Hackwood, give it a shot! I'm beginning to love this method. It really opens up more brew days for me, since i can split it up and it's very difficult for me to be able to nail down 8+ hrs to brew. Overnight mashing is great for anyone who finds themself in a restricted schedule. Great beer can still be crafted despite the traditional methods. So much is said about LETTING the beer work for you, but not too often can we HELP the beer work with us.

On a side note, after several batches, I have yet to brew a sour batch.
 
Niiiiiiiice! I'll probably employ this technique one of these times when I'm "on-call" and don't know If I'll have time or not.
 
Excellent thread--this is definitely something I'm going to look into. With this, every weekend could be a brew weekend, regardless of whether we're busy on Saturday or not!
 
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