Split brew day

[bornandraisedlv]

I’ve done some research and I am not seeing a definitive answer on this so I am going to go ahead and ask the question based on my scenario and plan.

I have a 3 year old and a 5 year old and while supportive of me brewing the wife is not super excited about a 5 hour brew day, especially now that winter has kicked in. So I am trying to avoid going robobrew v3 and split my brew day in 2. Here is my plan.

Mash/sparge Friday night. Sparge until I get my desired boil volume and then recirc the wort through my eherms at 170° sans grain for 10 minutes to stop conversation. Transfer to boil kettle and leave it out in the garage with a lid on it. Depending on outside temps it gets as low as 20° in the garage and really doesn’t go above 40°.

Wake up and start boiling by 8am. I’m thinking a max of 12 hours that the wort would sit.

Think this is doable with out creating off flavors or spoilage?

 

[tjmac5071]

I have never personally done that but have read enough of these types of threads that it works without issue. I also have little kids so I have personally tried the overnight mash to cut down on time, which was successful.
Ultimately I ended up moving to full volume electric brew in a basket back in April and significantly cut down on not just brew day time but brew day involvement. Time to brew is much less or an issue if you are hands off for most of it. Think about the amount of extra time you spend measuring mash water, heating it to the proper temperature then draining /filling and draining again then bringing it all to boil. Now I lift the basket and if available have my wife posotion the hanging bar on the kettle (10g batches so gets heavy and awkward to do both . Need to build a pully set up). Once it's about at boil I take the basket and dump it in the woods. That process saves me not just overall brew day time but it takes a couple minutes at most to hoist the basket and switch to boil mode. Compare that to heating sparge water and actually sparging.
Long response but what you propose will work, but wanted to offer an alternative that worked really well for me and my life with a 4.5 and 2 year old

 

[bornandraisedlv]

I have never personally done that but have read enough of these types of threads that it works without issue. I also have little kids so I have personally tried the overnight mash to cut down on time, which was successful.
Ultimately I ended up moving to full volume electric brew in a basket back in April and significantly cut down on not just brew day time but brew day involvement. Time to brew is much less or an issue if you are hands off for most of it. Think about the amount of extra time you spend measuring mash water, heating it to the proper temperature then draining /filling and draining again then bringing it all to boil. Now I lift the basket and if available have my wife posotion the hanging bar on the kettle (10g batches so gets heavy and awkward to do both . Need to build a pully set up). Once it's about at boil I take the basket and dump it in the woods. That process saves me not just overall brew day time but it takes a couple minutes at most to hoist the basket and switch to boil mode. Compare that to heating sparge water and actually sparging.
Long response but what you propose will work, but wanted to offer an alternative that worked really well for me and my life with a 4.5 and 2 year old

Thanks for the feedback. Ultimately I might go the route you have via a robobrew or the sorts. I can’t run 240 so have to stick to a 120 set up.

For now I think I am going to give the split brew a shot a few times and see how that does for me. Time with the kids is important and I enjoy brewing so need to figure out how to balance that.

 

[yoop89]

You've gotta keep everyone happy right? Lately I have been trying to keep my 2 year old busy while brewing in the basement with a newborn and the wife upstairs(coming downstairs to check on us every now and then). We ended up getting one of these this summer for a party and it just so happens to fit in our basement with 8' ceilings.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EHJ7GG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

She loves it and keeps her busy for the entire mash and start of the boil while allowing me to run all the tasks I need to as well as interact with her. Thought I had a picture of it setup during our last brew but I cannot find it. Anyways, i got it on sale so alot less than currently priced but with the use we have gotten so far I would gladly pay what it is now.

My brew days(nights) usually start after dinner sometime around 6 pm and by the time Im ready for the boil shes tired out and ready for bed. Once shes down and the newborn is as well that gives the wife time to come down and help with the last few tasks. This gives us some time together as well which she loves being involved with the whole process. All said and done I get my brew in and just about everyone gets to be involved somehow.

 

[Vale71]

Why don't you just keep recirculating and hold everything at 170ish? At that temp surely nothing will start growing in it and it will also save you some time the following day as you will get to a boil faster.

 

[bornandraisedlv]

Why don't you just keep recirculating and hold everything at 170ish? At that temp surely nothing will start growing in it and it will also save you some time the following day as you will get to a boil faster.

That’s actually not a bad idea. I wonder what the evaporation rate would be by doing that or if it would change the wort profile in anyway?

 

[Vale71]

At that temperature and if you keep everything covered you should not see much evaporation, and of course you can always top up in the boil kettle.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I would simply shut the system down after the mash and cover with a blanket to hold heat thru the night and resume the next morning.

Not sure why, but leaving it recirculating all night concerns me...

Lots of folks overnight mash, some report higher attenuation and mash a few degrees higher to compensate, or depending on style enjoy a slightly more attenuated brew.

 

[SRJHops]

Thank for this question/thread. I had never considered a split brew day before. I have three young kids at home, and brewing on a weekend day is tough -- I usually have to wait for the kids to have something scheduled out of the house (like a visit to grandma's house). Or take a day off during the week!

The questions raised are good ones and I'd love some more people weighing in... Is it better to cool down the wort in the garage overnight, or keep it warm with a blanket?

If it needs to stay hot, maybe put it in the HLT cooler? Personally, cooling it down outside sounds like the way to go to me. That much liquid is not likely to totally freeze overnight, I would think. But I do think some of it would freeze, at least on the surface.

The wort of course will be boiled the next day, so I'd think anything bad growing in it would get eliminated. I suppose it exposes the wort to oxygen, but I'm more concerned about cold side oxidation for sure.

What do others think?

 

[bornandraisedlv]

Thank for this question/thread. I had never considered a split brew day before. I have three young kids at home, and brewing on a weekend day is tough -- I usually have to wait for the kids to have something scheduled out of the house (like a visit to grandma's house). Or take a day off during the week!

The questions raised are good ones and I'd love some more people weighing in... Is it better to cool down the wort in the garage overnight, or keep it warm with a blanket?

If it needs to stay hot, maybe put it in the HLT cooler? Personally, cooling it down outside sounds like the way to go to me. That much liquid is not likely to totally freeze overnight, I would think. But I do think some of it would freeze, at least on the surface.

The wort of course will be boiled the next day, so I'd think anything bad growing in it would get eliminated. I suppose it exposes the wort to oxygen, but I'm more concerned about cold side oxidation for sure.

What do others think?

I think tonight will be my first attempt at this. Will post my results and thoughts once I’m done with the process tomorrow.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Try and keep it warm, will save you time in the morning.

 

[bornandraisedlv]

So I think that this is my new brew day. Mash, sparge at night, boil the next day. It was a much more relaxed brew session as I didn’t feel rushed at any point. Kids were in bed for the mash and youngest down for a nap for the boil. Hit all of my numbers and really enjoyed it.

I officially started mash in at 9:30p and finished sparge at 11p. Had everything cleaned up, put away and sorted by 11:30p. Put the wort in the brew kettle with a lid on it out in the patio, was around 15° most of the night. Pulled it in around 8:30a and was still about 80°.

Started my boil at about noon. Everything seemed find and numbers were all good. Only time will tell on what it tastes like but I will be making this my new process, at least until summer comes around. Might give biab a run as well just to try.

 

[SRJHops]

So I think that this is my new brew day. Mash, sparge at night, boil the next day. It was a much more relaxed brew session as I didn’t feel rushed at any point. Kids were in bed for the mash and youngest down for a nap for the boil. Hit all of my numbers and really enjoyed it.

I officially started mash in at 9:30p and finished sparge at 11p. Had everything cleaned up, put away and sorted by 11:30p. Put the wort in the brew kettle with a lid on it out in the patio, was around 15° most of the night. Pulled it in around 8:30a and was still about 80°.

Started my boil at about noon. Everything seemed find and numbers were all good. Only time will tell on what it tastes like but I will be making this my new process, at least until summer comes around. Might give biab a run as well just to try.

I've been thinking about your post about how to shorten brew days. I recently did a partial mash BIAB + DME & LME and topped off the fermenter with water, but it didn't really save me much time -- maybe an hour but still a 5-hour brew day.

Now I've been thinking about trying some no-boil methods using DME only. Steven Deeds has a book called Brewing Engineering where he notes that he's a new dad and looking for shorter brew days. He advocates using DME and a no-boil or short boil method. I think it would really work well with some recipes, such as NEIPA's, where it's really about the hops. Anyway, I thought you might be interested in exploring some no-boil methods. There's a new no-boil thread in the general discussion I believe...

 

[brownni5]

I've been splitting lately - my kids are 4 and 16 months. Do the mash sparge in the evening, the boil and the rest of cleaning in the a.m. Ideally, just finishing the brew late in the evening would be best, but those kids have me exhausted! I haven't seen a problem - actually got the idea from Don Osborne's YouTube channel. My wort is always well over 100 F in the morning.

 

[bornandraisedlv]

I've been thinking about your post about how to shorten brew days. I recently did a partial mash BIAB + DME & LME and topped off the fermenter with water, but it didn't really save me much time -- maybe an hour but still a 5-hour brew day.

Now I've been thinking about trying some no-boil methods using DME only. Steven Deeds has a book called Brewing Engineering where he notes that he's a new dad and looking for shorter brew days. He advocates using DME and a no-boil or short boil method. I think it would really work well with some recipes, such as NEIPA's, where it's really about the hops. Anyway, I thought you might be interested in exploring some no-boil methods. There's a new no-boil thread in the general discussion I believe...

Yeah I saw that thread going. Not sure I’m looking to cut out that much of the process. I enjoy the full process of brewing, and even more now with splitting my brew day. In the end it actually probably takes me longer to brew but it works for me and my family. It’s also less stressful as I’m not trying to cram an entire brew day into a specific amount of time. I can relax and mash / sparge as I need and then boil the next day.

Thanks for the heads up though and I’m watching that thread just out of interest.

 

[SRJHops]

Yeah I saw that thread going. Not sure I’m looking to cut out that much of the process. I enjoy the full process of brewing, and even more now with splitting my brew day. In the end it actually probably takes me longer to brew but it works for me and my family. It’s also less stressful as I’m not trying to cram an entire brew day into a specific amount of time. I can relax and mash / sparge as I need and then boil the next day.

Thanks for the heads up though and I’m watching that thread just out of interest.

Yeah, I'd lean toward the split brew day and keeping the all-grain process. But I might try some of these new processes this winter, while I'm brewing inside on my weak stovetop.

I do see quite a few articles and posts that lead me to believe that extract beers really can be as good as all-grain, and one reason we often think otherwise is we were newbies making a lot of mistakes with extract (certainly applies to me).

I am debating whether to do a 3-gallon overnight mash and add some DME to a short boil, and top off the fermenter with 3 gallons water --- OR trying doing two small all-grain 3-gallon "no boils" (I can't boil more than about 3 gallons on my stovetop).

BTW, I've been researching overnight mashes, and of course lots of people do it. There appears to be a very low risk of infection, but based on what I am reading, I'd lean toward trying to keep the mash or wort temp from dropping below 130 if possible, to keep the risk of infection even lower.

 

[bornandraisedlv]

Yeah, I'd lean toward the split brew day and keeping the all-grain process. But I might try some of these new processes this winter, while I'm brewing inside on my weak stovetop.

I do see quite a few articles and posts that lead me to believe that extract beers really can be as good as all-grain, and one reason we often think otherwise is we were newbies making a lot of mistakes with extract (certainly applies to me).

I am debating whether to do a 3-gallon overnight mash and add some DME to a short boil, and top off the fermenter with 3 gallons water --- OR trying doing two small all-grain 3-gallon "no boils" (I can't boil more than about 3 gallons on my stovetop).

BTW, I've been researching overnight mashes, and of course lots of people do it. There appears to be a very low risk of infection, but based on what I am reading, I'd lean toward trying to keep the mash or wort temp from dropping below 130 if possible, to keep the risk of infection even lower.

I’m not worried about infection in the least at less than 24 hours. Even if it does pick up a little something it will get killed in the boil. I personally feel that 24 hours is a safe zone. Better yet, if your worried about infection / spoilage, is to cool it to below 40° within a 4 hour time span.

Again I’m not too worried about infection pre boil.

 

[SRJHops]

Wanted to share this article I just found regarding overnight mashing: https://beerandbrewing.com/split-up-your-brew-day/

 

[bornandraisedlv]

Thanks for the article. I might add bringing to a boil and killing the heat to my process. So far the 3 batches I’ve done I have had zero issues with.

 

[moepeppers]

I've done that for 15 yrs. with no problems. It makes for a relaxed brew session.

 

[SRJHops]

Completed my first split brew day this morning -- all went well. I mashed overnight at 152 in an insulated tun wrapped in sleeping bags. Mash temp was 136 when I started up again this morning about 12 hours later.

It took less than 80 minutes to mash in last night (including set up and clean-up), so I think next time I'll just mash in the afternoon when the kids are at the store with Mom. Then I can finish up after they go to bed and get to bed before midnight.

It took about 3 hours to complete the sparge and boil and everything else this morning. I saved some time by only doing a 30-minute boil, since I didn't have any hop additions until knockout and whirlpool.

I had read that overnight mashing makes a highly fermentable beer. I didn't notice any huge differences. Things look really good, though. I hit my OG of 1.061 right on the nose and had 79% efficiency.

Assuming the beer turns out tasty, I think all-day brew days are going to be a thing of the past -- or maybe saved for when I want to be outside all day to enjoy the weather! (Which is NOT today, where it's cloudy and 10 degrees!)

 

[bornandraisedlv]

Assuming the beer turns out tasty, I think all-day brew days are going to be a thing of the past -- or maybe saved for when I want to be outside all day to enjoy the weather! (Which is NOT today, where it's cloudy and 10 degrees!)

Agree with that!! Or brewing tomorrow when we are “supposed” to get snow!

I don’t see myself going back to an all in one day until the summer time and even then it’s not going to be an all in one session brew day. More like mash mid day and boil at night with the neighbors, beers and the state bird, I mean mosquitoes.