Splitting up the brew day

[jonboygentry]

Has anyone did their mash one day and then did the boil the next day. This is an all grain batch FYI. What are the pros and cons. Thanks!


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[roastquake]

recently there was a lengthy thread on this topic (search "shortening my brew day" or something like that). basically, you can do it but you may get a little sourness since the wort is left to the elements for many hours. Boiling will kill the sour bugs but not the sour taste.

another option is overnight mashing, again, same problem.

you could mash, boil for a little while and but it in an airtight container for later, but then why not just boil the full hour. It's your call

 

[broadbill]

recently there was a lengthy thread on this topic (search "shortening my brew day" or something like that). basically, you can do it but you may get a little sourness since the wort is left to the elements for many hours. Boiling will kill the sour bugs but not the sour taste.

another option is overnight mashing, again, same problem.

you could mash, boil for a little while and but it in an airtight container for later, but then why not just boil the full hour. It's your call

I think the conclusion reached in the previous thread was that it took more time to split the brew day up (total hours) because you had to heat/boil after the mash to kill the souring bugs, then heat/boil again the next day to finish the brew.

Some folks posted some time-saving approached, but at the end of it all it was agreed that you couldn't do an AG batch any faster than 4-5 hours, and if you couldn't dedicated that time, AG wasn't for you.

 

[Ilan34]

I just posted a long reply and the mobile app killed it, arrgh.

Essentially, it can work out, depending on your batch size and the actual reason you're looking to split up the brew day. And you can do it without boiling twice.

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[sandyeggoxj]

There are ways to shorten, but splitting seems risky to me. Why are you wanting to split your brew day? I guess you could have all your water volumes measured, everything set up, grain milled, hops weighed and marked for the time and yeast started ready so your brew day is fast. And then leave all the clean up until the next day. So dump it in the fermenter, pitch yeast, and go to bed. Wake up and clean, clean, clean.

 

[broadbill]

And you can do it without boiling twice.

how?

 

[orford]

I saw an article recently talking about overnight mashing. I am a bit dubious but they claimed that with a standard cooler mashtun set up they saw very little heat loss overnight. If this is true one could start a mash right before bed then get up the next morning and start it up without the reheating issue. I would be concerned that there would be a fairly significant heat loss meaning that the solubility of the sugars in the wort would decrease thus decreasing the overall efficiency. The heat loss would also translate in longer time to boil but on a propane burner this would only mean a few extra minutes. The other issue is that this would probably not work as well if one wanted to make a less fermentable wort.

 

[Bigscience]

I live pretty close to where I work so I can split up my brew day during the day. I'll filter water and measure out/grind grains the night before. I can run home for a late lunch and set up a BIAB mash and wrap the kettle in insulation and then head back to work. 3 hours later I get home and fire up the burner to heat things back up. I don't lose that much heat and this process limits my touch time on the process.

I've gone more hardcore and hooked up a web cam and can remotely control the elements on my system to be able to heat up strike water for a full AG mash while I'm at work too. I only do this when my wife is at home though.


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[Ilan34]

how?

Copying and pasting my method here from another similar thread:

I do BIAB 2.5 gallon batches. Essentially, I do the mash at night, pull and squeeze the bag, throw out the grains and then heat up the wort to 190 while cleaning up. Then I'll throw it in a preheated oven (175 degrees) that's gets turned off when I put the kettle in, and let it sit overnight. Usually done by 12:30 if I started at 9.

Wake up the next morning and pull it out of the oven at 7 am, and it's generally sitting at 155 or so (no chance of souring). Start heating for the boil and I'm completely done by 10:30.

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[jonboygentry]

Wow some great information here! This was going to be a 2.5 gallon batch. The reason for splitters up the brew day was simply to keep the wife happy lol. After all the info I simply decided to brew another weekend. Thanks again for all the info. Cheers!


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