Storing wort for a few days in cornies...

[weirdboy]

I am currently working on a wee heavy. My original plan was to do the long mash on one day, boil for about 20 minutes, then stick the wort in corny kegs overnight, and do the boil the next day.

So I got to the part where the wort is sitting in the corny kegs overnight on my back patio. Then I wake up at about 4:00am this morning to the pitter-patter of falling rain. Uh, oh....I check the weather forecast on my phone and sure enough, thunderstorms/hail all day today and rain tomorrow as well.

So, my plan has changed. I am not sure of the exact temp of the wort right now. The kegs feel a bit warm to the touch on the outside so I am thinking in the 100-120F range maybe. What I did was bring the cornies inside and stick them in my kegerator, and while I was at it, I purged the headspace with CO2 and sealed them up.

Due to scheduling conflicts the earliest I could do a "real" boil on these would be Wednesday probably, but even that is sketchy. More likely would be Friday. Whenever it happens, it will be a 2-hour boil. I am pretty sure this should work out OK, but wanted to hear others' opinions on the matter.

 

[kpr121]

You should be fine, but I ask a few qualifying questions to help ease your mind (or maybe make you worry more):

1. How clean and sanitary were the kegs to begin with? Were the connections all cleaned?

2. Did you boil for 20 minutes? Was this wort then drained into the kegs at or near boiling temperature?

3. Are you going to boil again? (you answered this question already)

Basically, if you kept everything generally clean, there shouldnt have been any places for nasties to hide. And if you drained near boiling wort into the kegs, any little bacteria shouldnt have stood a chance.

People do this all the time. I no chill every batch in cornies and have waited up to 5 days to pitch yeast (without C02 purging BTW), and have never had a problem.

One suggestion I would make if you do this again is to flip the corny upside down and let the hot wort contact all the metal at the top of the keg for about 10-15 minutes, this will ensure that everything is sanitary.

 

[weirdboy]

OK good questions.

1. I powerwashed the kegs with my new sump pump-based CIP keg cleaning system using an oxiclean solution a few weeks ago, which REALLY is awesome by the way (cleans a keg in a few minutes). Then just before putting the wort in there I sanitized each one with about 1 gallon of starsan solution.

2. Yes, boiled for 20 minutes while I was cleaning up. Racked into the cornies right after flameout.

3. Yes I'm going to boil for about 120 minutes on brew day.


Flipping the corny is a good idea. In fact, I may end up doing no-chill on this batch since my pumps are both likely to be in transit, and I don't want to do a gravity drain on my plate chiller without a way to recirculate PBW through it when I'm finished.

 

[cheezydemon3]

supposedly "aussies"(?) sterilize dirty rubber unused gas cans by pouring boiling wort in and letting that kill the baddies.

 

[kpr121]

You should be golden then. I think those Aussies sometimes keep their wort like that for months at a time.

No-chill is awesome, it makes the brewday go by so much quicker, a few less steps you have to take. Just make sure you take into account the adjusted hops utilization.