Testing Efficiency. What should I do with the wort?

[Fid]

So I ordered a grain mill and I'm planning on stepping up the scale of my mini-mashes for future brews and stepping down the amount of extract that I use. I'm thinking that this weekend I'm going to pick up 20lbs of 2-row and start playing around with my system to see how much I can actually mash in my kettle and what sort of efficiency I can achieve.

So heres the deal.

I have a 5 gallon kettle that I brew with on my stovetop so I'll likely be making a few batches of around 3-4 gallons worth of unhopped, unboiled, wort throughout the day and it seems like a waste to mash a bunch of grains and then just dump it all down the drain afterwards. If I were to cool the batches down and transfer them to some sanitized carboys could I brew with it the next day? Any other suggestions on what I can do with the wort that I collect?

 

[FarmBoy530]

If your going to do a few small batches, just run em all off to some 5gal buckets. After collecting all the wort, BREW! If you collect 9gal (3 3gal mash runs) boil it down to 5 gal. Or I like boiling down to 6.5gal that way I bottle at least 5. steep 1lbs of crystal 20 and a .25lbs munich for 30 min and add it to your wort just like steeping specialty grains. That may be a good pale to start adding any hops you want to.
If the 5gal pot is your only brew kettle then brew a couple small batches the same way.

 

[Fid]

I guess if I'm going to be boiling the stuff after collecting it anyways I'm not going to need to be too terribly concerned about contamination huh?

 

[erikpete18]

If you've got a pressure cooker, I'd boil it quick and then just can them and use them for starters. That way you don't have to worry about the taste or the grain makeup, all you need to do it grow yeast in them!

 

[forstmeister]

If you've got a pressure cooker, I'd boil it quick and then just can them and use them for starters. That way you don't have to worry about the taste or the grain makeup, all you need to do it grow yeast in them!

THIS. I haven't done it yet, but I would love to do a small mash and collect the runnings, can them and have them available for yeast starters.