3 Stage Brewing

[Aces High]

I'm currently running low on beer (is only 1 x 19L keg left really running low on beer... I say yes)

Last weekend was all 40+ degrees in Perth.. not exactly good brewing weather in a steel shed, now this weekend is going to be more of the same so opportunities are running scarce for building supply, so I am trialling 3 stage brewing as its only going to be around 30 today.

Stage 1 (last night)
Get home from work and measure and crush all my grain

Stage 2 (6.30am this morning)
Heat water and mash in

Stage 3 (5:30pm this arvo)
get home and get the boil happening and hopefully be finished around 7 to 7.30pm.

Not sure how an 11 hour mash will affect my brew, but I am just doing an easy 60 minute boil pale ale. I do double batch biab brews, so it will be interesting to see how much heat it looses in a 30+ degree shed over 11 hours.

Can anyone see any problems with doing it this way? Will my mash end up extremely thin due to the long mash time? When I mashed in and left this morning it was sitting on 66 degrees exactly (if any thermometer is to be believed).

Aces

 

[pedleyr]

I've mashed overnight before. I lost a bit too much temperature, but the beer was fine, just a little thinner and drier than the same recipe mashed normally. Just insulate it really well and you'll be fine, especially during the day as you'll lose less temperature.

 

[.DJ.]

i overnight mash all the time (BIAB)... I wrap in 3 sleeping bags and dont loose a whole lot of temp....

 

[benno1973]

Should be fine. There's a lot of anecdotal evidence that overnight mashing is fine, doesn't thin the beer out too much. Probably better for a drier style of beer (like you're doing) in my opinion, but overall it should be a workable solution. Issues generally arise when temps fall too low and allow aceto/lacto to take hold.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Often mash over a few hours with an esky, putting alfoil on top of the mash to limit headspace temp reduction. Generally only lose a degree at the most.

One of SWMBO "lets me brew, but then decides the kids urgently need clothes, let's go to Launnie for half a day" type of things.

 

[BreadMurderer]

One of my favourite brews (completely made up too) was mashed overnight. I don't have much experience with it as the rest of my mashes have been on the day but the beer tasted great, no complaints.

 

[Aces High]

Well its happening right now, so we'll see. It all sounds positive from the comments above which is good. I'll be home in about an hour to start the boil.

This definitely makes for nicely broken up brew day.

 

[Aces High]

This turned out pretty well. After a 10 hour mash the temp had dropped from exactly 66 degrees down to only 61.9 which really surprised me.

I was aiming for an OG of 1.046 according to brewmate with its usual 70% efficiency setting and ended up with 1.050, so I picked up a few extra points

 

[.DJ.]

ive found i pick up extra points mashing for an extended period....