Can I Leave Wort After Stteep And Sparge

[jadk42]

Got caught on time. Can I leave my wort overnight before hop and boil after steeping and sparging?
David

 

[Bribie G]

Got caught on time. Can I leave my wort overnight before hop and boil after steeping and sparging?
David

More experienced brewers on the forum would be able to provide more accurate information but I would say that:

• There are still live enzymes in there doing stuff and if you leave it overnight, the wort you have now will not be the wort you have in the morning and may well be 'stripped out' and end up with a thin bodied beer
• You have not boiled, so you are currently on the wrong wrong side of the 'infection watershed'
• At least, could you bring to the boil for just ten minutes to sanitize the mass to kill enzymes and hopefully bugs, or is that out of the question?
• It occurs to me that if you could even chill it down to fridge temp overnight to put it in 'stasis' ???

 

[Adamt]

Did you mash out? If you mashed out (effectively) enzymatic activity should be halted and you will have sealed your malt profile effectively. Keep it somewhere where it will still be hot in the morning (your mash tun, for example).

If you have not mashed out, do so (bring the temperature up to ~76 for at least 10 minutes) and follow the above.

EDIT: You don't want to let it drop in temperature as you will give the nasties present in your liquor (from the grain) time to take hold before it chills down to a level cold enough to stop them.

 

[Snow]

I HIGHLY recommend you do not leave your unpasturised wort overnight. The enzymes aren't the problem, it's the bacteria, wild yeast, etc that's in there that's the problem. I have left my brew overnight before and it had it's own krausen the next morning and smelled and tasted like a combination of vomit and rotten cheese :icon_vomit: . If you really MUST leave it overnight, then I can only suggest you put it in a fridge with a lid on and get the temp down as quickly as possible.

If you truly love your beer..... you will treat it like your baby and stay up as late as it takes to get her to sleep safe and sound

Cheers - Snow

 

[muckanic]

As far as I am concerned, mashing out when done properly is effectively pasteurisation. In fact, from my experiments with sour mashing, 50C is enough to kill most of the wild bugs on grain. I tend to think any spontaneous ferment after that is due to grain dust, etc dropping in on the cool-down.

There is a school of thought that day-after boiling results in a poorer break, as some of the proteins and tannins have had time to oxidise and form polymers. The effect, however, is fairly slight.