Mash Tonight...brew Tomorrow Night

[Truman42]

Ive started my mash on an Irish Red Ale but I really couldn't be stuffed staying out here in the cold garage until sometime after midnight brewing beer.
So is it okay to complete my mash and sparge and leave the wort sitting in the urn until tomorrow night and do the boil then?

 

[Jace89]

I'm sure you are running a small risk but it should be fine. Just throw some glad wrap over the top.
Another option is to quickly get it to a boil then throw it into a cube and boil/hop it tomorrow.

 

[Acasta]

Do you mash out? You would want to stop any conversions taking place. Don't worry about infection as your going to do an hour boil anyway.

 

[Truman42]

Yeh I was going to mash out into my urn and sparge and add that to the urn too, just not start the boil until tomorrow night.

Im doing a 90 min boil so assuming that would kill off any bugs. I will cover with gladwrap too as Jace suggests.

Got the heater on inside so don't really want to spend anymore time in that bloody cold garage than I have too..

 

[Bribie G]

Tomorrow night is cutting it fine, boy. I often dough in at around 10 pm then get into it the next morning when the temperature has dropped to maybe 58 . 24 hours,however, I reckon you'll be pushing it.

 

[ekul]

I left a mash over night till the next arvo and it turned a little sour. I had all the grain still in there. But if you mashed out and got it nice and hot, and then maybe hit it with a little heat in the morning it would probably be fine by the arvo.

 

[stux]

I would bring it to the boil first. Mash will go sour overnight, and until you heat that wort up to pasteurizing temperatures I'm sure its basically just mash liquor, complete with all the grain born bacteria.

 

[Truman42]

Tomorrow night is cutting it fine, boy. I often dough in at around 10 pm then get into it the next morning when the temperature has dropped to maybe 58 . 24 hours,however, I reckon you'll be pushing it.

Why is that Bribie? I assume not an infection risk but am I risking off flavours?

I can't heat it in the morning Ekul unless I get up at 5am

I will be home from work at 4.30 and can start boiling then but if I risk off flavours will slug it out tonight.

 

[Rowy]

Smell the grain 24hrs after a brew Truman and you'll see why people are wary.

 

[manticle]

Mash out and cube it and know you are running a possible risk.

I've done it once, others have done it once or twice. It can work and equally, it can **** up.

 

[hsb]

Smell the grain 24hrs after a brew Truman and you'll see why people are wary.

!!! That smell!! :icon_vomit:

Couldn't you mash out and boil it indoors? Couple of pots on the go? That'll smell better!

 

[Wolfy]

It's not just the killing the bugs in the boil that I'd worry about, it's about the flavours they will impart to the wort during the 24 hours you let it sit unboiled and sanitized. I'm sure you know what spent-grain smells like after even a day or two, so I can't imagine you'd want any of that in your beer.

 

[Bribie G]

Overnight mashing is usually idiot proof because if you are doing it insulated then the final temperature is going to be around high 50s early 60s and if you get it drained and boiling in the morning within around 12 hours, no problems.

However if you leave it much longer than that then the same micros that cause the stinky cheese and rotten socks smell in a spent grain bill left in a bucket in the garage because you were pissed and forgot to put it out then next morning you wonder how many cats spewed and pissed in your garage and how long can I continue without a punctuation mark...............

 

[black_labb]

I'd do the sparge and get all the runnings in the kettle and bring it to the boil, then cover it and leave it. Boil and add hops the next evening.

My opinion only

 

[Truman42]

Well now my brown pumps f@&$d up again. Seems to stop as soon as I ramp up to 76C. Did the same thing last time.

You've all got me paranoid enuff to boil tonight but I will switch to no chill so I can just cube it and leave it and don't have to worry about setting up all the hoses and crap.
I could move the urn inside but I'm stuffed and just wanted an earlier night than what I'm now going to get.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Inzane]

How much heat does your mash tun keep? I have heard of people doing 24 hour mashes and keeping the mash above bacterial growth temperatures by wrapping tun in sleeping bags/blankets etc

Other option I see is normal mash, heat to over 80 deg to kill most spoilage bacteria, cover to keep new bugs out and leave until the next day.

I think with a long mash you usually end up with highly fermentable wort because it converts even more of the usual unfermentables to fermentables.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

@Truman - an IRA copes with no-chill very well. My last IRA (well, more like a southern english brown/red - but that was my fault) went great (at a poker party!), and was no chill

I'm not a no-chiller, but for styles that rely on early hopping, rather than late hopping, I'm finding I will do it more and more.

Not for an APA, though.

I'm finding that first wort hopping really helps the bitterness smooth out. Since I switched to FWH in my nochilled beers, I've hit a sweet spot for bittering additions.

Goomba

 

[rotten]

Why did you mash in if you knew you were too f@#$%d to finish it? It's a bit like tapping the mrs on the shoulder and then saying 'know what? I can't be f@#$%d tonight, I'll finish tomorrow'. You just have to finish

 

[Deebo]

Would chucking in a few campden tablets help to safeguard it a bit?

 

[dkaos]

I'm thinking it might be ok due to the season. When I mashed for a really long time past 24 hours, it was kinda warm.