Post no-chill mini boil with existing wort...?

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BDC

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Hi all,

I need some newbie advice.

I've got some wort sitting in a cube where it was placed for a no-chill cool down. I'm hoping to move it to the fermentor ready in time for Christmas.

I was hoping to take a few litres of the wort in the cube during the fermentor transfer.

With this few litres I want to do a mini boil - adding in a few minor adjuncts. I'd then store this in the fridge with the fermentor until it's at the same temp before adding it to the fermentor with the original batch.

Is this a terrible idea? If it's not completely terrible, are there any things I should be careful /aware of in the process?

Background:

Between work and the wife / bub I kicked off my (second ever) all-grain BIAB brew quite late last night. I made a few rookie errors in my tired, delirious and excited state, but I hope I can recover from this slightly.

First of all, I added too much water to the urn AND I also forgot to bash the grain after getting it into the urn to remove any dough balls. I think I also mashed a degree or so too high.
  • I think this explains why I ended up with an OG much lower than I had hoped.
  • It also explains why I will end up with much, much more beer than I need for my 19L keg.
  • I will happily bottle some to hand around to friendlies and neighbours, but the above I hope will:
    - lets me to use some of the existing wort instead of adding more liquid;
  • - boil some excess liquid off in the process; and
  • - hopefully increase ABV slightly.


Secondly, I had a 10 minute boil addition (crushed grains of paradise and coriander seeds) in the recipe which I intended to add into the cube to account for no-chill cool down time. I totally forgot between sanitising and trying to keep my eyes open.

By the way, I'm using this recipe which is my own knock off of various Ommegong Rare Vos clones out there.

Thanks a tonne in advance to anyone who can give me any pointers.

BDC
 
You can add the 10 addition anytime you like before throwing yeast at it

Boiling down the wort will work, but if you have already done your late hop additions then its going to screw them all up
 
Wow - muchas gracias amigos!!!! That was FAST!

Liam_snorkel said:
Liam_snorkel - that is EXACTLY what I was after. I did try searching the forums before reaching out, but must have been using the wrong search terms :)

Ducatiboy stu said:
... but if you have already done your late hop additions then its going to screw them all up
Thanks Ducatiboy stu - I haven't done any late hop additions so I'm safe there!

I'll let you know how I get on and any new lessons learnt along the way.

BDC
 
Update: this worked a treat. I took some of the liquid from the cube (2.5L - about 10% of the liquid) once I had it at pitching temp, put the remainder in the fermenter then pitched my yeast m (Wyeast 1214) - did the mini boil then crashed it to within a few degrees of pitching temp and topped up the fermenter. Feedback from mates was not very constructive but was very positive (eg "bloody beautiful mate"). I am loving it, some very nice complexity and great balance going on. Planning to get a few more sophisticated tasters but I think this is a winner!
 
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