Who has no chilled a Mash?

[silvana]

With the arrival of a new baby my already diminished time is now virtually nonexistent, so I’m looking for ways around this to keep brewing.
I can’t really string enough hours together for a full brew day but could manage a couple of hours here and there so got to thinking.

Can I cube the mash?

I figure, mash, sparge and bring the wort to the boil for a few minutes and no chill the mash into multiple cubes (double batch).
Not only can I split my brew day in two doing this, I can make different beers by changing up the boil ingredients for the separate cubes.

Has anyone here cubed a mash?

The only difference I see between regular no chill and this is lacking the hops antibacterial properties and having more protein/break material adding food for nasties.
But heat is heat and it should still pasteurise like a normal no chill.

If this works I could invest is a larger mashtun, knock 3 or 4 “mash” cubes out then boil and ferment them as time permits.

Any possible pitfalls or reasons against cubing a mash?

 

[wbosher]

I've never cubed a mash, but I have left it overnight in the kettle after a short five or ten minute boil. I just wrapped glad wrap around the top to stop any nasties getting in. Worked great. Finished off the boil the next day.

 

[.DJ.]

i mash over night sometimes...

mash in at night after kids go to bed. wrap in sleeping bags (I BIAB) ... I only loose probaby 10-15 degrees over night...

In the morning when you wake up (or are woken up!) all you have to do is sparge/drain/boil/cube...

could easily be done by 9am...

 

[fcmcg]

I have heard from some pro brewers that they only boil for 20 mins..so I reckon if you have the time try that..then you won't have to boil it for an hour from your cube , when you no chill it..you could just tip it into a fermentor and throw yeast at it !
Failing that , I reckon as long as your wort is boiled for a couple of mins before you cube , you may be okay..
Can't say for certain how this all affects your final beer as you will have no real hot break before you get a cold break from no chill...
And I reckon you should try it and report back !
Ferg

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I presume you are sparging then cold crashing.



Ihearaliensbeingprobedbywhitekittens

 

[silvana]

Yeap, mash, sparge, boil a few mins then cube

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

For the extra hr......well......surely you can think of something to do for an hr...

Yes it will work fine

 

[silvana]

Extra 90 min to boil & clean up = time I don't have.
This would be the point of the post, an alternate to a full brew day.

 

[MartinOC]

In THEORY, I can't see a problem with your proposal, but if you can find the time to do a "proper" hopped-boil before cubing, you'd ultimately be saving yourself time & fuel in getting the cooled, un-hopped wort back up to a boil, hopping it, boiling properly & then re-cubing etc. How much time are we actually talking-about here? 1.5-2 hrs?

The brewer's actual physical "presence" during brewing isn't huge, so a bit of a re-think of your time management might work to your advantage. However, I'm not a parent, so I can't honestly comment on your current brew-related dilemma.

Congratulations, BTW!!!!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

The boil is the best bit. You can get on with house work and let it boil away

MOC is right in regard to spending more time and energy getting. Takes a long time to get 30ltrs of cold wort to the boil

 

[black_labb]

In THEORY, I can't see a problem with your proposal, but if you can find the time to do a "proper" hopped-boil before cubing, you'd ultimately be saving yourself time & fuel in getting the cooled, un-hopped wort back up to a boil, hopping it, boiling properly & then re-cubing etc. How much time are we actually talking-about here? 1.5-2 hrs?

The brewer's actual physical "presence" during brewing isn't huge, so a bit of a re-think of your time management might work to your advantage. However, I'm not a parent, so I can't honestly comment on your current brew-related dilemma.

Congratulations, BTW!!!!

My thoughts exactly. You are cleaning up twice, bringing to the boil twice (from room temp as opposed to mash temp), cubing twice etc. your trading away an extra 30 minutes of brewing work on the original day for 2-3 hours of work another day. I'd just go to bed 30 minutes later and try and make time to relax the next night instead.

Maybe you could save time by prepreparing the ingredients (crushing grain, measuring hops), setting up the brew system if possible or getting the strike water heated sooner somehow (have someone else turn it on for you or getting it from the hot water tank, or even putting it on a timer of some sort)

I'm assuming you are running a 3v system by the mention of sparging. If you can speed up the gap between the end of the mash and the start of the boil you will save a fair bit of time. Trying out BIAB could save you time as you won't have to wait for a sparge.

 

[of mice and gods]

Good tips above, however I noticed that old mate said that he BIAB'd already.

But I must agree, the extra time for extra cleaning and bring room temp wort to the boil ends up making it a harder rather than easier. My proposal is as others, split your brew day from before the mash.

Do you BIAB in an urn or stovetop? Do you have an urn? If you did, it would be pretty easy to set the urn up on a mechanical 24 hr electrical timer, then thru a temp controller to have you strike/sparge water sitting there ready to go on brew day.

If you wanted to save even more time, you could do smaller volume maxi-biab, or sneak a kilo or whatever of extract in at the end of the boil, cube and then top up the extra on pitching?

Congrats on the gremlin too bud.

Al

 

[dicko]

One brand springs to mind which would solve all of your problems.....BRAUMEISTER. h34r: :lol:

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Now where is the fun in that

 

[Judanero]

Congrats mate on the new arrival! I recently found that if I had all the ingredients good to go and was woken at 0400 I would settle the little fella then brew ( I also BIAB ) and no chill.

If you get RDO's it's perfect for an early wake up on the RDO and knock out a batch because sleep ins definitely are a thing of the past. Works for me.

 

[philmud]

I have the same drama and as a result only manage to sneak a brew in every 6 weeks or so. The last 2 brews I've done on a Friday night after bub is in bed (well, I've managed to set the mash up so it's underway while I'm helping to feed and bath him). It ends up being a late night, and he wakes me up at the same time on Saturday morning, but it's working for me so far. Obvs this might not be an option for you - I'd be interested to hear how you go if you do no chill a mash.


Sent from my iPhone using Aussie Home Brewer

 

[silvana]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have pretty much streamlined my process as much as possible. Grain is weighed and crushed the day before, water pre measured and my strike water is on an STC-100 on a timer so at the right temp when I start.
Totally understand the additional energy output, I use high power immersion heaters so time is not to much of a factor for the boil. The only additional cleaning though will be my BIAB pot twice and two lots of cubes. Not a whole lot of extra effort.

I started doing 1/2 batches but the time volume to time ratio doesn't really work out. Thats why I want to mash enough for 3 or 4 cubes, but only boil one at a time. The additional clean up for one mash doesn't have as much of an impact over three separate boils. As an added bonus I can make multiple variations using the same wort.

 

[Thefatdoghead]

I didn't slow my brewing down when we had a baby 11 months ago. I just ask the Mrs a few days before and organise a day for brewing. I have a Braumeister which makes life easier as well.

 

[jyo]

Mate, it's hard to balance young kids and hobbies.

Brewing at night is the way I get around it. As you have said, weigh and crack the grain the previous day. Mash in before dinner. If you do a 60 minute mash and boil then no-chill, you can be in bed early enough to get up and look after your young one.

I like brewing by myself in the backyard at night. It's therapeutic and I get to talk to myself and be naked. Win win.

 

[einnebcj]

Typing this having just finished my 'brew night'. Have a 3,6 and 9 year old and only just got back into brewing about 18 months ago. I always have a little chuckle as people mention 'brew days' - those of us with little uns are generally brewers of the night. I brew on a Friday night and set the wheels in motion about 6:30 while the kids are in the bath. Have the mash going by the time they're brushing teeth. Do stories, kiss goodnight and then back to the brew ready to start the next stage. Now the youngest is a little older, life is more predictable whereas life with a new born is not and when the wife is going nuts because baby has vomited, pooped and screamed the house down, you just don't get the option to say 'hold on Hun, I've got to do a hop addition in a couple of minutes and then I'll be right there.......for 10 minutes until the next hop addition. May as well slice your bits of and serve them up to your wife there and then.

Do whatever works for you......give it a go, see what you get and go from there.